Habineza dissolves Olympics Committee

KIGALI - The longstanding feud between the Minister of Sports and the president of the Rwanda National Olympics Committee, has culminated in the suspension of the local committee’s executive. Sports Minister Joseph Habineza, attributed the dissolution of the Ignace Beraho-led committee to incompetence and over-staying in office having served their mandatory terms. RNOC’s chief Beraho was criticized for stubbornly refusing to step down. “Technically, his reign ran out back in April, so one wonders what he has been doing in office since,” Habineza wondered. Rwanda Automobile Club (RAC), the National Football Federation (Ferwafa) as well as the basketball and volleyball federations have been mandated with the running of the Olympics body till elections in December. The feud reached new heights recently when the Minister hounded Beraho out of a crisis meeting. The meeting was meant for all local sports federations and the National Olympics Committee, but Beraho wasn’t among the invited guests since the minister does not recognise him as the genuine RNOC president. According to the RNOC constitution, general elections for a new Executive Committee are supposed to be held three to four months after the Olympic Games, which means Beraho’s second and last term of office expired last December. Ends