Embattled by internal wrangles: FDU-Inkingi looks to political capital from a minor incident

In our previous article we promised our esteemed readers to enlighten them about the undisputable umbilical cord attaching the FDU-Inkingi to the RDR, both historically and ideologically. However, we plead with you the readers to allow us react first to the disproportionate outcry about the February 3rd, 2010 incident that occurred between the FDU-Inkingi team and some angry people at the Kinyinya sector. Reading from previous media reporting so far, two versions of the incident are presented to the public, one from Victoire Ingabire herself and her cronies in their rear bases in Western countries, the other from other ordinary Rwandan citizens and officials on the ground, e.g. the Executive Secretary of the sector, the Spokesperson of the police that intervened and is still following the case and other eye witnesses. Ingabire, astonishingly had in relative terms been lately quiet and some of us had optimistically hoped that logic was beginning to set in for her to get in touch with the reality on the ground and eventually redefine her political strategy and discourse in a manner not antagonistic with today’s Rwandans that are abhorring to dangerously archaic divisive politics! But alas! We were so wrong and she opportunistically seized the incident to aggressively put herself into limelight while trying to cash on her latest victimisation card. Ingabire and her sycophants seized the ball at the rebound so fast that one would legitimately think that they indeed were craving for such an incident so much that had it not happened, they would even have deliberately caused it for opportunistic reasons. According to the Police spokesperson, “Ingabire entered Kinyinya offices bypassing other people who had been seated there for hours waiting to be served.” Quoted on several other media houses and on BBC Kinyarwanda Service, Superintendent Kayiranga says the people who attacked Ingabire were angry, probably thinking she was there just to undermine them. These people were angry on seeing Ingabire coming and going into the Kinyinya offices in total disregard of their plight, he said. They were saying “… how can such a person who with utter disregard of the plight of Rwandans negate the 1994 Tusti Genocide come from outside and get services before us?” Kayiranga told Radio Rwanda For obvious reasons, Ingabire dismissed the Police version of events. In a VOA interview, Ingabire stated that: “Today, I received a call from the mayor of the sector where I live, Kinyinya, and he told me that I have to return my ID. And when I arrived in his office, there were younger people who began to batter us, me and one of my colleagues. And they took my bag. Then, I went back quickly to my car, but my colleague stayed back and they battered him. And after (that, I) took him to hospital…When they battered us, the police were there and they didn’t do anything. They watched us (as) the young people battered us,” she contended. Consistent with usual liars, on the same day, the yet to be registered party posted on its website a press release slightly contradicting the above assertions: “…Upon arrival at Kinyinya premises, Mrs. Ingabire was surrounded by a prepared lynch mob, beaten but managed to retreat to her vehicle... Mr. Joseph Ntawangundi was savagely and thoroughly beaten by the vicious assailants without any intervention from the authority... Alerted by the driver, the police reached the scene later and despite his condition took Mr. Joseph Ntawangundi for interrogations. He was released after one and half hour... This is a grotesque and horrific practice of terror towards an opposition candidate...Again guided by the same motivation,” The version she gave to RNA is also contradicting the above mentioned. She said that “…When we arrived, I saw the men who attacked us seated near houses which neighbour Kinyinya Sector, I greeted them from afar. They followed me hurriedly inside the Sector office, grabbed my bag and continued roughing up my driver as I fled into the car and drove off.” At first the lady declares to have been attacked in the official’s office, in the presence of the police that just looked on. Then to make the case look bigger, she claims that she passed by a group of people whom she greeted and then they followed her inside the sector office and then started roughing them up before she took off for dear life. This time she reckons that she managed to escape the attackers without harm other than her bag which she claims was grabbed. Finally she now admits that actually there were no police officers on their arrival as they were alerted by a phone call from her driver. All this tells us that the group is terribly dishonest and only striving to build a mountain from an ant hill. Despite this harmony in seizing the incident for their mastered propaganda however, there are reports that motivations among the group members vary and according to reliable sources close to this so-called political party, there are some that would have wished this controversial lady a quick send-off to her creator. We commend the Police’s handling of the matter as it is affirmed they quickly intervened and stopped the scuffle and even arrested some people suspected to have reacted to the reported undiplomatic behavior of the team led by the controversial lady thus causing the fracas. Indeed there is no place for mob justice in this country and we trust they will face the plight of the law. As for Ingabire, despite her propagandist strategy and unfounded allegations that the incident has been State or RPF staged to harass her, our comment is that she should actually thank God that this incident eventually occurred on state administration premises and police effective that they are, intervened timely. We do honorably advise her to use maximum conscience and brains, take the lesson that, as we never ceased to counsel, there are many Rwandans whose memory of the genocide and its aftermath is still very flesh and thus not ready to sit and humbly witness those dreaming to take the same path that Rwandans of today have said “Never Again” to. We as media practitioners and Rwandans of today have in vain relentlessly cautioned her against her archaic discourse amongst the Rwandan society of today and pleaded with her to change course to the current development-geared course of the country. Our strong advice once again to this controversial mother is that she should think about her own children and future of this country, contribute to the reconciliation efforts rather than work for destruction of Rwandans, contribute to unity of purpose other than play opportunistic divisive politics and join hands with other Rwandans in developmental efforts geared towards poverty alleviation rather than partner with wicked groups like FDLR/Ex-FAR Interahamwe and a multitude of other subversive groups, her current one inclusive that, if wishes were horses, would lead to apocalypse. muhetofe@gmail.com