Editor,

I read with much enthusiasm the story that appeared in yesterday’s issue of The NewTimes, entitled "Gov’t is revising salary structure - Labour Minister”. The move is highly commendable since the cost of living also keeps moving upwards.

I totally agree with the Minister of Public Service and Labour, Anastase Murekezi, that the increase in salaries will be effected after heads of public institutions evaluate their employees’ performance and activities.

However, I urge minister Murekezi and his team to keenly follow this exercise. This is because we have experienced ugly cases in the past where employees had been fired maliciously.

There are several reports from the office of Ombudsman, indicting that some employees have been harassed by their bosses.

For instance, the civil service evaluation exercise conducted in 2009 was flawed and this resulted in some employees being fired unfairly.

It only took the intervention of the Public Service Commission to address the anomaly. Several had scored the required 70 percent mark but ended up being kicked out.

The International Labour Day will make more sense when we treat all employees with dignity because workers and employers live interdepedently and everyone needs each other.

Sarah Kantarama
Kigali