Prof. Nshuti Manasseh, the so-called advisor to the President, and one of the dormant partners (read shareholder) in Kagame’s companies around the world recently treated the world to a new revelation in one of the many propagandist articles he writes in the state sponsored, The New Times. The former Finance minister insinuated that the exiled former director of external security in Rwanda, Col. Patrick Karegeya aided wanted genocide suspect, Felicien Kabuga to escape.
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| Gen Kayumba Nyamwasa |
The professor was a few days later, supplemented by two other military officers, Brig. Richard Rutatina, Kagame’s security advisor and Jill Rutaremara, the defence spokesman who in a joint statement said thus; “At one time when the security agencies were closing in on Kabuga in Kenya, it was Karegeya who tipped him off to escape in return for large sums of money,"
The two who have been instrumental in the campaign to smear the two exiled generals, Kayumba Nyamwasa, the former army Chief of Staff and Patrick Karegeya, added that Karegeya was connected to Kabuga through his daughter. Kabuga is Kigali’s most wanted man for his connection to the 1994 tutsi genocide and is believed to be in Kenya.
Now, while, it’s logical for the honourable generals and the professor to defend the regime that feeds them, the behaviour and utterances of some of Kagame’s aides and many of Kigali’s propagandists these days, begs serious questions;
For the record, I’m not any way a spokesperson of the accused Karegeya, much as I’m not one of Kigali’s blind supporters and propagandists; I only want to see people giving us factual information or else, they give us a break;
For those who have already forgotten, and those who do not know, Karegeya was the Director of External Security between 1994 and 2004. After that, he was briefly appointed the Director of corporate affairs, shortly before he was arrested, released and arrested again-serving an 18-month sentence, for the charges of desertion and insubordination. That, we know.
He fled on November, 22, 2007, after serving his sentence. The professor and the two RDF officers loyal to Kagame say, Karegeya accepted Kabuga’s money and sabotaged his arrest in 2003.
Now, six years after he left the office which he is alleged to have used to tip off Kabuga in return of money and three after he fled Rwanda after being charged with insubordination and desertion, we are told that he committed such a high profile crime of treason by aiding a wanted man to escape.
The primary questions here are; why wasn’t Karegeya charged with this crime? How could Karegeya have been charged with insubordination (disrespecting the orders of the Chief of General Staff) and desertion, when he had committed such a high profile crime that could have kept him in jail for good in Kigali?
But before that, how did Karegeya manage to stay in the position of chief spy (until 2005), when in 2003, he helped a man he should have captured to escape? Was the Kagame in charge or he wasn’t? How do the generals and the respected Professor expect any sober human being to believe that Karegeya was kept in there after committing the crime that we are being told now? And then, six years later, who is Kabuga’s informer? Kagame? He surely should have been arrested now, he has no informer!
Those are questions that the Kigali propagandists should expect people to ask; but at worst, people won’t ask, but will just see how some of Kagame’s aides have gone so low and/or brainless in trying to defend the Kigali regime that is on the ropes after the UN report and the revelations of the exiled former RDF officers. Indeed, the deficiency of logic about the connection between Karegeya and Kabuga also leave room for serious doubt about the allegations that the two officers are in touch with FDLR.
As usual, the allegations seem to be aimed at diverting the international community notably the US and UK from the accusations levelled at the Kigali government. At first, the two generals were linked to grenade attacks in Kigali, with Kigali issuing arrest warrants for them. But a day before Kayumba left Rwanda, the grenades had been linked to FDLR, with the police announcing that, some culprits have been arrested and confessed. But, we were later told that, the two dissident officers were behind the attacks.
Besides the Kabuga issue that raises all those questions, a few more revelations from Nshuti made me take a step of even questioning his ‘professorship’; in his serialised article in the New Times, he questions Karegeya’s nationality; yes, that he is not Rwandese. Now, what does nationality have to do with the bigger picture here?
Karegeya fought for Rwanda’s liberation and thats the most important thing, isn’t it? Look, Prof, Che Guevara was not Cuban, Bolivian or Congolese but Argentine; has it stopped him from being a hero to the people of these countries? It certainly hadn’t. With all respect, such reasoning casts doubt on your ‘professorship’, Mr. Nshuti. And indeed, it’s been questioned by some genuine professors, in some reactions I have read; which Universty awarded it? And a couple of other questions have been raised; we can live that for another day.
It only reminds me that Mannasseh came to Rwanda to be a minister, and now he has the audacity to question the credibility of those who made it work for him.
In the absence of logic and facts in the accusations against the generals, one cannot help but conclude that the allegations are just another of the fabrications by the Kigali regime on potential critics. The revelations from Kigali only come after the two officers together with other key former RPF officers stated that, there was a dire need for governance reforms in Rwanda, challenging the autocracy of President Kagame, in a higly publicised document, titled ‘Rwanda briefing’.
The document proved to be a real ‘kick in the teeth’ to the Kagame regime from the RPF founders, and the regime has been out and out to smear the generals, as it looks. But, the fabrications and the apparent lack of substance and reality in the defence of Kigali is a reason for Rwandans to worry about the strength and credibility of the Kagame regime.
It’s clear that it’s all about diverting people from the reality that the exiled officers wanted the world to see-and the usual motive of wanting to destroy critics of the escalating authoritarianism in Kigali.
It is especially true when you consider the many times the Kigali government has tried to smear its critics accusing them of denying genocide, working with FDLR and other sorts of rubbish. Lady Victoire Ingabire is in jail on the charges of facilitating FDLR; that she funded them with USD 1000; imagine such an allusion? If it was the reverse, that Ingabire received that much from FDLR, I would be tempted to accept, but as it is, it’s a joke.
I mean, Ingabire funding FDLR or vice-versa? Next is Paul Rusesabagina, of the Hotel Rwanda fame, who the Kigali government says is also on the list of FDLR supporters-and then all of Kagame’s critics are genocide deniers and FDLR activists-sheer stupidity as Karegeya put it when asked by the writer about it.
He (Karegeya) actually said, he considers challenging those making such utterances in a court-yes, may be, it’s time such they were challenged to substantiate their claims, but the very notion of fabricating accusations against critics of the despotic regime in Kigali is getting old-fashioned, isn’t it? I only hope the exiled officers won’t be deterred by the fabrications from continuing to expose Kagame’s autocracy.
They have realise that they (Karegeya, Kayumba, Gahima and Rudasingwa) raised national issues of importance to Rwandans, and the Kigali ‘backing dogs’ are only responding with native and fabricated issues that shouldn’t stop a worthy cause. Rwandans, however silenced they are, are able to make a distinction between a cockroach and a grasshopper, don’t they?
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