RWANDA:The Untold Stories: Rwandans should stand up against the dictatorship of RPF and its leaders or else will perish one by one

Kagame and the regime of RPF have failed to address the most pressing issues of Rwandans and instead is busy cracking down on people perceived to have different ideological position.

Sen Kantarama Penelope

Whereas many Rwandan media outlets have written on Senator Kantarama Penelope to have resigned, the political pundits have argued that this lady had actually been pushed for supporting the idea of President Kikwete of Tanzania advising Kagame and RPF regime to sit with the FDLR on the same table and talk peace.

Rwanda lacks vibrant and independent Civil Society groups which could probably put pressure to Kagame and his regime to change the course of dictatorship to democracy. Indeed, many Civil Society groups which are independent have either been dissolved or neutralised .It is in this regard that LIPRODHOR was recently torn apart by the RPF regime and its members replaced with the RPF Cadres.

Kagame has put in place a killing squad where every day in the country you hear people killed and the perpetrators of these heinous crimes have never been brought to book.  The government on the contrary has argued that the killings are carried out by bad guys (abagizi banabi), whether the government’s augments is true or not, it raises many questions. Has the government lost control of its security forces or incapable of keeping law and order?  Why has the government failed to bring to justice these criminals?

The so called political parties in Rwanda have been dwarfed by money and intimidation to an extent where one of their own could be sacked and they keep quite without a fight from their political and ideological bargain in the so called coalition government.  Indeed, the recent sacking of Senator Penelope Kantarama was no surprise to many because as I have mentioned above she had a view that the RPF led government should sit on the same table with FDLR and other political parties that have opposed the Kigali regime and talk peace as President Kikwete had proposed, however, this is a pill that tests bitter to Kagame and his clique, Kagame like other African leaders, it seems obvious that he seeks to maximise power. The idealised leader whose primary objective is to serve the nation is often a figment of ourimagination but in reality Kagame has enriched himself and his family. Indeed, Kagame has promoted clientelism (redistribution of state assets to select few friends in return for political allegiance and support), abuse of state resources (granting licenses, land, rights etc) and centralization of power. A good number of influential people were co-opted those who opposed such as Ingabire Victoire, Bernard Ntaganda,, Deo Mushayid have been incarcerated and others have fled the country; Kagame like his counterparts in Africa has resorted to wide spread abuse of power- he has used or is using judiciary and security forces as his own companies for his own political interests..

Just recently one of the Rwandan tycoons Rugiro Ayabatwa who actually contributed dearly during the RPF struggle has lost all his properties to the RPF regime simply because he fell apart with Kagame and he has threatened to confiscate all his properties using his own courts and laws. Shamelessly, he has invoked abandoned property law to properties which are not abandoned, but interestingly his courts will have no alternative but to implement the orders of the Rwandan dictator. Similarly, peasants have been forced to grow one crop not because the crop is beneficial to them, instead will feed the Kagame companies like that one in Kayonza which will be producing food for sale to himself and in return to the so called malnutrition children and portray himself as the saviour unknowingly to the communities that it’s their money that has been milked from them.

Apparently, the scheme of growing one crop has been spread to the villages as the gospel of Mathew and Luke, if you go to places like Bugarama in Rusizi District and other places where they grow rice, the peasants cannot eat rice the crop they are told to grow. They are told to sell the Rice to Kagame cooperatives who in turn sell it to other big agencies and peasants are left to starve. The poverty in the villages is beyond imagination but the peasants are told to say that everything is well and anyone who tries to say something critical to the government is dealt without mercy.

Kagame regime has created a regime of fear and state sponsored terrorism, where his security forces will organise or plan murder then they will behave as if some other elements have been involved, the recent grenade attacks in the City, or fire in Gikondo were not by wrong elements outside as the police spokesperson wanted the public to believe, but a well planed massacre by the state agency. Take for instance the killing of the Vice-President of the Green Party in 2010, up to this day; the killers have never been brought to justice.  Again the assassination of the former advisor to President Pasteur Bizimungu was a shock to many as this man was a survivor of genocide and ally to the RPF establishment but the Rwandan Community has never known the perpetrators of this cowardly act. This is just a drop of water in an ocean, but many have been kidnapped or just disappear at the hands of the state.   This is therefore a call for all Rwandans to unite and fight the monster or the monster will take one by one until no one is left to tell the story.

Jacqueline Umurungi                      
Brussels.