Bidders for a tender to collect taxes from Rubavu District are petitioning the Office of the Ombudsman claiming the selection process was fraudulent.

The group accuses the tender-selection committee of disregarding rules and regulations and delaying to announce results.

"We presented our case to the Ombudsman and they said our concerns were legitimate. We were promised that a follow up would be done,” Innocent Nizeyimana, one of the petitioners, told The New Times.

The tenders were for collection of taxes from various tax payers, including market vendors, taxi-motocyclists and cyclists.

The petitioners accuse the committee of awarding the tender to an inexperienced bidder, contrary to the stipulated requirements.

"All this chaos is due to the corruption tendencies in the district tender committee and leadership,” Nizeyimana alleged.

"Due to influence peddling, people who owe money to the district are not eligible to participate in the tender process, but one, Amin Francois, went ahead to even win a tender which is against the law since he owes the district”.

However, in an earlier interview with Basil Tuyisenge, the district procurement officer, he said that all rules and regulations were followed.

"Before people cite influence peddling, they should read the laws governing tenders because everything we did was within the confines of the law,” Tuyisenge said.

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