Hungry for Truth, Peace and Justice

Rwanda: A Citizen’s Weekly Open Letter to Paul Kagame-May 5, 2010

By Aimable Mugara
Rwanda Human Rights and Democracy
May 5, 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 15 weeks left before the elections. This is my eighth letter and there are 15 letters left. There are so many recent events involving the governance of our nation that would have been quite entertaining except that there are millions of people whose lives are affected by each of these events. This week I am really not sure where to begin. Perhaps by revisiting your trip to the university in Oklahoma state where it appears you had to leave in a hurry to avoid being served in the court case that was brought against you in the United States by the widows of the two presidents who were killed in April 1994? Or may be by recalling the Iwawa “Island of No Return” that the New York Times reporter brought to the world’s attention? Or the fact that 15 weeks before the presidential elections no campaigning has been allowed and the real opposition parties are still denied from registering by your government? How about the fact that the grave of the first ever president of the Republic of Rwanda was desecrated by your government by digging up his body and forcing his family to go burry him elsewhere? Plus, who can forget your senior adviser Mr. Michael Fairbanks who fraudulently published an article defending your human rights abuses but forgot to mention anywhere in the article that he is your senior advisor?

I must say I was totally shocked when I read in prominent media all around the world that you ran away from the university in Oklahoma to avoid process of service in the court case accusing you of being responsible for the deaths of President Habyarimana and President Ntaryamira and all the resulting crimes in the aftermath. In February 2004 you told BBC television that “anybody who wants to investigate me or try me, I have no problem with that”. On December 7, 2006 on BBC Stephen Sackur sensing that your change of mind, asked you “So what’s changed?” To which you responded “Yes, if anybody acting on a legal sound basis. That’s what I was talking about.” In Oklahoma you had a court acting on a sound American law and yet you ran away. This leaves the rest of us wondering, why is he running away if he has nothing to hide?

Regarding the New York Times’ Rwanda’s Island Prison article, I together with many human rights supporters around the world, was shocked by what I saw. I could not believe my eyes. I was very surprised that the Rwandan government tried to pass that off as a decent rehabilitation center. As opposed to an off-the-grid, away from the Red Cross’ ‘prying eyes’ prison that it actually is. Luckily, some people are still humane, so the New York Times journalist’s conscience was so shocked he could not help it but denounce that injustice when he returned home. The world needs more such champions who bear witness to the suffering of humanity and refuse to keep quiet about it.

15 weeks before the presidential elections in Rwanda, the political silence in the country is so deafening. I remember the last American elections when the candidates spent more than a year campaigning throughout their nation. Now, Rwanda has elections in 15 weeks and the candidates have not even been made public except the one lady who has been jailed by your government, conveniently just before the elections. This must be the biggest joke in the world. Like I said, all this would be quite funny, except that people’s lives and human rights are at stake.

As for your government digging up the grave of the first ever president of the Republic of Rwanda and having his body moved elsewhere against his family’s wishes, such actions speak louder than any words I could express. A government that has no respect for the departed, for the dead ones, is a government that I have no respect for.

Last but no least, we all saw how your senior adviser Mr. Michael Fairbanks fraudulently published an article defending your human rights abuses but clearly intentionally did not mention anywhere in the article that he is your senior advisor. Mr. Fairbanks tried to pass himself off as a neutral observer, simply an expert in African issues. I cannot believe that he thought nobody would catch on to the fact that he is your senior adviser and the fact that you have granted him Rwandan citizenship. Your senior adviser really must have contempt for people by thinking that everyone else is not smart enough to recognize him from his prior statements and activities.

Mr. President, I understand that this may be a challenging time for you. I can understand that nowadays everywhere you look it seems like all the cards are tumbling down. I really think that changing the nature of your government so that it abides by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, every single article, would go a long way in rehabilitating your image and of course ensuring a sustainable peace for Rwanda and the Great Lakes Region of Central Africa.

Aimable Mugara
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

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

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


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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

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posted by Mamadou Kouyate @ 9:27 PM