Run-away mayor finally arrested

MUSANZE - Police on Wednesday arrested Cyprian Nsengimana, the former Mayor of Ngororero District who has been on the run since he was sentenced to jail two weeks ago. Nsengimana and his former deputy in charge of Economic Affairs, Jacques Habimana, were handed 5 and 6 year jail sentences respectively for embezzling public funds. According to Police, Nsengimana was arrested in Ruhengeri, Musanze district at a residential house he was hiding in, and is currently detained at Gisenyi government prison in Rubavu District. In an interview with The New Times, Police Spokesperson, John Uwamungu, confirmed the arrest which followed weeks of hunting down Nsengimana and his deputy Habimana who still remains at large but is suspected to be in Belgium. “Indeed he was arrested and he is currently detained in Rubavu District. He was arrested in Ruhengeri where he was hiding, but we also know he was hiding in Kigali before he went to Ruhengeri,” Uwamungu said. The two officials were sentenced in absentia by the Intermediate Court of Rubavu on August 20 for embezzling over Rwf 400,000. Nsengimana is the first sitting Mayor to be handed a jail sentence while several Mayors, vice Mayors and other district and provincial officials have either resigned or been forced to do so and consequently prosecuted. The two officials are said to have conspired with a one Bonaventure Mfizi to embezzle funds meant for a workshop on environment that brought together different stake-holders in the district. The officials were found guilty of inflating the number of participants from 16 to 76 with the aim of pocketing the extra funds that they received from REMA’s project DEMP. The Mayor is also under investigation by the Prosecutor General’s office regarding the circumstances under which a construction firm, Cogeelec, which had initially not participated in the tendering process for the rehabilitation of the Gatumba-Rubavu road in Ngororero District, was awarded the tender. The tender is said to have been won by Enterprise Ecogl. According to sources in Ngororero, this move irked many local authorities as it flouts the standing rules on the awarding of government tenders. Ends

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Run-away mayor finally arrested