PS Imberakuri political party has threatened to drag to court a break away faction that still claims ownership of the party. A group of people who are still loyal to the former chairperson of the party, Bernard Ntaganda, have been holding meetings and issuing statements under the name of PS Imberakuri yet they are not legally recognised. “We are planning to take those people to court. We have documents that prove our legality and we won’t allow them to continue abusing the name of our party,” said the current president of PS Imberakuri, Christine Mukabunani. Ntaganda, currently serving a four-year jail sentence, is the founder of PS Imberakuri but he was ousted from the party’s helm after members accused him of promoting divisionism and associating with terrorist organisations.He lost his mandate on the grounds that he had drifted from the party’s core ideology and creating alliances with people whose intention was causing insecurity in the country.He was later arrested, tried and convicted over similar charges. The Supreme Court recently upheld his sentence.Mukabunani accused one, Alex Bakunzibake, a member of Ntaganda’s faction, of masquerading as the vice president of the party and said the recognised vice president was Jean Claude Ntezirembo. Meanwhile, nine people, members of Ntaganda’s faction who were arrested last Sunday on accusations of inciting civil disobedience, were released yesterday, police said.“They asked for forgiveness and wrote letters of apology. It is on this ground that we released them,” said police spokesman Theos Badege, adding that most of them being young and first time offenders, were given a chance to reform. The suspects, including six men and three women, were arrested at a house belonging to Bernard Ntaganda’s mother in Nyamirambo, Kigali. According to the police, they were found in possession of documents containing statements calling on the masses to rebel against the leadership.They had gathered at Ntaganda’s mother’s home under the pretext of consoling the 92-year old woman after her son (Ntaganda) had his sentence maintained by the Supreme Court.The group had reportedly gathered at the old woman’s home two weeks earlier, and she warned them never to return.When they returned, the woman alerted the police which immediately arrived at the scene and arrested them.
