In summary: Behind The Presidential Curtains highlights that, Col Patrick Karegeya preferred to be remembered through building on his foundation not continuous mourning, the legacy of Col Patrick Karegeya should be used as badge of legitimacy by the opposition. Readers do not get this article twisted, we all remember Col Karegeya every day but what is urgently needed is to maintain focus.

Col Karegeya

The death of Col Patrick Karegeya has triggered continuous mourning in the circles of the Rwandan opposition.  While the death of Col. Patrick Karegeya was a big loss to the Rwandan opposition and even those who sympathize with the Kigali regime, but the continuous mourning plays in the hands of the Kagame regime.

Majors Emmanuel Nkubana and Micombero with Leah Karegeya mourning

For many of us who followed and watched the Untold Story Documentary of the BBC TWO, Kagame and  his killing squad said that if you finish off the DUAL(Karegeya and Gen. Kayumba) you finish off the RNC in particular  and the whole opposition in general. We need to tell the Kagame and his likes that instead the death and the continued shooting of Gen. Kayumba make our resolve to resist the Kigali dictatorial regime stronger and stronger.

By killing Col. Patrick Karegeya, the Kigali ruling RPF Party orchestrated the fear it has against these Rwandan heroes, emphasizing that by eliminating them, Kagame leadership will live forever or longer. It was a mistake, in the wars that Kagame himself participated in Uganda and the war that brought him to power was not fought by individuals but by the collective determination and the ideology to fight dictatorship and the right of freedom.  For example, the first leadership of NRA that brought the President Yoweri Museveni to power lost its first President Prof. Yusuf Kironde Lule, its First Army Commander Sam Magara, did the death of the dual stop NRA from taking power in 1986?, NRA did not get stuck in mourning practice.

Indeed, President Kagame knows that the whole of the RPF first commanders died mysteriously, but the war continued because killing the commanders without killing the ideology and the just cause of the war, would be like visiting the deciduous trees in the winter when all the leaves are dry and you think the trees are dead.

The death of Col. Patrick Karegeya should inevitably stir our reflection as the opposition on the current strategy on the move to defeat the Kigali dictatorial regime.

His death should not in any way be a platform to show Kagame that we are orphans who cannot continue without him.  Col. Karegeya was one of our greatest sons of Rwanda who fought against the injustice not in Rwanda but in the whole of the region.

 

Therefore Col. Karegeya’s passing comes at the time RPF government is struggling against public dissatisfaction over corruption and faltering freedom of every Rwandan.

The only way of giving justice to Col. Patrick Karergeya and the meaningful mourning is working hard and uniting all the opposition to remove Kagame from Power. In fact Rwanda has lost many heroes including Seth Sendashonga and Col. Theoneste Lizinde who on the sport told Kagame that he is no different from the Habyarimana regime they had fought. Immediately Kagame ordered their elimination, therefore all these Rwandans should be mourned and avenged by working collectively to remove Kagame from power.

The defeat of the elite French forces in the Vietnam war under Gen .Giap  was fought by his jungle troops, clad in sandals made of old car tires, they besieged the French army. The French were defeated after 56 days, and the unlikely victory led not only to Vietnam’s independence, but hastened the collapse of colonialism across Indochina and beyond.

Even throughout the war against the United States, Giap was defense minister and armed forces commander, but he was slowly pushed aside after Ho Chi Minh’s death in 1969. The glory for victory in 1975 didn’t go to Giap. Likewise, the death of Gen. Fred Rwigyema and the unexpectedly rise of Major Paul Kagame to the throne of RPF, did not only make Kagame feel complex but also made him insecure because of many RPF commanders who were senior to him.

Gen. Giap stepped down from his last state post, as deputy prime minister, in 1991. But despite losing favor with the government, he became even more beloved by the Vietnamese people. As I have mentioned above, many RPF commanders who knew Paul Kagame like Col. Patrick Karegeya have been sidelined or killed.

Col. Patrick Karegeya a principled man, a lawyer, a soldier, a freedom fighter, many Rwandans love him, we need to strengthen our unity against the Kigali regime. Through his example, he has set the standard for service to country and mankind, whether we are individual or collectively we should continue to call on his legacy by striving to better serve to our fellow human beings and contribute to the betterment of our Rwanda and Rwandans, not continuous mourning, as this would just boost the morale of those who wanted him dead.

Noble Marara