Mama Ivan,

It is with great concern that I adress you this letter.

Seeing as your husband has silenced & sidelined all sound advice surrounding himself with yellow bellies and sycophants who cheer him on to maintain the comfort of the status quo they enjoy in the shade of his dictatorship, I feel compelled to ask you to awaken Afande from the slumber you have all cajoled him into; you are leading him to a dramatic demise.

Afande can no longer be the Shah who foots the bill for your court’s exuberance. He is not fit to rule another 20 years contrary to his assertion to Mr. Perelman. He can no longer deliver on his business debits and will soon have to face the ruthlessness of his loan sharks- the same he ironically ridicules as failing democracies on their international media platforms. It is painful to see Afande turning into the spectacle he has become for those of us who witnessed his capture of Kigali in 1994.

Mama Ivan, you would do good to organise a dignified exit for Afande while it remains in the realm of possibilities. The people of Rwanda, whose voice he denigrated during his recent interview with France24, is tired of the murderous and oppressive passive-agressiveness of his rule. Subjugated Rwandans may not dare your powerful republican guard or dare take to the streets tomorrow, but they now have powerful sympathizers who see an embarassing liability in the person of your president. Your trustees can no longer be trusted. They are readily conniving and working their way into the next administration.

Afande came, he saw, he conquered. It is time for him to retire from public life. It is time to allow someone to do something about his prisoners and to bring a new dynamic to Rwanda’s political space. Afande is his own enemy and you have always been his voice of reason, save him from himself.

Noble Marara