Kagame Retires Biraro, Rwanda’s Extraordinarily Courageous Auditor General, who Persistently Exposed Deep-Rooted Ruling Party Corruption

Rwanda's Auditor-General Obadiah Biraro. PHOTO | CYRIL NDEGEYA

By David Himbara

General Paul Kagame has retired Obadiah Biraro, Rwanda’s Auditor General who exposed the regime’s corruption like no other. He persistently revealed how Rwanda’s pension money was invested in companies that did not not earn any income.

Biraro’s 2015 Report described the ugly situation as follows: “There were 16 equity investments where Rwanda Social Security Board (RSSB) had invested a total amount of Frw 65,305,671,206 that had not paid any dividend from the time of initial acquisition or establishment. During the year ended 30 June 2015, these same investments still did not generate any return to RSSB. RSSB further injected an amount of Frw 16,660,891,275 to three of the investments in question thereby increasing total investment in non-performing ventures to Frw 81,966,562,481.”

This massive loss of Rwanda’s pension money translates into US$80 million. Among the companies that keep swallowing Rwanda’s pension are Kagame ruling party business empire, Crystal Venture, including Inyange Industries, East African Granite Industries, and Crystal Telecom. Biraro will be missed.

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