Trade unionists have petitioned the Senate over what they believe was the unfair dismissal of more than 600 former employees of the energy and water utility agencies months ago.

Apart from the issue of the dismissal of workers, trade unions also highlighted unaddressed cases of alleged lack of respect of workers’ rights, especially concerning the former Energy, Water and Sanitation Authority (EWSA) before it was split to form the Rwanda Energy Group (REG) and Water and Sanitation Corporation (WASAC).

Last month, Jordi-Michel Musoni, the president of the energy, water and sanitation workers union, SYPELGAZ, told The New Times that they were contemplating taking the matter to court.

However, on Monday, SYPELGAZ changed tact and petitioned Senate to help guarantee that the dismissed workers’ rights were respected.

The option of taking legal action, he explained, was still on the table but they decided to wait a little bit longer to hear from the Public Service Commission (PSC) and if the latter’s response is not constructive, "we will proceed to court.”

"The problem is that the Commission has delayed for almost a month, in responding to us. It is blocking us from going further. This is the reason why we wrote to the Senate for assistance,” Musoni said.

"We thought that we need more support from different institutions, for advocacy. The Public Service Commission reports to Parliament.”

On Tuesday, the affected former employees and trade union leaders met in Kigali to consider their situation and chart the way forward.

SYPELGAZ alleges that there were irregularities in the recruitment process during the restructuring process last year when government carried out public service reforms aimed at ensuring efficiency, and eliminating redundancies and duplication of roles both at institutional and staff levels. REG started gradually dismissing employees in August and WASAC in September.

Investigations

The PSC and the Ombudsman’s office are reportedly investigating the reform process’s implementation in REG and WASAC.

Musoni said SYPELGAZ had expected feedback by November 8 – after 60 days – but got nothing.

Asked how far the investigations had gone, the Executive Secretary of PSC, Angelina Muganza, said: "We are still working on this. Just wait, we will inform you after the work is completed.”

Muganza did not comment further but acknowledged that it is the affected workers’ right to get feedback and noted that her office is putting "100 percent” effort into the matter.

In October, Musoni told The New Times that, while the dismissed workers were supposed to get two-thirds of their monthly salary for six months before they could get terminal benefits, the payments delayed.

At the time, he said, the monthly two-thirds pay had delayed yet other workers got theirs on time, while, at REG, the situation was worse because their last payment was in July.

At the time, Clément Musangwabatware, the deputy ombudsman in charge of preventing and fighting corruption, said the Ombudsman’s office was "still working on the case and a provisional report will be ready in the coming days.”

Last month, Jean Pierre Nkurunziza, the spokesperson of the Ombudsman’s office, said the investigations report would be released shortly.

In October, Emmanuel Kamanzi, the Energy Development Corporation Ltd managing director, said they were working to ensure that no errors were made during the reform process.

editorial@newtimes.co.rw