AfroAmerica Network
Kigali
04.29.01
Cronyism and greed have generated a power struggle within the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) leadership.
Two month ago Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) Secretary General Muligande chaired a meeting of the National Executive Committee (NEC) that decided to fire Rwandatel Managing Director Sam Nkusi. When Nkusi learned about this decision, he became furious.
Nkusi then spread a rumor among Rwandan Tutsi returnees from Uganda also known as abagande or Ugandans suggesting that Muligande had fled the country. Nkusi has close ties with Rwandan President General Paul Kagame. He is godfather to one of Kagame's children.
Kagame refused to fire his friend Nkusi. He instead appointed Nkusi Managing Director of Electrogaz, a state-run company that supplies electricity to the whole country as a replacement of Joseph Mugenga, a long time friend of Muligande.
Joseph Mugenga is a Rwandan Tutsi who hails from Nyanza, Butare. His wife was killed in 1994. He graduated from the National Pedagogic Institute of Rwanda (IPN) and the National University of Rwanda in early 1980s and very often traveled to in Burundi where he met Muligande, before getting an MBA degree at the Indiana University, South Bend, Indiana, USA. While in USA, Joseph Mugenga became closer to Muligande.
Recently Mugenga was appointed Managing Director of RAMA, and later on, suddenly thrown in jail. Sources close to Joseph Mugenga's family told AfroAmerica Network that when Nkusi took over Electrogaz, he found a deep hole in Electrogaz financial statements and illicit business deals authorized by Mugenga. It appeared that Mugenga misappropriated Electrogaz funds with the help of rogue businessmen from Nyanza, his hometown. Nkusi, finally getting the opportunity to take a revenge on Muligande, immediately asked Rwandan Attorney General Gerard Gahima to arrest Mugenga.
When Rujugira, the most prominent businessman in Kigali learned of Joseph Mugenga's arrest, he offered to pay off everything Mugenga is accused of embezzling. Rujugira is a also a Tutsi returnee from Burundi and a very close friend of Muligande's. So far, Gahima has turned the offer down and Mugenga is still in jail.
Nkusi himself is accused of embezzlement. From 1994 to early this year, there was no control to evaluate how Nkusi ran Rwandatel. A senior official in the Ministry of Finance says the company was run like a family business. Whenever Kagame wanted money, Nkusi would issue a check, the official added. This official told AfroAmerica Network that on two occasions he saw Nkusi hand a check to Kagame.
A Rwandan government official who asked not be identified says: "Today Rwanda is ruled by a Mafia. This Mafia controls the army, the police, the economy, and the people."
In the mean time, RPF continues to be rocked by internal rivalries between Tutsi from Uganda and others, Kagame's cronies and the rest of RPF leaders, low rank educated military officers and others. Corruption has arguably reached unseen levels in Rwandan history; the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo drags on and has created phenomenal fortunes for Kagame and his cronies while others, including the soldiers are starving.
Tutsi officers fighting in the Democratic Republic of the Congo continue to desert and flee the country in large numbers. Among those who recently fled and joined in exile an increasing number of disgruntled RPA officers are: Captain Frank Tenga, Major Fred Kwikiriza, Major Michael Mupende, and Major Furuma. Since April 7, 2001, other RPA officers have disappeared or thrown in jail, including Major Alex Ruzindana and Captain Vianney Butera.
Rwandans opposed to the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) has also been very busy creating political parties in exile, giving interview to international media, and recruiting new members. Among parties recently created are: RDR, led by Ms. Victoire Ingabire, ARENA, led by Professor Alexander Kimenyi, Inyabutatu, led by the former Rwandan King, Kigeli Ndahindurwa, and FDLR, a politico-military party led by Colonel Mutabazi .
Sources in Rwanda and abroad told AfroAmerica Network that among all political parties, Kagame is more concerned about any party with military options. Sources confirm that the Democratic Liberation Forces of Rwanda (FDLR) have been actively recruiting all over the country and the World, including the capital Kigali and seem to be very well organized both militarily and politically. This has prompted the Rwandan Patriotic Front militia, the so-called Local Defense Units (LDU) to massacre families suspected of supporting the armed political party, in early June 2000. Bodies of those massacred were dumped in the River Akagera. These massacres sent thousands of new refugees into Tanzania. Also, families and close relatives of RPA military officers who deserted are under constant persecution and surveillance by the notorious Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI).
(c)AfroAmerica Network, April, 2001.
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