By David Himbara
On September 29, 2018, Dr. Christopher Kayumba made a series of statements about the Rwanda n government — in particular, the national police. Kayumba stated categorically that Rwandan police kills citizens. Besides killing innocent people, stated Kayumba, the police terrorizes the people of Rwanda in other ways. For example, when the police decides to target an individual for whatever reason, the police labels that person a ”genocider” — somebody who participated in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. Then the police arrests that person under false pretext. In other words, the Rwanda national police is a human rights abuser. By extent, therefore, the government of Rwanda is a human rights abuser. All of this is, of course, well known. What is shocking is that somebody who normally praises the government of General Paul Kagame can say these things — moreover, inside Rwanda. Kayumba seems to be committing suicide.
Here is Dr Christopher Kayumba in his own words
Writing on Twitter, Kayumba made a series of statements including the following:
“Rwanda police beats and even kills innocents. Do you know people you killed? Do you know people you have killed in refugee camps? Do you know you can’t even allow any demostrstror? You are used to people who don’t respond to whatever you want and don’t respond; NOT any more.”
“Police has no respect for Rwandans nor does it treat them with respect. It does what it wants & treat citizens with contempt. I know it. I have seen people beaten. I have seen them in prison refused pple to go to the toilet. And I have seen the police pretend to work for us; zero.”
Kayumba was not yet done. He added the following based on his personal experiences with the Rwandan police:
“Few weeks ago, u said the same & kept me in jail for 10 days. Thats a fact. To release me, you asked me to pay 500,000 Rwanda francs! Why? U still give orders 2 prosecutors? Police leadership is the problem. I know tomorrow you send individuals 2 take me; IGP is problem; I know.”
“I have been a subject of intimidation, fake audits for years and imprisonment of Journalists like Iddrissa Byiringiro. You have followed me since 2012. Why? You cook up crimes against me and my colleagues! Why? Because we speak our minds, because we want to be free.”
“We refuse 2 remain silent over years of injustice. Since 2012 individuals in govt have orchestrated campaign to silence us but bcz we believe in new. system, we closed The Chronicles newspaper. U imrpriosned our journalist & we kept silent! What do u want?”
“Police like others, try to find an excuse. When someone isnt corrupt, they say is grnocidaire; or, they have raped! Police find excuse all the time! But how many have been convicted of this? Police likes to put everyone doen; go around prisons and see how they treat our people.”
“No, RNP isn’t accountable to Rwandans’; it beats them everyday and kills some. Personally, police has beaten me and even refused my family to visit me or bring food to me! Those jokes are meant for foreigners; not Rwandans.”
What becomes of Kayumba now?
Kayumba normally writes good things about General Paul Kagame and his regime. From his September 29, 2018, tweets, however, one can see that there are two sides to Kayumba. Like many Rwandans, Kayumba praises the Kagame regime to make a living. But deep down, Kayumba knows that the regime is horrible. Evidently, he personally suffered at the hands of the regime. Something must have provoked Kayumba to finally say ”enough is enough.” He called a spade a spade: the regime is rotten to the core. The question now is — what becomes of Christopher Kayumba? In Kagame’s Rwanda, Kayumba is a dead man walking. You can’t say the regime kills people and remain free.
