•Fired local government officials threaten to sue

RUBAVU - Thirty five local government officials serving in different capacities have been dismissed by the Mayor, Pierre Celestin Twagirayezu, of Rubavu district, Western Province, citing underperformance.

The wave of dismissals kicked off by the sacking of the Executive Secretaries of Nyundo and Rubavu sectors and 17 cell leaders by Twagirayezu.

According to the list The New Times obtained, others that were shown the exit include; directors of finance, ICT, Women council representative, human resource manager and the district construction engineer.

Also sacked is the officer in charge of health, director of planning, social affairs and the public relations officer among others.

An emergency advisory council meeting was called by the district administrators to discuss the sackings. 

"We are worried about this unprofessional decision which is contrary to the law, this so called evaluation is illegal since there was another one which was done and they deliberately ignored it opting to conduct another one that did not follow procedure,” said one former female district employee who sought anonymity. 

"We shall seek court redress if this decision isn’t reversed,” she said.The advisory council meeting that was being held at Gisenyi Cultural Centre was shifted to another venue where the media was barred. 

"People will later find out that this sacking is based on emotions and other motives,” charged another official who is still serving at the district, as he flashed the list of the people who had just lost their jobs.

According to sources at the district, the sacked employees have appealed to the advisory council and the ministry of Local Government.

Efforts to get a comment from the Mayor and vice-Mayors were futile as they did not answer their cell phones.

During this year’s presentation of the 2009/10 Performance Contract and review 2008/09 per district, Local Government Minister,  Christophe Bazivamo said that the ministry in conjunction with the Prime Minister’s Office set up a team to carry out a national evaluation in all provinces and per district.

Rubavu district finished among the top ten best performing districts.

The team evaluated different aspects such as economic performance (trade), social development, good governance, infrastructure, justice, and new innovations before they came up with 10 best performing districts, two from each province.

Nyamagabe scored an overall 86 % closely followed by Rulindo which scored 84% while Rutsiro came third with 82%. 

However, all districts were close and among the top ten was Burera, Muhanga, Nyagatare, Rubavu and Gasabo which scored above 70%.

Bazivamo noted that all districts performed well despite many challenges, especially delay in releasing funds as had been budgeted, bureaucracy, poor planning and embezzlement of funds.

Ends