It’s now almost five months since most of the street parking ticket vendors in Kigali city received their monthly salaries.

The vendors, working with Kigali Veterans Cooperative Society (KVCS) say they have been working under harsh conditions and payments have not been coming forth.

They allege that despite having taken their complaints to KVCS Director General Capt (Rtd) Emmanuel Kanamugire, there is still no positive progress.

"We have on many occasions presented our complaints to our bosses but they have always turned a deaf ear.

They have instead threatened to sack anyone who will not show up to work over the salary issue,” one of the workers who did not want to be named for fear of losing her job said.

"I leave my husband and children home every morning claiming that I am going to work but I always go back empty handed. It’s quite absurd that instead of telling us what the problem is, they instead threaten to fire us. This is the money we toil for and we are entitled to get,” she added.

The vendors say they have also been harshly treated by management.

The cooperative has about 150 members
They should be earning Rwf25, 000 monthly.

But the cooperative deducts Rwf400 daily which goes to their lunch contributions, bringing the monthly salary down to Rwf13000.

"Even the little we should be getting is not given to us---it’s high time concerned people intervene because our families are starving,” said another worker.

All the workers who were interviewed preferred not to be named for fear of repercussions.

When contacted, Kanamugire said that the cooperative has been having some financial problems which led to the delay of the workers’ salaries.

"It’s true they have not been paid for the last four months but we have started paying. However, we are not definite of when we will have paid them all,” Kanamugire said.

Ends