A Rwandan living in Texas, US, was on Tuesday handed back family property worth Rwf500 million, after 20 years of "hesitation and fear to seek justice.”

On Tuesday, Janvier Busogi received a lucrative fuel station located in the resort town of Gisenyi in Rubavu District.

Busogi’s family moved to the US in the aftermath of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi and had since lost touch with some of his family members.

He is said to be the son and heir of the late Mathias Nyagasaza, a former businessman who dealt in petroleum products before 1994.

Losing a family estate

In 1993, a company known as ERP (Entreprise Rwandaise de Petrole) went into liquidation and the then government sold some of its property to various people through public auctions.

Busogi’s family bought two petrol stations among other properties at that time. After the Genocide, he says, ERP controversially took back Busogi’s family property and sold it to a third party.

The family tried to reclaim the two disputed petrol stations in 2004 but with little success, despite a local court ordering ERP to hand over properties in question back to Busogi’s family.

Nyagasaza died in 2011 before he could recover the property.

"Later, while in the US, we heard that those very people had taken over our property again…in fact, I petitioned President Paul Kagame in 2011 during Rwanda Day Chicago event, to help me and other people who had similar issues, but we were afraid of returning home to reclaim our lost property. He promised to help if I came back to Rwanda, but I was still afraid,” Busogi said.

Busogi and his siblings had been skeptical about returning to Rwanda to reclaim their property due to rumours that they would be "killed” if they ever attempted to return home, he said.

"I never knew I would regain the family property. This time, I decided to come to visit Rwanda and gauge the situation and some leaders encouraged me to try and reclaim our property.

‘‘I gave it a try, and here I am, I have recovered our property in a period of less than a month”! he exclaimed.

Negative propaganda

But why did it take him so long to return home, yet he had no direct involvement in the Genocide?

"People would tell us that we would be killed once we stepped on Rwandan soil. It’s been tough living abroad with little hope of ever returning to your home country or even reclaiming what legally belongs to you.

"Due to such propaganda against the government,” he says, "I was at some point forced to join negative forces that are against the government. But once you return home, you realise that all the false information they say about Rwanda is only designed to make abroad hate our country,” Busogi added.

He said that there were many Rwandans living abroad who have fallen victim to the negative propaganda.

"Most of those spreading the rumours have cases to answer in Rwanda; some were involved in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, while others have their own political interests”.

The negative forces have one purpose, he says: "To make people hate their country and never wish to return home, and they want to expand their sympathiser base so that they don’t feel isolated”.

Busogi is yet to be handed over the entire estate, but regaining the Gisenyi-based petrol station, he says, mirrors the possibility of regaining other family properties, including another petrol station in Kigali city and a plot of land in Rubavu.

Jeremie Sinamenye , the Mayor of Rubavu District, upon handing Busogi the land title, said Rwanda is governed by the rule of law and upholds accountability.

"The truth will always prevail; Rwandans now believe in truth and what the law provides for. To those who keep saying negative things about Rwanda yet they have never been here since 1994, they should perhaps visit the country and see for themselves,” Sinamenye said.

Busogi says he won’t seek compensation over unlawful tenants

"All I wanted was to be sure that I can return home, regain our lost assets, and I am planning to come back with my family and stay in Rwanda forever. This is where I belong”.

editorial@newtimes.co.rw