Rwanda army expels 67 officers for gross misconduct
Thursday August 09 2018
RDF soldiers march at a past event. 67 officers have been dismissed from the army in a routine exercise to enforce discipline in the army. PHOTO | FILE
The Rwandan army has fired 10 senior servicemen and 57 low-ranking officers for gross misconduct.
The Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) spokesperson Lt Col Innocent Munyengango said on Thursday that the dismissed soldiers were facing indiscipline cases.
“Each one of them had an individual case but they all pointed to gross indiscipline,” Col Munyengango told The EastAfrican.
He said the sacking was done in accordance with military law and was approved at a Cabinet meeting chaired by President Paul Kagame on Wednesday.
Ten officers were dismissed through a presidential order while the 57 others through a ministerial order. The two orders were approved by Cabinet.
RDF said some of the violations included alcoholism, misdemeanours and being found guilty of crimes.
According to Presidential Order No 22/01 of 21/10/2016 establishing Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) Special Statute “any disgraceful, unacceptable and shameful action contrary to the RDF doctrine and laws thereof, can lead to dismissal.”
In addition, a court sentence exceeding six months can lead to dismissal from the army.
Recently, local media reported that two RDF soldiers from the elite presidential guard were involved in bar brawl in Kigali's Remera neighbourhood over a Rwf30,000 ($34) bet on a pool match that left one soldier stabbed to death.