By David Himbara
Special thanks to KT Press for its coverage of Inyange Industries Ltd and the fate of Rwandan farmers that supply milk to the company. According to KT Press, Inyange Industries decided to reduce the number of days it receives milk from Rwandan farmers by two days a week.
KT Press says that Inyange, ”effective December 29, 2018, stopped receiving milk from farmers every Saturday and Sunday of the week.”
The paper further explains that this new development has resulted in massive losses to Rwandan farmers who now must dump milk produced in two days a week. At least a total of 260,000 litters of milk is produced daily by Rwandan farmers — meaning that they now dumping 520,000 litters per week.
This translates into a weekly loss of RWF114,400,000 based on RWF220 per litter. Inyange punishes farmers like this because it is a monopoly in the Rwandan market — having bought out all its competitors in the past decade. Inyange can do whatever it wants without any consequences.
How does Inyange get away with this?
Inyange Industries Ltd is the flagship company of the US$500 million Crystal Ventures Ltd owned by the ruling party, the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF). General Paul Kagame is, of course, the Chairman of RPF and by extension, of Chairman of Crystal Ventures Ltd. We see here, therefore, two Kagames clashing — one in business, and one in government. Kagame, the president of the republic could not protect Rwandan farmers from Kagame, the chairman of the ruling party and its business empire Crystal Ventures Ltd. Shame.
