NORTHERN PROVINCE

MUSANZE — A woman, whose cinema hall was closed by sector authorities recently, has petitioned the district mayor Celestin Karabayinga to open her business.

Elina Karihungu in a letter dated February 14, alleges that the decision to close her business by the sector executive secretary Amile Ndahiro was driven by ethnic ideology.

"Basing on the letter you wrote to me, I have written to you seeking justice done to me……..when I see others working and only my business is closed I call it divisionism," the letter whose copy The New Times has seen reads in part.

She claims she had just injected over Frw1 million into the business. When contacted, Karabayi denied receiving the letter but said that the cinema hall was located in a restricted area. "They had just done a favour to allow that woman to operate from that area but she failed to abide by the regulations. She is just sentimental, but still we shall handle the matter when I resume work," Karabayinga who claimed to be on leave said by phone on Wednesday.

Samson Maniragaba, aged about 20, who was manning the hall says Ndahiro, the executive secretary of Muhoza sector closed their business after he had failed to raise Frw2,000 contribution towards the helping of the needy in the area. He alleges that Ndahiro confiscated his machine in the process of haggling.

"I am the only one whose cinema hall was closed in this town, the executive secretary accused me of opening the hall before the recommended time; but actually I was not showing films. I was just testing my machines, I tried to explain but he could not listen to me, he confiscated my decoder instead," Maniragaba said.

He said about ten people reportedly idlers attracted by music had entered the cinema hall at the time Ndahiro arrived.

Maniragaba claims that all his colleagues in the cinema business open their halls before the supposedly regulated time from 5:00pm to 8:00pm.

Sought for a comment, Ndahiro denied he closed the cinema hall out of any malicious motive, saying he did it because the proprietors had failed to respect the agreed time.

He stressed that all people in the cinema business are aware of the time regulation.

However, sources in Musanze told The New Times that all cinema halls open at noon and that it seems not to bother the local leaders.

"There was no prior warning for the old woman, as a leader you educate citizens, warn them before you make a decision of that nature, otherwise there is an element of secterianism," said the source.

The source accused Ndahiro, also the former executive secretary of Cyuvi sector, of corruption. According to the source, Ndahiro flouted the procedures while allocating stalls in the newly completed Musanze market. However, Ndahiro denied being responsible for allocating market stalls, saying it was not among his jurisdictions. He said the district vice mayor in charge of economic affairs, Anociata Budengeri was the one concerned with allocation of stalls. But efforts to contact her were futile by press time.

Other residents, who asked not to be named, allege that Ndahiro has on a number of occasions shown sectarian tendencies.

"We really don’t have vivid facts, but this man and other area local leaders must be harbouring sectarianism which is common among many residents," they alleged. But Ndahiro flatly refuted this. "About secterianism, I know nothing about that," he said by phone yesterday.

Recently Contact FM Radio reported that genocide ideology was still rife in Nyabihu in Western Province, and Gakenke in the Northern Province. According to their correspondent only identified as Sylidio, one resident called Java Sebasore testified before a Gacaca court that there was no Genocide in Rwanda.

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