KIGALI - In what appears to be a final stand, the Office of Ombudsman has written to the Executive Secretary of Works for General Interest (TIG), directing him to re-instate 16 of his former employees unconditionally, The New Times has learnt.

In a two-page letter, a copy of which this newspaper has obtained, Ombudsman Tito Rutaremara warns the TIG boss, Evariste Bizimana against "deliberate frustration” of the employees who were unfairly dismissed.

The Ombudsman’s letter, dated December 2 is copied to Prime Minister Bernard Makuza, Minister of Internal Affairs, Mussa Fazil Harerimana and the Public Service Commission.
In the letter, Rutaremara urged leaders to be credible, honest and straightforward; warning that infighting within TIG could backfire on whoever is engineering it.

The former employees complained that despite directives to re-instate them from the Ombudsman and Internal Affairs Minister, nothing has happened.

"We have continued to plead with him and it’s almost five months, but he has refused to listen,” one of the former employees said yesterday.

Bizimana had earlier written to the Office of Ombudsman stating that he was ready to re-instate the said employees. However, he said that he would follow the alphabet when re-instating the employees as openings come up within the institution.

Rutaremara said the move of following alphabetical order could be another ploy by TIG leadership to frustrate former workers.

Bizimana has insisted that he does not want to talk to The New Times over the matter.

TIG is a government agency that oversees community services carried out by convicts who confessed and sought forgiveness for participating in the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi.

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