All along we have been saying that Rwanda is a one man country and yesterday the Transparency International Rwanda Boss Ingabire Immaculee told the Voice of America that the list of corrupt officials published by the Minister of Justice Mr. Johnston Busingye missed an opportunity of seriousness of the RPF regime on corruption.

The Transparency International Rwanda chief argued that it is incomprehensible that only district and department officials of different ministries were the only government officials implicated in the corruption.  “Where are the big fish,” she wondered?  She gave an example of the corruption in the Rwandan National Security Board (RSSB) where houses were built but many of them were either sub-standard or were not delivered at all, yet big officials signed that they have been completed.

She further said that most roads that are constructed by some big domestic companies have demonstrated a short life span contrary to the contract of warranty. According Ingabire Imaculee it is not about incompetence but a planed syndicate of corruption of the highest order.   Why a government official signs reception of a government funded project when it’s not worth the value? For example   most of the roads are substandard yet they have been contructed for huge sums of money and the government officials signed for them as fit for the purpose.  “Where are the culprits”? She asked.

In fact the list of 120 people who were convicted for embezzling almost 800M FRW with even someone accused of taking 5000 FRW from the government purse  is just a drop of water in an Ocean. According the Ministry of Justice representative Mr. PierreCelestin BUMBAKARE any government official who reckless takes the government into   unnecessary litigation will be held accountable for the financial consequences that will accrue from that litigation. Unfortunately the Ministry of Justice is not immune in those scandals. For example Mr. Johnston Busingye personally presided over the dismissal of the former Principal State Attorneys in what he called a transfer to the Law Reform Commission, yet  the transfer was not only unfair because it was selective and discriminative but was also  illegal.  Therefore, on Corruption RPF behaves like a good Dog that barks too much without bitting!

The Transparency International Chief was very careful in choosing her words because one of her employees was gunned down. Mr  Makonene Gustave in his early 30s, his body was found tied with a rope around the neck the RPF traditional style of killing its enemies. It is alleged he was attacked while leaving office on 17/07/2013. Ingabire Marie Immaculee the Chairperson of Transparency International Rwanda confirmed to the media that one of their staff in Rubavu district had been murdered saying they were saddened by this gruesome murder. However, since his death   no investigation has been done and the family of Mr. Makonene has been intimidated, eventually they have succumbed to the RPF intimidation they have put the death of their loved one in the bin or shelved it for the next government after RPF, because they cannot get justice from the courts of the real person who killed their loved one.

In Early August this Year unknown gunman attempted  to assassinate Ingabire Immaculee the Transparency International Rwanda Boss, fortunately she was not in the office at the time,  the police spokes person  Assistant Commissioner of Police Damas Gatare said Ingabire filed a case after that day on the alleged attack.

“Ingabire reported the alleged attack case to CID that day saying an unidentified man armed with a pistol, at about 11am, went to her offices and assaulted a security guard after she reportedly refused to give him contacts of Ingabire, who was apparently out of office,” ACP Gatare said.

“CID is investigating the case to know if this incident actually happened, who that person was and what his intentions were. People shouldn’t speculate or spread baseless rumours and there is nothing alarming,” ACP Gatare added in a statement. Why nothing is alarming after the death of her colleague?

As always Kagame says, cases that involve the RPF will die a natural cause, so are all the corruption cases that involve the big officials as the Transparency International Boss alleges. Why the list only comprises of the district officials to an extent of publishing a person who they say embezzled 5000 FRW? The answer is not hard to find, for example the RSSB the Transparency Chief is talking about was robbed by RPF officials coercing the former RSSB boss Angelique KANTENGWA who was recently arrested by Kagame on different charges to release money for his construction companies.  It is likely that this lady might be eliminated in the same way as Theogene Turatsinze the former RDB Boss or  Makonene Gustave the Transparency official respectively.

Its therefore not surprising that Mr. Busingye Johnston the Rwandan Attorney General is under instruction from Kagame the supervisor of RPF business empires that his agents are not put on the list as this would not only embarrass the Rwandan Head of State but hinder further international monetary flow in the Rwandan national budget that depends entirely on the international donors. The big companies that Ingabire mentions in her testimony to the Voice of America are owned by RPF. They do business on behalf of Kagame, for example the Real Contractors , Horizon, Crystal Ventures, Inyange Industries, are all owned by president Kagame. The British Financial times estimated to be worth 500M US $ in Sptember 2012 with a chain of Supermarkets and coffee shops (in Kigali, Boston, London, Washington and New York). RPF also retains a stake in MTN, the leading mobile phone operator in Rwanda.

As Ingabire Immaculee exposes the Kagame links in corruption it remains to be seen what will happen to her because by pointing a finger to the source of corruption, she risks being the next target of Kagame hit men like Gen. Jack Nziza and his group. Indeed, it’s crystal clear that the absence of big fish on the corruption list is preventing RPF from accusing RPF of corruption.

Jacqueline Umurungi