The East African Court of Justice on Thursday, June 18, dismissed the case in which a Rwandan citizen sued Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority (RURA) for alleged unlawful suspension and later dismissal from work. The first instance division of the court dismissed the case and held that the defendant’s termination was pursuant to a performance appraisal exercise and was in compliance with Rwandan domestic law, according to the court ruling seen by The New Times. The applicant is identified as Erick Kabalisa Makala, a Rwandan citizen resident in Kigali. Kabalisa alleged to have unsuccessfully sought assistance from different state departments to prove that the reasons mentioned in his dismissal letter were groundless. He also alleged he was never informed about his presumed misconduct for him to defend himself. The Applicant challenged the decision over his suspension and termination from service for allegedly being illegal. But according to the Courts judgement, which The New Times has seen, the fact that other members of staff with similar or lesser qualifications might have been retained while the Applicant was dismissed would not necessarily amount to a Constitutional indictment on RURA. We do also observe that the Applicant was (alongside other staff) subjected to a performance appraisal. Without the benefit of the performance appraisals of the retained staff, as well as the job designations to which they were retained, we cannot impute unequal treatment on the part of RURA in contravention of Article 16 of the Rwandan Constitution, reads part of the judgement. In the case, the respondent was represented by the Attorney General of Rwanda.
