Rwandans who were deported from Uganda are appealing for support to have access to their businesses and properties abandoned in the neighbouring country. Five Rwandans were on Friday morning, dumped at Kagitumba border post by Ugandas Ministry of Internal Affairs, following lengthy detentions, mostly in ungazetted facilities. Two of them said that they had businesses and properties in Uganda but they are no longer in their hands. Shadrak Mugisha left Rwanda in 2013 to venture into apparel trading in trading in Kenya. In 2015, he relocated to Uganda where he changed the business venture and went into the hospitality sector. “I co-owned a bar and had a company that offers entertainment services in bars, restaurants, and hotels around Kampala and beyond, he said. However, Mugisha said things took a bad turn a few years back when bars owned by Rwandans started facing challenges with Ugandan security operatives. Many were branded spies for Rwanda, despite there being no form of evidence to substantiate the claims. “In 2018, someone called Rugema Kayumba wrote a list of all popular bars owned by Rwandans and got them blacklisted. So were other related businesses including mine, he said adding that this is when trouble started. He added: I didn’t know him but I was later informed that he works with RNC. Mugisha said that Uganda’s Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI) started sabotaging their businesses. “I remember one time Uganda’s security operatives arrested a girl of Rwandan origin that I employed at the bar I ran, accusing her of being a Rwandan spy. I called the police. Fortunately, because she was born in Uganda and had a Ugandan identity card and passport, she was released,” he said. He said that there is a group of people who move around the city pointing out businesses owned by Rwandans accusing owners of spying. One of those people is called Nelson who works with CMI. In January this year, I was working with a bar located in the Kansanga area. This is where two people in civilian attire with pistols came in and arrested us. We were taken to CMI,” he said. After two months of detentions in ungazetted facilities and being physically and mentally tortured, Mugisha was eventually deported on Friday, March 12. “We left our businesses and properties. I only came with my car keys. I had shares in a business worth over Rwf350 million that has a bar, sauna, restaurants, and car wash, hair salon, and others. I had an entertainment company. I had a garment supply company but we no longer have control over this. We request Uganda to help us repossess our properties and money,” he said. Mugisha left his wife and two children in Uganda. “We are not sure they are safe now. Rwandans doing business in Uganda are at risk,” he said. Renatus Murindangabo was the main shareholder in a company together with Mugisha that has a bar, sauna, restaurants, car wash, hair salon, and others. Before venturing into this, he used to supply beverages from Rwanda to Uganda. “In 2013, I opened a company in Uganda that supplies beverages. In 2015, I started a bar-restaurant business. In 2017, Mugisha joined me to expand and market the business. However, I and my family relocated to Australia but Mugisha remained to manage the business,” he said. He said that in 2013, Rwandan business people and professionals created a forum but in 2017, Uganda started to harass them. In 2020, Murindangabo went to visit the business in Uganda during the Covid-19 pandemic and got stuck. When he was about to return to Australia, that is when he was arrested and accused of working with Rwanda’s embassy to spy on Uganda. “All my flights were cancelled in February. Besides the resto-bar business, I also had a tourism company and other properties like land but I no longer have control over them. We request to be facilitated to regain our properties and money. My passport and driving license are still in Uganda and I need them,” he said. He said that the lawyer they tried to engage has been threatened out of the case. We wish the issue is handled in a diplomatic way, he added.
