By David Himbara
Your Excellency Paul Kagame, I am raising once again the issue of how the Rwandan pension funds are being abused. The law is very clear on this matter. Article 9 (of the law that set up the Rwanda Social Security Board (RSSB)) on ‘Incompatibilities with the membership of the Board of Directors’ states:
“Members of the Board of Directors shall not be allowed to perform any remunerated activity within RSSB. They shall also not be allowed neither individually nor companies in which they hold shares, to bid for tenders of RSSB.”
How then does Alias Baingana who is the Chief Operating Officer of Crystal Ventures Ltd, which continously draws money from RSSB sits on RSSB? For example, Crystal Ventures Ltd used RSSB pension funds to create East African Granite Industries, and to purchase Ruliba Building Materials.
Mr President, as the Chairman of the ruling party, RPF, you are also the overall authority over Crystal Ventures Ltd, a private holding company owned by RPF. As President of the Republic who is supposed to look after the interests of all Rwandans, how then do you put the Chief Operating Officer of your private company onto the Board of RSSB sir?
Your Excellency, you cannot say you don’t know how Bayingana got on RSSB’s Board of Directors. Not only are RSSB’s directors appointed by the Presidential Order, so is senior management.
That is not all – in the supervising Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, the Permanent Secretary and national treasurer is Kampeta Sayinzoga, your youthful relative. In other words, Mr President, the accounting officer that supervises RSSB is also compromised.
Your Excellency, I put it to you that this is a rather messy business! Worse still, you have broken the laws of the land.
