Beraho suffers another setback

IF you thought that Beraho would go down so easily, you are dead wrong. Ten days after being thrown out of office, the former Rwanda National Olympic Committee (RNOC) boss yesterday dragged the government to High Court for what he called ‘illegal meddling’ in RNOC affairs. The veteran administrator accused the Sports Minister, Joseph Habineza of disbanding the RNOC executive, claiming that the decision was detrimental to the body’s day to day activities. He has now urged the minister to reconsider their action.“We want our office back. We also want our bank accounts to be freed,” he demanded. However, his case was dismissed owing to the fact that he did not have the legal documents indicating that he was indeed the head of the Olympic body. “We dismissed the case because he failed to present official documents backing him as the legal representative of the Olympic committee,” the clerk of the court, Jerome Imanirahari explained. Presiding judge Johnston Busingye also took to task Beraho to explain why the committee was not registered in the Official National Gazette but shot back reasoning that they were in the process of getting the necessary documents. He, however, said that RNOC had a statute which in principal grants them full powers from the International Olympics Committee (IOC). Despite the court’s move, Beraho insists that he was not giving up and would do everything within his means to get the official documents. “I’m not giving up. We need our offices up and running,” he told Times Sport shortly after being told that the case had been dismissed. Beraho was represented by his lawyer, Emile Nde Masumbuko while Attorney Aimable Malaala represented the government. Beraho together with his executive were thrown out of office by Minister Habineza on grounds of insubordination and overstaying in power. At the time, the minister wondered why Beraho and his executive were still in office yet their legal mandate had run out back in April. Until this point, it is still uncertain whether the IOC will take harsh measures against Rwanda on the pretext that there was government interference. Ends

Lifestyle

Beraho suffers another setback