AB Bank-Rwanda is fighting to save its corporate image following leaked private e-mail correspondences between two of its expatriate managers in which one proposes ‘monkey officer’ as a new title for one of their local employees after he reportedly refused a demotion.

‘Monkey officer’ is an unusual title for someone who works in a bank and to many people who have read the leaked e-mail correspondences interpreted it as racism.

AB Bank Rwanda (ABR) was established in 2013 jointly by Germany-based Access Microfinance Holding (Access Holding), the International Finance Corporation (IFC), KfW Development Bank and FMO, a Dutch development bank.

It has three branches around Kigali.

Commenting on the leaks, several of the bank’s staff separately told The New Times off the record that they often suffer racist remarks at the hands of their European bosses but didn’t have hard-evidence to seek justice.

They now hope that the leaks will help capture the attention of concerned authorities.

Jean Maurice Akheem Bwitonzi, the staff at the centre of the alleged racist attack, joined AB Bank from Equity Bank in 2013 on a three-year contract, worth Rwf450,000 a month, as head of Alternative Banking Platforms such as mobile money banking and agency banking.

The bank allegedly was expecting a grant to fund its alternative banking activities but this hasn’t materialised, allegedly leaving Bwitonzi’s salary and position untenable.

Akheem refused to take a demotion to Client Assistant, an entry-level position that comes with a pay-cut; the refusal seemingly angered his managers, who then apparently initiated plans to sack him.

However, cancelling Bwitonzi’s contract would either mean heavy compensation or a nasty court battle, both unwelcome to the bank – which is currently in court with two of its other employees who sued after wrongful dismissal a few months ago, with one case already disposed of in favour of the plaintiff (the bank is appealing).

The leaks

The leaked e-mail correspondences are in-house exchange about a management problem regarding an employee who, in the bank’s perspective, had become an unnecessary burden.

It all starts with Marijana Gurujic, AB’s chief of operations, who is also Akheem’s direct supervisor, apparently receiving an e-mail of Bwitonzi’s draft termination letter.

The original e-mail, under the subject ‘contract termination of Akheem,’ says; "Dear Marijana, please find attached a draft of Akheem’s (Bwitonzi) dismissal letter for your review.”

Marijana then forwards the e-mail to a one Arah Sadava, the chief executive, and Anne Gossner, the chief credit officer.

"He has refused to become a CA or have his salary reduced (as expected) and I see a lawsuit coming. But we cannot keep him doing his petty things at this salary. Let me know what you think,” writes Marijana on Monday, June 8.

In a lengthy response, Gossner expresses her fears of the consequences that could arise with the drastic dismissal measure.

"Before you hand this out, it would make sense to have this checked by someone who is more experienced in this; I had once mentioned a lawyer/legal advisor friend of mine who has dealt with many lawsuits in the private sector,” Gossner advises.

She suggests that they give him a customer service role to promote the bank at the cell and village level since the bank operates as a micro-finance institution.

"He might be too expensive for that, but this would still be cheaper than having to compensate him after we have lost the court case,” Gossner writes.

But then the downfall comes. It is Marijana responding, admitting she shares views with Gossner, and expresses her reservations about firing Bwitonzi.

She also welcomes Gossner’s proposal to put Bwitonzi in a customer service role at village level but expresses her doubts regarding ‘what positive’ he can bring if placed in such a role adding that she found him unnecessary.

"I would probably ask HR to change his job description to some ‘mumbo-jumbo’ officer so that he does not come up with ideas that we asked him to do things out of his job description,” Marijana writes.

It was at that point that Gossner shared her proposal that irked many people.

"How about ‘Monkey officer’…? That’s very positive from my point of view,” Gossner writes, ending with winking emoticon.

The email exchange was posted on http://imgur.com/a/oX5Z8

Crisis Meeting

At 3:36pm, on Monday, this journalist walked into the AB Bank headquarters in downtown Kigali and found a tense mood hanging over the bank’s corridors.

The bank was dealing with the immediate aftermath of the leak. A meeting that had started at 10am was still ongoing late in the afternoon. The bank believes Bwitonzi was behind the leaks and they were discussing his fate.

A request to talk to the bank’s chief executive was denied by an administrative assistant, who claimed that ‘the boss is not available.’ Efforts to talk to the bank’s human resource manager, a Rwandan, also failed.

The New Times only managed to talk to the bank’s legal advisor, a Rwandan, who also gave a short statement but on condition that her name is not mentioned in this article.

"We acknowledge that there has been a leak of confidential information about the bank, we don’t know who’s behind the leak but investigations are ongoing to get to the bottom of it,” said the legal officer.

Akheem’s story

The New Times found Bwitonzi pacing on the tiled floor of the Nyarugenge District headquarters reception area. He held a khaki envelope containing among others, his employment contract and suspension letterAkheem was there to seek counsel from the labour office.

A young man in his late 20s, Bwitonzi was visibly disturbed by events of the day. He had refused to meet us and even after meeting, he clearly looked uncomfortable.

He was dressed in a pair of jeans with a yellowish T-shirt carrying the bank’s logo.

With black rimmed eye-glasses, Akheem came across as an ICT officer, not ‘monkey officer’ as one of his bosses suggested.

"After what has come out on Twitter about AB Bank indicating leaked information on the bank e-mails, you have been suspended as investigations are going on, you will be called back,” reads the suspension letter signed by the bank’s CEO.

But Bwitonzi denies the accusations, telling The New Times that he was also shocked to read the leaked e-mails once they were in public domain.

Editors Note: The headline of the print version of this article read "Bank Manager suspended over leaked 'Monkey' email". We would like to clarify that It is not the manager who was suspended but the employee who was referred to as 'Monkey' in the email exchange the bank managers. 

editorial@newtimes.co.rw