Gasabo Primary Court, on November 15, gave a green light to the request of withdrawing the case against former Prime Minister Pierre-Damien Habumuremyi and agreed on settling his issue out of court. During the pronouncement, the presiding judge approved the proposal of Daniel Bizima of withdrawing his case against Habumuremyi over a complaint he had filed claiming that he rented out vehicles to transport Habumuremyi’s workers, but never got his payment worth Rwf3,200,000. During a hearing on November 2, Bizima’s lawyer told the judge that both parties had agreed to solve the issue amicably and requested to withdraw the case. By law, withdrawal of a civil case is the claimant’s right to announce the decision to withdraw a case he or she had instituted, subject to the respondent’s consent. The lawyer said that there was an agreement to pay in instalments over one year. Initially, the ruling was scheduled to be held on November, 10 but was postponed to today due to plenty of work from the judge. Habumuremyi was summoned by court early this month following a case filed by Bizima. In 2020, Habumuremyi was convicted and sentenced to three years in jail over the issuance of bounced cheques. The prosecution said Habumuremyi had issued bounced cheques worth Rwf170 million to different people on behalf of his Christian University of Rwanda, a private school he owned. After serving for one year and three months, Habumuremyi was released after he was granted presidential clemency and released on October 14, last year. While he was granted a pardon, he still had to clear all his debts. However, it’s been a year after his release, and has only managed to pay off a few of his creditors as sources say. Habumuremyi had been sentenced by the Nyarugenge Intermediate Court to three years in prison and a fine of Rwf892 million. He previously served as Education Minister and Rwanda’s representative to the East African Legislative Assembly. He was also Prime Minister between 2011 and 2014. He founded the Christian University of Rwanda in 2017. Habumuremyi also served as the Chairperson of the Chancellery for Heroes, National Orders, and Decorations of Honour (CHENO) until 2019.
