The Nyarugenge Intermediate Court on Friday 16, slapped the former Minister of State in-charge of Primary and Secondary Education, Dr. Munyakazi who resigned in February and has since been involved in a corruption related case after he was arrested for allegedly asking for an Rwf 500, 000 bribe.
The alleged bribe is said to have been from Abdou Gahima, the proprietor of Good Harvest Primary School so as to alter National School Examination results to rank the school among top 10 performers in the 2019, despite the school's poor performance.
While appearing in the same court in September, Munyakazi and Gahima said there is no evidence to prove that this alleged act happened.
However, prosecution brought out new details and evidence showing how the bribery deal was plotted, where the involved parties met at different hotel spots in Kigali before exchanging brown envelops and shaking hands.
According to the new evidences presented, Munyakazi was believed to be the middle man who handed over the cash to one Alphonse Sebaganwa- Head of the Department of Examination, Selection and Assessment at Rwanda Education Board (REB) to manipulate the actual school positions placing Good Harvest Primary School among the top performers.
During the September trial Munyakazi denied the allegations in the prosecution evidence and instead asked that the accomplice (Alphonse Sebaganwa) who informed authorities of the alleged bribery should also stand the same trial.
Based on this new evidence, the court overruled possibilities of having the whistleblower in court.
The Court found Dr. Munyakazi guilty based on evidence indicating his abuse of power and handed him ten years behind bars, and a Rwf10million court fine; his co-accused, Abdu Gahima got five years in jail and a court fine of Rwf1.5million, which is less or more the same as the earlier proposal by prosecution to hand him five years, and a fine of Rwf2million.
Munyakazi and his accomplice have five working days to consult with lawyers to appeal the sentence, which can be reversed, reduced, upheld, increased or cleared by another court based on the available evidence.
Nicole Kamanzi M.
Source : https://en.igihe.com/news/article/former-minister-dr-munyakazi-sentenced-to-10-years
