Editor, RE: “APR suspend four players indefinitely” (The New Times, May 26). If these are professional players and playing football is their main source of earning a livelihood as well as that of their dependents, then their employer should know it isn’t above the country’s labour laws and cannot just suspend and deprive its staff of their livelihood without going through a transparently fair disciplinary process that gives them an opportunity to defend themselves against the proposed sanctions, including the ability to question their very basis—before they are taken. The employment practices of any sport, including football, cannot override the protections and rights conferred on all of us as workers by our nation’s employment laws. Note the interesting juxtaposition of this story with the one in the same day’s paper in which FERWAFA rightly orders Kiyovu to pay Seninga, their former manager, Rwf6 million for unfair dismissal. This is still within the footballing fraternity. Who knows how much Mr.Seninga and these suspended players might be able to get when they to take their cases to labour or civil courts or to the Ombudsman for their respective employers’ abusive of authority and application of sanctions without following due process principles? MweneKalinda
