Hungry for Truth, Peace and Justice

Rwanda: A Citizen’s Weekly Open Letter to President Paul Kagame-April 28

By Aimbale Mugara
Rwanda Human Rights and Democracy
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
April 28, 2010


H. E. General Paul Kagame
Office of the President
Republic of Rwanda
P.O. Box 15 Urugwiro Village
Kigali – Rwanda
Fax: +250 572431

Copy:

Prosecutor General
Martin Ngoga
National Public Prosecution Authority
BP 1328
Kigali – Rwanda
Fax: +250 589501

Commissioner General Emmanuel Gasana
Rwandan National Police
Kigali – Rwanda
Fax: +250 586602

Chief Executive Officer
Editor-in-Chief
The New Times Publications SARL
Immeuble Aigle Blanc
P.O. Box 4953
Kigali – Rwanda


A Citizen’s Weekly Open Letter to General Kagame, President of the Republic of Rwanda

Dear General,

There are 16 weeks left before the elections. This is my seventh letter and there are 16 letters left. By now, anyone who thought that Rwanda could have anything remotely similar to real presidential elections this August must acknowledge what is actually taking place. Any hopes of having free and fair elections in Rwanda this August have vanished. Opposition politicians have been threatened, physically attacked, jailed, their electronic equipment and files stolen by the police, denied from registering their parties, you name it, they have encountered any kind of imaginable obstacle that any seasoned dictatorship would dare concoct.

A recent debate has risen on whether the European Union should even bother sending election observers to a place where there is clearly no freedom of the press, no freedom to campaign, no freedom of association, where many of the very basic requirements for a genuine election are simply not there. Some have said that there is no point to have these observers because it implies that there may actually be an election when in reality what will be taking place in Rwanda this August is nothing short of a pre-determined royal coronation. I personally think the observers should be there. They should be there to document this coronation, for posterity’s sake. Just in case anyone years from now calls it an election, there needs to be documented evidence that it was nothing close to what any human-rights respecting person would consider to be an election.

Just when we thought nothing could go worse in Rwanda, on April 24th the world learned with shock that Human Rights Watch researcher Carina Tertsakian left Rwanda that day after your government refused to renew her visa. This despite appeals from several champions of human rights from all over the world. One has to wonder what kind of government chases away genuine human rights researchers. What is it that this government is trying to hide from the world? What is it that such government does not want anyone to witness? Mr. President, remember that this is 2010, not George Orwell’s 1984. The world is watching, even when you kick out the witnesses.

On April 27th, Voice of America reported that Georgette Gagnon, Human Rights Watch Africa Division Executive Director said that your government has become critical of Human Rights Watch, has obstructed its work frequently and attacked it in state-run media. Ms Gagnon said that “We have been documenting human-rights violations in Rwanda for a long time. And over the past few years we have seen an increase in political repression, the closing of political space and the silencing of any critic or independent voice.” Mr. President, if you think that kicking out of Rwanda the researcher for this world-renown human rights organization will stop the world from knowing what is taking place in the country between now and August 2010, I think you are mistaken.

Ms Shirin Ebadi, the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize Winner said “Democracy doesn’t recognize east or west; democracy is simply people’s will. Therefore, I do not acknowledge that there are various models of democracy; there is just democracy itself.”

Will your legacy be remembered as the people’s will, or will it be remembered as one man imposing his will on the people with the help of a few other armed men? Your choice.

Aimable Mugara
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Related Materials:
Rwanda: A Citizen’s Weekly Open Letter to Paul Kagame-April 21

Rwanda: A Citizen’s Weekly Open Letter to Paul Kagame-April 12

Rwanda: A Citizen’s Weekly Open Letter to Paul Kagame-March 29

Rwanda: A Citizen’s Weekly Open Letter to Paul Kagame-March 22

Rwanda: A Citizen’s Weekly Open Letter to Paul Kagame-March 15

Rwanda: Rhetoric and the politics of genocide

posted by Mamadou Kouyate @ 12:31 AM