Researcher fears government tender will sabotage his PhD

A researcher and part-time employee of the University of Rwanda has petitioned a parliamentary committee over what he alleges is the sabotage of his research, a study on fish in Lake Kivu, by the infrastructure ministry.

Philippe Munyandamutsa, who is currently pursuing his doctor of philosophy through Ghent University in Belgium, has argued that the ministry seeks to award a tender that falls within his areas of research without his permission.

Munyandamutsa, a part-time lecturer at the University of Rwanda College of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, said his thesis proposal had been approved and some of his supervisors had been selected when he learnt that the ministry of infrastructure had issued a research tender, the specifications of which fell in line with his own research.

Munyandamutsa said a company comprising some of his colleagues (including some of his supervisors) had expressed an interest in bidding for the tender and would subsequently be applying some of the proposed findings of his research.

In a report, seen by University World News, by the parliamentary committee in charge of education, which discussed the petition on 25 June, the complainant said he was afraid that if the tender went through, his research would look as if it had been plagiarised and he would not be awarded a degree.

“The concerns were submitted to the ministry of education which seemed to understand the issue … However, the ministry tried assuring him that the infrastructure ministry’s research scope was not falling in line with his research, an answer the complainant said was not true since they were using the same laboratory,” the report reads in part.

Members of the parliamentary committee grilled the minister to achieve a clearer understanding of the issue.

“I don’t think the ministry understood the magnitude of this case. It seems they knew but did not bother attending to the person’s concerns, neither they did give him proper assurances. There is some kind of unfairness,” said MP Samuel Musabyimana, a member of the committee.

Legislators complained that answers they previously received from the ministry of education, which was supposed to consult its sister ministry (ministry of infrastructure) for a meaningful way forward, were not convincing.

“Earlier, we learnt that the ministry of education sought to meet the researcher in person but failed in the process … the person, while he does his studies in Belgium, he has been around for the past few months. The ministry can’t claim to have lost touch with the person,” said MP Veneranda Nyirahirwa, deputy chairperson of the committee scrutinising the petition.

In a brief comment on the issue, Dr Eugene Mutimura, Rwanda’s education minister, told lawmakers that he was aware of the concern and that his ministry was looking into the complaint in detail and would provide answers as soon as possible.

“I will take up Philippe’s issue personally and give our position as soon as possible, although initially I thought we were supposed to look at it from a joint committee level, but it shouldn’t take any longer,” he told lawmakers.

Last week the chairperson of the parliamentary committee, Agnes Mukazibera, told University World News that the ministry had provided answers but they were not yet official. She said the ministry would provide a written explanation about the resolutions arising from the petition.

By the time of going to press, the petitioner himself had not responded to repeated requests for comment.