The Mayor of Rusizi District, on Friday, January 17, said he would ensure the payment of wages owed to citizens, who carried out road maintenance works 15 years ago. Alfred Habimana, who appeared before the Parliamentary Committee on Governance and Gender Affairs, said the district would also pay money owed to school suppliers from four years ago. ALSO READ: Govt to settle expropriation arrears by end 2025, says minister He responded to issues that contained in the report of the Office of Ombudsman for the financial year 2023/2024, which highlighted that the district was answerable to more than Rwf66.7 million in arrears. He said the process to pay the arrears had began on Thursday. Among other issues, the report indicated that eight residents in Bweyeye Sector of Rusizi District, carried out works for the maintenance of Matyazo–Mudasomwa road in 2010, but they had not received Rwf722,000 they were owed by a company called ECOBARUS which employed them. According to the report, the company explained that it had left Rwf1.9 million under the Rusizi district management, which it said would be used to clear the arrears. As a recommendation, the Office of Ombudsman requested Rusizi District to address the issue so that the residents get paid. Another issue involves more than Rwf66 million that Giheke TSS, a public technical school in Rusizi owes in arrears to 12 people who supplied food to the school, and nine companies that supplied equipment. The Office of Ombudsman requested the leadership of Rusizi District to support the school to pay the arrears. ALSO READ: Public procurement still marred by payment delays Regarding the amount owed to the residents for road maintenance, Mayor Habimana said that, on Thursday, January 16, the district had sent the amount in question to the Bweyeye sector latter transfers it to the local Umurenge SACCO to process the payment to eight citizens. However, MP Etienne Mvano Nsabimana argued that the payment process initiated after 15 years had been influenced by the Ombudsman’s report. He wondered what would happen had the Ombudsman not intervened. For MP Germaine Mukabalisa, the payment for the arrears should not have taken so long. “I don’t understand how the district received the Ombudsman’s report in July [2024], and had 15 citizens it owed money, and Parliament invited you, and you prepared the journey and came before paying the citizens,” she said, adding that the district should have treated the matter with a sense of urgency. Mayor Habimana told MPs that the Bweyeye sector leadership had informed him that the money reached the respective Umurenge SACCO accounts of affected residents. “All the residents have been paid,” he said, showing photos of their bankbooks to MPs as proof for the money transfers. Other officials in the district said that the delay in paying the arrears was due to lack of understanding between district official and the company, indicating that the latter claimed to have left Rwf1.9 million under the district’s management to help clear the amount due without the required documents justifying that. The parliamentary committee was told that the district had asked the company to look for the required documents to shed light on the claim of Rwf1.9 million, adding that the money it used to pay the residents was taken from funds meant for road maintenance. For the money owed by Giheke TSS, Habimana said that the school’s inability to clear the arrears stemmed from the fact that the Ministry of Education had not sent students to study at their school as a boarding establishment, which limited its ability to collect school fees, as it expected and would use the money to pay the suppliers. To address the issue, the mayor said that the district had paid Rwf20 million of the Rwf66 million from its budget, adding that it was also looking for means to pay the remainder. MPs urged the district to expedite the settlement of the arrears, saying that the delay negatively affects the living conditions of the citizens and suppliers.
