Handover: Murekezi shaking hands with Habumuremyi, Binagwaho looks on.

Anastase Murekezi has replaced Dr. Pierre Damien Habumuremyi as prime minister. This was announced this afternoon in a statement released by the Office of the President.

Previously, Murekezi had been minister of public service and labour.

Reacting to his new appointment, the prime ministerial appointee tweeted on his Twitter handle @amurekezi, “It is a great honor for me to have been appointed Prime Minieter by H.E @PaulKagame, President of the Republic of Rwanda. I cannot thank enough H.E @PaulKagame for having appointed me Prime Minister. ‘My new appointment gives me a unique opportunity to keep serving my country (Rwanda) and Rwandans all of us working hard together”.

Reacting to his removal from the post, the former Prime Minister tweeted “My sincere gratitude to @PaulKagame & RPF for the trust bestowed on me when I was appointed PM and all of you who supported me. God bless u (sic)”.

Apparently Habumuremyi has requested for God to bless Paul Kagame who appointed him as PM

Dr. Habumuremyi has been prime minister since October 7, 2011 after replacing Bernard Makuza. He was formerly the Minister of Education.

Cabinet reshuffle imminent

According to the Rwandan Constitution, the entire cabinet must resign as a result of the prime ministerial shake up. Article 124 states: ‘The resignation or vacation of the office of the Prime Minister on account of any reason shall lead to resignation of other members of the Cabinet. The President of the Republic shall receive the resignation of the Cabinet when it is submitted by the Prime Minister. During such period, the Cabinet shall only deal with routine business until a new Cabinet is appointed’.

President Paul Kagame on Wednesday afternoon appointed Anastase Murekezi, Minister of Public Service and Labor to step in the shoes of the outgoing premier.

Habumuremyi has served as Rwanda’s premier since October 2011.

Impeccable sources told this website that a cabinet reshuffle is imminent, with top ministers expected to be replaced.

Government officials refused to go on record over this development, saying a statement will be issued soon.

He becomes the fifth Premier since 1994 after Faustin Twagiramungu, Pierre Celestin Rwigema, Bernard Makuza and Habumuremyi. However, Murekezi confirmed his new assignment, saying, “My new appointment gives me a unique opportunity to keep serving my Country Rwanda and Rwandans all of us working hard together.”On his official Twitter account, Murekezi described as a “great honour” for him to have been appointed Prime Minister by President Kagame.

 

“I cannot thank enough President Kagame for having appointed me Prime Minister,” he added. Habumuremyi also took to Twitter to speak out on being removed from office: “I am grateful to HE for having entrusted me with the responsibilities of being PM of this nation, and I thank all of you who helped me execute my duties.”

Who is Habumuremyi?

Pierre Habumuremyi was born in 1961 in Ruhondo, Musanze District. He studied in a number of countries, including the Democratic Republic of the Congo, France and Burkina Faso.

He obtained a B.Sc. in Sociology, before completing his post-graduation at the University of Lubumbashi in 1993. He then completed M.Sc. in Political Science from the Panthéon-Assas University in 2003.

He holds a Ph.D. in Political Science, having completed his research at the University of Ouagadougou during 2006-2011.

Career

Pierre Habumuremyi started his career as an academic, serving as the assistant professor at the National University of Rwanda from 1993 to 1999, and also served as a lecturer at the Kigali Independent University and the Kigali Lay Adventist University during 1997-1999.

During this period, he also worked as a project coordinator at German Technical Assistance programme (GTZ Kigali) during 1995-1997 and a Senior Project Manager for the Catholic Relief Services during 1997-2000.

 

From 2000 to 2003, he was the Deputy Executive Secretary of the National Electoral Commission of Rwanda, after which he served as the Executive Secretary until 2008. Habumuremyi was elected as one of Rwanda’s nine representatives in the East African Legislative Assembly on 11 May 2008. He was succeeded as Executive Secretary of the National Electoral Commission by Charles Munyaneza in July 2008.

Habumuremyi was subsequently appointed to the Rwandan government as Minister of Education in May 2011, replacing Charles Murigande. He was appointed as the Prime Minister on the evening of 6 October 2011. His appointment came as a surprise to many, given his relatively low profile on the political scene. He has written a book The Political integration in Rwanda after the 1994 genocide: Utopia or Reality, which was published by the Palotti Press (Kigali) in 2008

 

Even though Mr Murekezi was appointed Premier his career has been under fire at times, a couple of years back the Parliament set up a committee to investigate and compile a report, within two months, detailing the irregularities identified in the Ministry of Public Service and Labour.

The outcome of the report was to determine whether the House would move to cast a vote of no confidence against the Minister of Public Service, Anastase Murekezi.

This was followed by a report, compiled by a parliamentary ad hoc committee that revealed various irregularities within the public service sector.

Minister Murekezi had previously, on two occasions, appeared before the parliament to explain why the numerous problems in his office were not being addressed. His explanations were rejected by the MPs, who then set up the ad hoc committee to investigate further and report back to the House.

The committee, chaired by Alfred Gasana, presented its report to the Parliament, concluding in its findings that Murekezi was not in position to solve the long-standing issues within the public service.

Gasana’s committee accused the Minister for violating article 181of the constitution by allowing some government entities to recruit employees without going through the Public Service Commission.

Some of the entities mentioned include Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA), Rwanda Development Board (RDB), National Bank of Rwanda (BNR) and National Human Right Commission (NHRC).

The commission’s report indicated that the Minister admitted to being incompetent to handle some of the problems that fall in his port folio.

The report noted that the Minister continuously contradicted himself and lied to the MPs when being questioned.

“There are blame-games going on between the Ministry of Public Service and Labour and the Public Service Commission regarding the failure to implement some policies,” reads the report.

Regarding issues related to recruitment procedures, the report indicated that the minister lied to the commission that the President gave him orders to issue a decree that had not been approved and nullified a law that was that was still valid.

Following the presentation of the report, several MPs became furious and requested for a motion to pass a vote of no confidence against the Minister.

“If a full cabinet minister admits to his incompetence, that clearly means that he shouldn’t be part of the cabinet,” MP Jean Thierry Karemera said.

“He admits he is incompetent, he admits his errors, he contradicts himself, I am just eager to vote him out of cabinet,” said MP. Jean Damascene Murara

MP Françoise Mukayisenga, said; “I wonder whether the Minister knows the gravity and seriousness of the issues he is facing…what is this that he is doing? I personally want him out.”

MP Alfred Kayiranga described the minister arrogant and irresponsible. However despite the lawmakers’ call for a vote of no confidence against the Minister, Parliament’s internal rules and regulations indicate that another investigation must be conducted to compile the list of the irregularities, prior to the vote.

The investigative committee was set up and given a mandate of two months to produce their report. MP Gasana will head the committee.