Chaos as health NGO meeting is dispersed

Chaos ensued yesterday as police dispersed a meeting of a local NGO, Association Rwandaise pour le Bien Etre Familial (ARBEF), on the request of the organisation’s board.The extra-ordinary general assembly called to, among other things, elect a new board of directors, ended abruptly as simmering dissent, intrigue and longstanding wrangles that are eating up the local NGO, spilled into the public.ARBEF is largely involved in supporting reproductive health programmes.“I informed the police to stop the meeting because it was illegal,” Dr Osee Sebatunzi, the board president, told The New Times.The board accuses the Executive Director, Dr Laurien Nyabienda, of calling for a meeting yet he had no authority after the board sacked him. “What the board president is saying (the sacking) is not true because I am still in office; so what they did (stopping the assembly) was illegal and against the law,” Nyabienda said. He insisted the meeting had been convened in accordance with the organisation’s constitution.Emmanuel Shamakokera, who chaired the ill-fated meeting, said that article 39 of their statutes state that in case of urgent issues, an extra-ordinary meeting maybe called provided half of the general assembly is present.The meeting had attracted 45 members out of 60.The general assembly had been called to vote in a new board, with the current board accused of promoting intrigue and interfering in the daily management of the NGO.But Sebatunzi insisted the Executive Director flouted procedures.“The decision to fire him was based on a report by an independent commission that was set up to look into allegations that he mismanaged human resource, materials and finances of the organization,” Sebatunzi said.The report by the commission, composed of officials from the ministries of Health, Local Government, Profemmes, International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), the organization’s main benefactor, cited loopholes in the management of the organization, but never called for Nyabienda’s sacking. Sebatunzi noted that the board meeting of February 22 recommended that Nyabienda be relieved of his duties, and appointed Donatille Yankurije, his deputy (in charge of programmes) to act in his position. Nyabienda is alleged to have mismanaged the organization’s finances, human resources and materials, some of which he’s accused of taking to his home. He denies the accusations.But Thomas Sebikari, a treasurer in charge of the Northern Province said the executive director was asked to keep the materials after the organization failed to pay rent for the storage where the materials were kept.Jean Nepomuscene Zikamabahari, the president of ARBEF for the western region, who has been a member of the organization since its establishment in 1986, accused Sebatunzi of usurping the powers of the management, and creating conflicts between the management and the board.“We have come to understand that the board president was forcing the management to employ his relatives and is pushing for the sacking of the executive director,” he claimed.Nyabienda alleges that the board president and members who, he said, are related to each other have, on many occasions, interfered with the daily management of the organization. He accused them of sabotaging his action against the staff who contravened the organization’s code of conduct.However, the two warring parties later agreed to convene another general assembly next Saturday to elect a new board.

National

Chaos as health NGO meeting is dispersed