Weekly review

Top Green Party Officials Defect Three senior members of the yet-to-be-registered ‘Democratic Green Party of Rwanda’, this week announced that they were abandoning the organization in protest over the nefarious behaviour of their president Frank Habineza. The Secretary General, Charles Kabanda, Secretary for Information, Vincent Nshimiyimana and the Deputy Treasurer, Jeanne Marie Vianney Kantengwa called a press conference at the party headquarters to announce their decision. Nshimiyimana was quoted saying that during a recent African Greens Conference held in Uganda, Habineza made utterances and allegations that are not in line withy the party principles. Habineza is also accused of lying to the same meeting that the party has over two million members in the country. He is further accused by his former party colleagues of claiming that Rwanda was facilitating the UK and the USA to plunder timber from the D.R Congo. They also said that their party was being manipulated by foreigners, using Frank Habineza. Ingabire Appears in Court Victoire Umuhoza Ingabire, the embattled leader of the yet-to-be registered political party, FDU-Inkingi, was this week arrested and arraigned before Gasabo Intermediate Court. Ingabire is charged with association with a terrorist group, propagating the Genocide Ideology, Revisionism and Ethnic Division. Ingabire is also accused of promoting the genocide ideology through her declarations and speeches made while she was still living in Europe and upon arrival in the country, which contravenes articles 1-4 of the 2008 law against Genocide Ideology. Prosecutor General, Martin Ngoga, dismissed claims from Ingabire’s camp that she was being persecuted for her political views. African Infrastructure Conference held The infrastructure Minister, Vincent Karega, this week urged senior executives from major infrastructural companies, as well as decision makers from African governments to improve continental accessibility if development is to be achieved faster. Karega made this call at the official opening of a two-day African conference that brought together private firms, donor agencies and regulators to discuss how infrastructure, mainly roads and rail, can be fast tracked. Canada Apologizes Over Genocide Canada’s Governor General, Michaelle Jean, on a visit to Rwanda this week apologized on behalf of her government for the indifference and inaction of the international community in the lead up to, and during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. Jean made the formal apology during her meeting with President Paul Kagame at Urugwiro Village in Kacyiru. According to press reports, Jean noted that Canada and other countries failed to respond adequately to the atrocities that were taking place in Rwanda, despite warnings from individuals like Gen. Romeo Dallaire. The Canadian Governor General added that April 7, was also declared by her country’s parliament as a day for remembering the victims of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, reminding that it is also a time to reflect upon the lessons of the Genocide. Senators Call for Ntaganda Probe The embattled former President of PS Imberakuri political party, Bernard Ntaganda, should be investigated by relevant authorities for his inflammatory language and propagating hatred amongst Rwandans, the Senate recommended on Wednesday. Senator Joseph Karemera, who heads the Political and Good Governance Committee, is reported to have told members of the Senate that his committee had reached a decision on Ntaganda after studying his case extensively. Karemera’s committee also requested that PS Imberakuri be closely monitored lest they lose track of the provisions of the constitution. Ends