President Paul Kagame, who is also the Chairman of Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF), has strongly defended his political organization’s involvement in business activities.

In his first public comments on why the ruling party runs a string of businesses, the party chief did not mince words in stating that the organization had absolute rights to own businesses provided it does so within the limits of the law.

He was responding to a journalist who had said that a group of foreign researchers were wondering whether it was ethical or fair for the ruling party to compete in commercial business.

"Those researchers have not heard about political parties doing business for the first time….From the south to the north, west to the east, from developed countries to developing countries, it is a common practice," Kagame said.

The President pointed out that in some countries "some political leaders do business themselves".

Kagame delved into the background of RPF’s business engagements saying that the idea was mooted and implemented long before the movement launched its liberation war on October 1, 1990.

Kagame said the need for the political organization to start up businesses was driven by the desire to ensure that the movement sustained itself without always seeking financial contributions from its supporters.

"That was for safeguard purposes," he said, adding that it helped the movement throughout the liberation struggle since it was under sanctions.

The President revealed that the same RPF pockets had ran the National Unity Government from the time it took power in July 1994 through to the end of that year.

The new Government was under financial constraints, as the genocidal regime had emptied the State treasury.

Citing an example, the Head of State said that part of the party’s money was used to buy air tickets for Government officials travelling abroad as well as ammunition for the armed forces which were then still fighting remnants of the Genocidal government in the countryside.

Kagame said that it was the party’s money that was used to open the first basic commodities’ shops in Kigali following the Genocide as the leadership sought to give the country a "semblance of life".

"RPF is not poor; it has quite a bit of money – and happily so," he confessed.

He however said that the party’s businesses enjoy no preferential treatment, adding that in some cases RPF companies had undertaken business risks that others would not take.

"They compete for business, sometimes they win, sometimes they lose," Kagame said. "They pay taxes and will continue to invest."

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