Ntaganda to appear before Senate today

The controversial leader of the PS-Imberakuri political party, Bernard Ntaganda, has said that he is ready to face and challenge the Senate during his second appearance.

Friday, January 15, 2010
TO EXPLAIN: Bernard Ntaganda

The controversial leader of the PS-Imberakuri political party, Bernard Ntaganda, has said that he is ready to face and challenge the Senate during his second appearance.

Ntaganda is expected to re-appear before the Senatorial Standing Committee on political affairs chaired by Senator Joseph Karemera today morning to explain in detail his utterances in the media which the Senate equated to promoting divisive politics and spreading the Genocide ideology.

He first appeared before the committee last month, but the meeting between the two parties turned sour when both sides exchanged angry words.

Speaking to The New Times yesterday evening Ntaganda said; "I am ready to face the Senate, and I will challenge it depending on what they will bring up against me.”

However, he said that the two-week period the Senate had given him was not enough for him to prepare his defence.

He added that he has up to now failed to know what exactly the Senate is asking him and added that all the accusations levelled against him are not investigated and baseless.

Meanwhile, in an interview with Sen. Karemera, he said that during Ntaganda’s previous appearance he looked very apprehensive.

"He thought the Senate was a court and we actually told him that it is not a court and that we were working in conformity with the constitution, but he looked rather shaky and didn’t want to answer many questions,” said Karemera. 

"We expect that he understood us and we assume we shall have a fruitful discussion.”

Ends