Rwandan MP resigns after US asylum request
Connie Bwiza, an RPF senior cadre who recently resigned as a member of parliament. PHOTO | CYRIL NDEGEYA
By SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
Posted Saturday, June 20 2015 at 13:54
Posted Saturday, June 20 2015 at 13:54
IN SUMMARY
- The legislator, who has been in parliament for more than 15 years on an RPF ticket, said this week that her resignation was not linked to her opposition to a proposed third term for President Paul Kagame.
Former Member of Parliament and senior Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) Inkotanyi cadre Connie Bwiza resigned over a letter she wrote seeking to facilitate her husband’s asylum in the US.
Ms Bwiza, who handed in her resignation letter to parliament on June 5, had in a letter submitted to the US embassy consular services recommended Jean Marie Sekamana for exile in the US.
The legislator, who has been in parliament for more than 15 years on an RPF ticket, said this week that her resignation was not linked to her opposition to a proposed third term for President Paul Kagame.
In an interview with The EastAfrican, Ms Bwiza said that issues of a “personal nature” led to her resignation, pointing at errors of commission have contravened the party’s code of conduct.
“The issues around my resignation, my conduct and disciplinary issues in my party, have nothing to do with the third term and the Constitutional amendment. Let nobody put it in my mouth or mind by assuming that this situation has something to do with the current political climate in the country,” she said.
It has emerged that the genesis of her troubles was a letter she wrote to the American embassy as she applied for her own visa to go the US. In the letter, Ms Bwiza allegedly affirmed her husband’s claims that he was arrested and tortured for revealing a corruption scam within RPF after the 2010 presidential polls.
Mr Sekamana, who, prior to fleeing Rwanda, worked at the RPF secretariat, allegedly unearthed a corruption scam in which party officials connived to steal an estimated Rwf5 billion during the 2010 polls.
It is further alleged that after revealing the missing funds following the audit, some senior party officials engineered his arrest and subsequent torture. He did not receive any protection from the party heads, including President Kagame.
US embassy public affairs officer Roger C. Webb declined to comment on the matter because “all visa records are completely confidential.” Mr Webb would also not comment on how the information provided by Ms Bwiza ended up in the hands of the party.
During the RPF retreat last weekend, President Kagame and the party secretary general Francois Ngarambe reiterated that Ms Bwiza did not resign for “personal reasons” as earlier indicated but rather out of mistakes she committed that not only tarnished the image of the party but of the country in general.
Mr Ngarambe told the retreat that Ms Bwiza’s issue stemmed from blackmailing the party, the First family and the country as she applied for a visa to the US.
Beyond the MP’s resignation and subsequent troubles, The EastAfrican has learnt that her case has opened queries about the party’s financial standing, with some party members expressing fears of lack of transparency in the management of the party’s resources.
The RPF is considered one of the richest political parties in the world, with many profit-making companies dominating Rwanda’s economy, registered under its investment arm Crystal Ventures.
http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/news/Rwandan-MP-resigns-after-US-asylum-request/-/2558/2758774/-/item/0/-/qboexdz/-/index.html
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