Rubavu District to sue traders for defamation

Rubavu District has threatened to drag some traders to court for allegedly tarnishing its image. The traders, who had submitted bids for a tender to collect taxes on behalf of the district, claim that the selection process was fraudulent and petitioned the Office of Ombudsman. Rubavu district Mayor, Sheikh Hassan Bahame, challenged the Ombudsman’s office to send a team to verify the claims. “I am happy that the Office of the Ombudsman knows about this issue. We shall show what the rules stipulate and after we are cleared, we will sue the losers for tarnishing the district’s name,” Bahame said. He advised prospective bidders to always be ready to accept the outcome of the process, saying that losing is part of the process. The disgruntled group first petitioned the District Tender Committee before seeking the intervention of the Ombudsman. “They lost legitimately because they didn’t meet all the legal requirements. May be they have personal differences,” Bertin Hamudura, a committee member said. “We called the losers and went through all the laws and requirements while highlighting their shortcomings, but they were not satisfied.” The chairperson of the tender committee, Makini Bigirimana, dismissed the corruption claims, saying higher financial and better technical bids were considered. “We considered companies that had the highest potential to collect more revenues for the district,” Bigirimana said. Ends

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Rubavu District to sue traders for defamation