In-law disowns Gahima over “Rwanda Briefing”

KIGALI - Gerald Gahima, a former Prosecutor General currently in exile, has come under fire from his in-laws for reneging on the causes he once stood for, to be party to the “highly distorted” document known as the “Rwanda Briefing” whose aim is to drag the country back into conflict. Willis Shalita, a US-based lawyer and uncle to Gahima’s wife, expressed his disappointment over their in-law being among the authors of the document, wondering whether he had not lost his mind. “I have read this (Rwanda Briefing), and I am saddened by your distortion of facts only because you find yourself in the situation you are in today. Have you lost your mind?” Shalita said in a message to Gahima. “This so-called “Rwanda Briefing” is repugnant, sophomoric and at best, sour grapes and you all know it,” Shalita said of the 60-page document authored by renegade Kayumba Nyamwasa, Patrick Karegeya, Theogene Rudasingwa and Gahima. Shalita adds that he never imagined that in “a million years” the ‘Gang of Four’ would become Genocide apologists, adding that “it is unconscionable”. “The document is full of distortions. It disregards the facts and brings the whole argument to a personal level. They make allegations but they don’t give us evidence. It’s a seditious document intended to score a personal vendetta,” Shalita told The New Times in a telephone interview, yesterday. “I have always maintained that Rwanda is bigger than people. People come and go but crimes go on. Why do they think they are capable of speaking for people who can speak for themselves?” he wondered. Shalita called on the four embattled former RPF cadres to admit their mistakes and move on instead of pitting Rwandans against each other from their comfortable havens abroad and plotting to halt the progress of the country. “It wouldn’t surprise me if you see these people joining the negative forces fighting the government,” he added.Asked whether he had a personal issue to settle with Gahima, Shalita said that there is nothing personal he harbours against Gahima and that their disagreements are rather national and not personal. “The fact that he has our daughter does not deprive me of the right to speak out where there are mistakes. I have done this before and I shall continue doing it”.In the email to Gahima, Shalita regrets that his in-law had joined the group of Kayumba and Karegeya, terming it as “truly sad”. “History will not be kind to your group. You have seriously compromised yourself, but more so, your family and the country that made you what you are today. Yes, Rwanda is not an utopia today. But we sure have come far and the future is more promising than it ever was.” Shalita said. Gahima left Rwanda in 2004 after defaulting on hundreds of millions of francs in bank loans and was also accused of using his office to detain people without trial. He has also since been cited in international fraud scams. Ends

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In-law disowns Gahima over “Rwanda Briefing”