Thierry Kayitankore Cyimana, the director of SOTRA Tours, a transport agency, was arrested on Wednesday, May 25, over uttering falsified documents according to police.

Cyimana is now detained at Kicukiro Police Station in Kigali.

The arrest comes after the Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority (RURA) on Monday evening revoked the operating license of SOTRA Tours over noncompliance with road transport regulations, a decision which took immediate effect.

Speaking to The New Times yesterday, Police Spokesperson in the City of Kigali, Superintendent of Police Emmanuel Hitayezu said that there was no immediate reason to conclude that the arrest was connected to the revoked operating license.

"We are still investigating; we shall see where the investigations lead us,” he said.

SOTRA is one of the companies that were dedicated routes in the countryside during the rearrangement of the public transport sector more than two years ago. It was transporting passengers on Kigali-Huye and Kigali-Rusizi routes.

RURA said the company had erred in many ways, including illegal change of transport fares, disrespecting due time, which always affected passengers.

Other irregularities included ambiguous shareholding structure, among others.

Emmanuel Asaba Katabarwa, director of road transport at RURA told The New Times yesterday that the regulatory body has given a one month period for the board members of SOTRA Tours to form and register another company and fulfill all requirements before they can ask for an operating license. He said this is intended to serve both the interests of the company directors, the drivers and the passengers.According to Katabarwa, SOTRA did not have enough buses and had resorted to renting out its line to other companies; a practice that the regulator said was unacceptable.

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