Letter to the Rwanda National Congress Executive committee
Re : Make-ready
To share our concern regarding the issues at hand as party members and to demand that these be addressed urgently.
Comrade Leaders, we begin by wishing you a prosperous new year of 2020.
Following the difficulties the RNC has faced recently, including the manner in which these difficulties were handled by the Party Leadership, we have taken upon ourselves to address you this letter in an attempt to bring our concerns to your urgent attention as we volunteer a helping hand in saving our beloved party, projecting it toward the original goals it had set out to attain when it was founded on December 12, 2010.
Let us remember the objectives the RNC party was built on and why Rwandans put so much faith in it:
The RNC had envisioned to steadfastly fight against all human rights violations. We were to champion the rule of law in order to usher in an era of equality for all Rwandans. We had resolved to work towards the strengthening of government institutions and the implementation of their independence (Etat de droit). This objective earned us the trust of our Rwandan compatriots and the respect of different organizations.
The Rwanda National Congress has achieved a lot since its foundation, however, it has left a lot things to be desired ; things that could hinder us from fulfilling our journey. This will be the main focus of the present letter.
In the beginning, the Congress assembled many Rwandans from all walks of life who desired to see change, these Rwandans believed they had finally found an organization that would bring solutions to the socio-political challenges they are faced with as a consequence to bad leadership.
These Rwandans , such as Dr. Murayi Paulin, Dr. Rudasingwa Théogène, Kazungu Jean-Paul, Bwayihuku Mathias, Nsabimana Callixte (Sankara), Nahimana Straton, Jonathan Musonera, Joseph Ngarambe, etc… eventually left the Rwandan National Congress for reasons now known to us all.
In addition to these, the RNC has lost a disturbing number of members; some disappeared while on a mission for the Congress. A recent good example of this being the disappearance of Benjamin Rutabana, RNC’s commissar for mobilization. There is also Major Nkubana Emmanuel, Rwalinda Michael, and others; there is also a good number of our people who remain imprisoned after being accused of working for the Congress or for sympathizing with our cause.
Adding to these , there is the case of members whose dismissals were an inconspicuous violation of our code of conduct such as Jean-Paul Turayishimye, Tabitha Gwiza, Achille Kamana, Simeon Ndwaniye Jean-Paul Ntagara ; as well as members who resigned and were covertly replaced. All this was done to purposely deceive and mislead our members with regard to the crucial problems within the executive committee of the RNC .
We wish to remind you that the legal status of our organization should be upheld and taken as seriously as the one would a constitution or a penal code. The Executive committee seems to have forgotten the purpose of the organization it is leading as it does not honor code of conduct the RNC was founded on ( liberty, independence within the different commissions, human rights). Again all this conveys the inability of the executive committee to learn from previous mistakes. Instead, there is a pattern of repeating the same mistakes and the executive committee does seem interested in addressing or correcting.
In short, because of this leadership that accumulates mistakes, the RNC has now lost the trust Rwandans had entrusted the organization; in other words, the Rwandan National Congress has failed Rwandans, betrayed all those who believed in it and made sacrifices for it.
All these errors and the ones we omitted to mention here have led us to the following conclusions:
The current leadership has demonstrated little or no will or ability to remedy the serious issues the organization is facing. The executive committee chose to fraudulently dismiss leaders and members who did not adhere to its obscure agenda.
In the matter of Benjamin Rutabana, RNC’ s Commissioner for Capacity Development, the executive committee showed blatant disrespect for human dignity. To this day his whereabouts are unknown.
The executive committee has misused and abused the resources of the party.
The executive committee has not disclosed the resignation of some of the party leaders. Choosing deceit over transparency and decency.
The executive committee has failed to resolve and disentangle the intrigues at the root cause of the deterioration of the party.
The executive committee has failed Rwandans and damaged the confidence the party had worked so hard to build over the past decade.
In reacting to these issues, the explanations and press releases issued by the committee were deceiving and fraudulent. The Committee chose to disguise the truth and mislead the public as the government we are fighting does.
These poor decisions including other similar decisions we will not elaborate on in this letter testify to the worsening incompetence of the committee.
We believe the only resort recourse to remediate to these issues, rebuild and reinvigorate our party and it’s members and Rwandans, in general, is for you -the executive committee to put the party first and remember it is bigger than you; to have the humbleness to put the Rwanda National Congress’s cause and party first, to remember the values and pillars on which it was built. Remember those who paid for the ideals of the RNC with their lives such as late Colonel Patrick Karegeya. Remember all those who put their lives in danger in the name of freedom for all and ask yourselves what they must be thinking of the RNC today. Would they not look at the leadership as it is today and think their sacrifice has been in vain?
Having considered the above, we believe that something should be done to fulfill the purpose for which the Rwanda National Congress was founded. We cannot look on passively at the serious mistakes being committed as militants of the RNC; we believe in the cause we are fighting for, we believe it is unacceptable for our organization to mirror the corruption of the despotic government we are fighting.
This will require the following:
The resignation of the executive committee of RNC ;
The resignation of the leaders whose conduct did not reflect the values of our organization.
To outline and implement policies for the renewal of the RNC ;
To provide a transition committee that would oversee the said changes.
Baring in mind the seriousness of the content of this letter, we ask that you consider addressing these matters in a timely manner in order for the Rwandan National Congress to continue serving Rwandans as it had resolved to do. We share the need for this requite with the many Rwandans who believed in the RNC and were disappointed by a disillusioning leadership.
We are prepared to contribute to the dialogue and to any other endeavor facilitating the rehabilitation and restrengthening of our party.
Resignation is a matter of integrity. It takes a different kind of courage to be humble enough to resign to uphold the good that has been accomplished and in protest of what may destroy the achievements attained.
ATTN:
General Coordinator, Jerome Nayigiziki;
Leaders of the Rwanda National Congress;
All party members;
Signed :
-Mr. Jean Paul Turayishimye
-Mrs. Leah Karegeya
-Mrs. Odette Nyiraneza
-Mr. Anicet Karege
-Mr. Emile Rutagengwa