FERWAFA hotel saga: Nzamwita to appear in court today

Rwanda Football Federation president Vincent Nzamwita and two others will today appear before Nyarugunga Primary Court to know their fate in a case where they are accused of fraud in awarding a tender for construction of a planned 88-room four-star FERWAFA Hotel. Nzamwita, together with FERWAFA secretary-general, Olivier Mulindahabi and a consultant, Eng. Adolphe Muhirwa, were on June 6 formally charged over alleged malpractices linked to the tender for the hotel construction. Mulindahabi and Eng. Muhirwa have been in custody since February on grounds that they awarded the tender based on favouritism, flouted procedures and had been involved in corruption, while Nzamwita is accused of unilaterally approving the start of construction works. The Rwf4bn project is being funded by FIFA. Prosecution asked the Nyarugunga Primary Court to sentence the trio to 3 years in jail each, and pay a fine of Rwf3 million each. However, the trio denied the charges and asked court to dismiss the case, arguing that prosecution has not produced sufficient evidence. Meanwhile, outside court, Nzamwita has been asked to resign by the president of second division side, Sec Academy, Augustin Munyandamutsa, who claims the former has lost the integrity to stay in his current position as head of Rwandan football. In a letter sent to FERWAFA on June 20, Munyadamutsa cited a number of issues including; the FERWAFA hotel saga, and the failure by FERWAFA to provide an annual financial report since Nzamwita was appointed president in January, 2014, among others. Several attempts to get a comment from Nzamwita over the issue were futile as he did not answer nor return our numerous phone calls. editorial@newtimes.co.rw

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FERWAFA hotel saga: Nzamwita to appear in court today