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Gov’t Losing Millions in Labor Lawsuits

by Daniel Sabiiti
9:26 pm

Angelina Muganza of Public Service Commission

The government of Rwanda is losing millions in court cases as a result of poor human resource management among civil servants, a new research has indicated.

A research released, on May 4 by the Rwanda Public Service Commission (PSC) indicates that between financial year 2012 and 2016 government had to pay Rwf524, 270 595 and $174 000 as a result of poor employee management and administration.

For example between 2015 and 2016, the report found that 22 districts and the city of Kigali were dragged to court in 56 cases which included 81 complainants. They lost 43(77%) worth Rwf173 850 563 and won 13 to be compensated with only Rwf3, 186,400.

Gicumbi district included the biggest number of complainants with 27 people followed by the city of Kigali with 11.

Among ministries, the report gathered information in eight ministries which were involved in 11 cases with 19 plaintiffs and lost eight of them (73%) paying Rwf32,599,745 and won three cases worth Rwf135 500.

Inside government parastatals, 74 cases were registered by 141 plaintiffs from 19 institutions and the government lost 54 cases (78.3%) worth Rwf284 291 086 plus $12,000.

The government was compensated with Rwf624, 950 in 20 cases they won.  Rwanda Correctional Services (RCS) could be the most involved with 64 plaintiffs, followed by Rwanda Water Sanitation Authority (EWASA) and Central Bank having 21 and 15 plaintiffs respectively.

At University of Rwanda and its colleges across the country 13 cases were registered and the institution lost 10(70%) out of them which resulted into a compensation of Rwf33 529 201 plus $5400 and was only compensated with Rwf731 250 in the three cases.

The report shows that the number of labor law violation lawsuits have increased over the past years as a result of ease of public services legal procedures.

PSC Executive Secretary, Angelina Muganza told local journalists yesterday that “this has largely been caused by lack of knowledge on labor laws and directives among human resource management. Otherwise this is an uncalled for loss.”