BY GODWIN AGABA

A senior official in the Ministry of Public Service, Skills Development and Labour (Mifotra) is in detention on charges of bribery.

Police arrested Omar Bizuru, the in-charge of working permits at the ministry a fortnight ago, after a tip-off from the person that was due to bribe him with $1500.

According to the director of the Criminal Investigation Department, Vicent Joseph Nyampora, a Kenyan, reported Bizuru to police before giving him the money, enabling the police to arrest the suspect red-handed.

"We arrested him shortly after he received the bribe. We had photocopied the notes and found him with them,” Habyara said from his office yesterday. The CID boss said Bizuru asked for the bribe in exchange for renewing a working permit of the Kenyan.
He said Nyampora works with Real Construction Company.

Foreigners are required to renew working permits after six months.
He said Bizuru was charged in the court and remanded in Kigali Central Prison, commonly known as 1930.

"Nyampora informed us shortly before taking the money to him, and I call upon all members of the public to always report such cases,” he appealed.

The ministry has been marred with charges of corruption with the latest levelled against the director of planning Jules Sebahizi, who was granted bail over a week after spending a month in Remera Prison.
However, Sebahinzi says he is a victim of trumped-up charges, with his seniors – Minister Manasseh Nshuti and State Minister Angelina Muganza – both being linked to the case.

Another Kenyan, Peter Olouchi, who is accused of giving a bribe of Frw3 million to Sebahizi, says the two ministers coerced him into telling lies.

However police insists Sebahizi received the bribe from Olouchi, who is also the director of Rwanda Tourism College (RTC) in Kicukiro, Kigali.