Of late, gender violence has dominated the airwaves as well as social media platforms.  

The police deals with many cases of violence that it found it necessary to build One-Stop Centres to deal with gender violence, complete with counseling services. But many of the cases pass under the radar and hardly go beyond the walls of the clinics and police stations.

So, the flurry of activities on social media was triggered by two high profile incidents one of which would have remained concealed if not for the power of social media.

First, it was a vice Mayor of Musanze district, whom, it is said had a habit of turning his wife into a punching bag. This time, he went too far that she had to be hospitalized and the husband ended up in the police cells.

There is a saying that "trouble comes in pairs” shortly after the incident, the entire leadership of the district was fired un-ceremonially.

Perhaps the one incident that took the crown was an attack on a young lady by a wealthy media owner that was captured on CCTV. The incident took place two months ago and despite the victim having filed charges with Rwanda Investigation Bureau (RIB), nothing came of it.

But when the video of the attack went viral and even attracted the President’s attention as well as that of the Minister for Justice is when RIB’s wheels went into motion.

Let us call it RIB’s baptism by fire but it should serve as a valuable lesson. The law enforcement bureau is a public organ and it should be aware that it is under constant public scrutiny and there are many whistleblowers lurking on the internet.

editorial@newtimesrwanda.com