Hon. Member of Parliament,

 

I hope this letter finds you well. The reason I am writing to you is related to your recent visit to Rwanda, after which you tweeted that you met with Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza.

 

In your own words, you said: “Such an honour meeting you. Hope to see you soon.” Again, you tweeted: “huge respect for this woman,” in reference to Ingabire.

 

I also read your message that you had landed in Copenhagen after three intense days in Rwanda. Your description of Rwanda reminds me of how colonial explorers in Africa claimed to have discovered lakes, rivers and mountains, as if there were no people living on this beautiful continent. It is your right to visit Victoire Ingabire, as your personal friend.

 

However, the message your friend also published on her twitter account, shows that your visit was of a political nature. Ingabire claims to be a politician and a human rights activist.

 

Foreign politicians, Western media and NGOs, have decided to brand her as “a strong opposition politician and critic of President Kagame.” What your visit to Ingabire means to me, and many Rwandans, is that you profile Victoire Ingabire as a strong “politician” who should replace Kagame as the President of Rwanda, because, “Kagame’s government is not democratic and violates human rights.”

 

Hon. MP, let me remind you of a few things about Ingabire and Rwanda that you probably intentionally chose to ignore to know, as a politician. To majority Rwandans, she is not a representative of democracy or human rights. She deserves no leadership position even at a village level because of her criminality and double genocide ideology. 

 

In 2018, she was released from prison on a Presidential pardon, after serving eight of her then 15-year prison sentence for crimes ranging from collaborating with armed groups targeting the country, denying the 1994 genocide against Tutsi, and attempting to saw seeds of communal hatred. On her release, Ingabire said that: “I am grateful for the presidential mercy because the President [Paul Kagame] decided to pardon me so that I can go out and live a normal life.” However, she later changed her talk, and claimed that her early release was secured by her and her supporter’s pressure on the Rwandan government. In a similar manner, she continuously changes the names of her political outfits whenever their secret links to anti-Rwanda terror groups are exposed. On this, the government of The Netherlands shared with Rwanda crucial information as evidence.

 

Hon. MP, the law of Rwanda is very clear on the requirements of who should be a politician in the country.  Ingabire does not qualify either to be a politician or to head any political organization. Organic Law n° 10/2013/0L of 11/07/2013,  governing Political Organizations and Politicians as amended to date, prohibits anyone who has been sentenced to an imprisonment equal to or exceeding six (6) months; or  committed crimes of Genocide against the Tutsi, to be in the management of a political organization.

 

Ingabire served eight years on genocide related crimes. She was not acquitted but released on clemency.  Therefore, her political credentials in Rwanda are null and void. The DALFA Umurinzi political party she claims to own is not legally registered and only exists by her wishful thinking. The illegal party though, enables her to collect lots of money from sponsors like you who have huge respect for her.

 

It is ironical that voices which make Ingabire a politician come from outsiders rather than Rwandans. Your visit to Rwanda, therefore, is pregnant with a conspiracy against the wish of Rwandans to democratically choose politicians of their choice. If Rwandans saw any political material in Ingabire, they would choose her without being influenced. The agenda by outsiders like you to impose her on Rwandans will always fail.

 

On January 16, 2010, when Ingabire landed at Kigali International Airport, from The Netherlands, she went straight to the Kigali Genocide memorial where more than 250,000 genocide victims are laid to rest. She questioned staff about why there were only remains of the Tutsi, yet the Hutu were also killed. Ingabire is a double genocide ideologue.

 

Her mother, Dusabe Teresa, was sentenced, in absentia, to 30 years in jail by the Gacaca court, for disemboweling pregnant Tutsi women and removing their foetus which she would smash to death in a horrendous manner. There are surviving witnesses who testified to Gacaca Courts. Like many other children of parents who committed genocide, Ingabire uses the smoke screen of ‘politician and human rights activist’ as a cover to  defend her mother and other perpetrators of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi.

 

Hon, MP, Rwandans react with shock when they see foreigners like you happy to identify with people like Ingabire, but worse still, to sanitize her as a political figure worth leading Rwandans. We deserve much better that your friend who wants to return Rwanda to the dark days.

 

As the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) gets closer, you are interested in propping up Ingabire as a politician and human rights activist who should be invited in the civil society forums. Kindly, we beg your pardon. Rwandans know better.

 

‘Politicians’ like Ingabire are the ones who prepared the genocide against the Tutsi and killed more than a million innocent lives. You are now supporting them in the last stage of genocide - denial - and turning around the narrative, to shift blame on those who stopped the genocide. If you measure Rwanda in the lenses of people like Ingabire, with who you spent your time in Rwanda, you are deceiving yourself, the Danish people, and the Parliament you represent. 

 

Hon. MP, Rosa Lundu, I may go on and on writing because of your provocation, to me and fellow Rwandans whose hearts are still bleeding. You can keep your friendship with Ingabire because it’s your right and personal choice. But we beg you to give Rwandans a break by not interfering in our history and politics. I promise you, Rwandans will also not interfere in the politics of Denmark.

 

Sincerely, 

 

Gad Ntambara

 

Concerned Rwandan citizen

 

CC:

 

The Danish Folketing,

The Speaker of Danish Parliament, Hon. Henrik Dam Kristensen

The Speaker of Rwanda Chamber of Deputies

The Danish High Commissioner to Rwanda

Rwanda High Commissioner to Denmark

Rwanda Minister of Foreign Affairs