A new ministerial order determining gross misconduct is expected to save Rwanda from being entangled in court cases related to public service management, the Minister of State in charge of Constitutional and Legal Affairs Evode Uwizeyimana has said.

Adopted by the Cabinet last week, the order is one of a set of ministerial orders that seek to facilitate implementation of the law regulating labour in Rwanda that was passed in 2018.

Uwizeyimana said this as he appeared before the Standing Committee on Social Affairs, on Tuesday, February 4, during a session in which the Ministry of Justice was responding to lawmakers’ questions over losses that the Government incurs because of court cases it lost over unlawful decisions that public institutions took in line with the management of public servants.

The losses stem from cases revolving around the dismissal of permanent staff, termination of contracts and failure to pay due compensation on time.

Between 2009 and June 2018, the Government lost cases that forced it to fork out Rwf1.5 billion, according to the 2018/2019 report by the National Public Service Commission.  

The ministerial order indicated grave misconduct that should not be tolerated in public service, which Uwizeyimana said include dishonesty in work, and forging data.

"We should not continue to retain an employee who is misusing public assets,” he said.

"We think that, once this ministerial order has started being implemented, the concern that people are fired in contradiction with the law will no more,” he observed, adding that even if the person in question goes to court they are bound to lose the case because the decision was based on the misconduct provided for in the law.

Referring to another ministerial order, he said that the Government wants to give labour inspectors the power to take a decision in line with public service management.

In some circumstances, an employee is dismissed with intention to prevent them from continuing to make losses to the Government, officials from the Ministry of Justice said.

In this case, the authority takes risk to pay them compensation based on court judgments that are relatively less than the damages they would cause if maintained in the position, which the Ministry of Justice described as "taking a lesser evil.”

However, lawmakers contended that whatever the situation, the law should be complied with in the case of public service management including firing employees.

Uwizeyimana said that generally, laws that have been enacted have been favouring employees more than the Government, a situation he said should be changed to benefit all equally.

"If you start the process to dismiss an employee in January, you realise that it will take up to June for the dismissal to be made, yet such a person is causing damage.

In that case, we say that the problem is such rules and procedures that are heavy, and they should be amended,” he said.

MPs Gloriose Uwanyirigira and Barthélemy Karinijabo concurred that it is not understandable why an employee is sacked without abiding by the law, yet officials claim that such a decision is taken in government’s interests.

"No one should be above the law. All the money that the Government lost in court cases should be recovered and used in public interests,” Kalinijabo said.

In addition, the Ministry of Justice wants that MAJ – the Ministry’s legal service officials based at district level – give their advice in any decision that is taken regarding firing an employee dismissal.

MP Christine Murebwayire, Chairperson of the Committee on Social Affairs, said that the strategies that the ministry has taken are good and could prevent future losses to the Government, but indicated that efforts should be made to stem the losses caused so far.

"Assess the losses for which there are valid underlying reasons, and separate them from those for which you realise that the money can get recovered because circumstances under which they occurred. And you will have to give us the timeline for when you will have done that,” she takes the Ministry of Justice.

According to the National Public Service Commission’ assessment, in the last financial year (2018/2019) alone, 12 public institutions were taken to courts and stood trial for 65 cases that were filed by 69 employees [who were appealing against injustice committed against them].

In those cases, the Government was obliged to pay over Rwf520 million that consisted of more than Rwf54.2 million in indemnities, and Rwf466.4 million to which the claimant public employees are normally entitled to get even when they would not seek legal action.