Author: IGIHE

Senators were speaking yesterday while meeting the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Amb. Claver Gatete to who they expressed worries about the abrupt hike in premiums without considering the economic status of the clients.

Senate Vice-President, Fatou Harelimana said that premiums hike will benefit Insurance companies not clients.

She said that it is not understandable how the number of vehicles keeps growing in the country, but insurance companies fail to break even.

“If a person owns a car and earns Rwf200,000 or Rwf300,000, and now motor insurance is doubled but a person remains with the same income, this is a problem. We should not consider ourselves as a developed country,” she said.

“We are hiking insurance premiums but the income of population is not developing. It is a problem. Few people using cars will park them or use them without insurance,” she said.

Senator Ntawukuriryayo Jean Damascène said that hiking prices would best be considered in rhyme with people’s incomes .

“If you increase premiums by 40% while the car owner’s income did not increase by 40%, it will cause some people to use cars without insurance,” he said.

Minister Gatete said that hiking premiums followed a study by Acsterv Consultant Company which aimed at assessing profitability of the sub-sector and determine premium rates.

He said that they raised the premium rates after considering findings of the study. He however assured that there is a new insurance law that is in offing.

About people’s incomes, Gatete said that law governing salaries is also in offing and soon will be taken to the cabinet. He said that the law will solve salary problems.

On Monday, the National Commission for the Fight Against the Genocide (CNLG) issued a statement denouncing Twagira’s employment in a public hospital.

According to CNLG, taking him back to job was considered as genocide denial and neglecting laws penalizing genocide crimes.

Speaking to IGIHE yesterday, the Executive Secretary of CNLG, Dr. Jean Damascène Bizimana said that he was informed about Twagira’s suspension yesterday evening.

“We got to know that his contract was terminated and it is a good decision that we appreciated. We wish it would be replicated to other people for whom we issued arrest warrants but still in different jobs around different countries across the World,” he said.

He said that CNLG will conduct a follow-up to know much about the decision that was taken against Twagira.

On January 10, 2018, the Hospital Paul Doumer, a geriatric facility managed by Assistance publique hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP) in Labruyère, had recruited Dr. Charles Twagira 60, who was convicted of genocide by the Rwandan courts in 2009.

During the genocide, Twagira was regional director of health in the former prefecture of Kibuye, now in Western Province.

Twagira is one of the genocide planners in Kibuye Prefecture who incited local population to commit the genocide and acts of torture against refugees at Gatwaro Stadium and patients hospitalized in Kibuye Hospital.

He was found responsible for the massacre of the wife and children of his colleague, Dr. Camille Karibwende, former head of the same institution.

He obstructed medical aid to thousands of Tutsi refugees at the Gatwaro Stadium bordering Kibuye Hospital. He sent killers to the Gatwaro stadium to massacre the Tutsi who had taken refuge there, to bury several refugees alive.

He established checkpoints in front of and inside the hospital to allow Interahamwe militiamen to prevent Tutsi from fleeing and murder them.

The company had filed a case accusing RRA of seizing their documents, financial records and computers from offices of the company head offices. They also accuse RRA of closing stores that had raw materials which eventually perished, and freezing their bank accounts in Equity Bank and Ecobank.

The company administrators say that they stopped operations after RRA sealed off the property and deployed security guards at the premises.

They claim that they stopped operations on July 13th 2017 which rendered 200 employees jobless, commodities perished, lost clients and affects government revenue collections. .

RRA lawyers, Clement Gatera and Bajeni Byiringiro rejected the allegations saying that all properties have been seized through legal processes.

Court ruled that the case was not valid as RRA actions are within the law. .

The Presiding judge said that seized properties would not be handed back when the company still has tax arrears. He said that seizing bank accounts was done legally and added that there is no proof that the industry was closed down.

Since January 10, 2018, the Hospital Paul Doumer, a geriatric facility managed by Assistance publique hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP) in Labruyère, has recruited Dr. Charles TWAGIRA, 60, who was convicted of genocide by the Rwandan courts in 2009.

During the Genocide perpetrated against the Tutsi, Charles TWAGIRA was regional director of health in the former prefecture of Kibuye, in the western Rwanda.

Charles Twagira is one of the genocide planners in Kibuye Prefecture, he incited local population to commit the genocide, and acts of torture against refugees at Gatwaro Stadium and patients hospitalized in Kibuye Hospital.

He was found responsible for the massacre of the wife and children of his colleague, Dr. Camille Karibwende, former head of the same institution.

He obstructed medical aid to thousands of Tutsi refugees at the Gatwaro Stadium bordering Kibuye Hospital. He sent killers to the Gatwaro stadium to massacre the Tutsi who had taken refuge there, to bury several refugees alive.

He established checkpoints in front of and inside the hospital to allow Interahamwe militiamen to prevent Tutsi from fleeing and murder them.

In 1994, he fled to Zaire (now Democratic Republic of Congo). Then after, he arrived in Benin where he stayed until 2006. The same year, he joined his family in France and acquired French nationality.

Arrested in March 2014 in Vire, where he had found refuge in Calvados on complaint filed by the Collectif des Parties Civiles pour le Rwanda (CPCR) , he was indicted for genocide and crimes against humanity in Rwanda. He was released on bail by the French courts on May 22, 2015 and then placed under judicial control.

Rwanda issued an international arrest warrant against Charles Twagira in 2014 which was not followed up. Indeed, Charles Twagira was neither tried nor extradited to Rwanda. On the contrary, he lives freely and has even been recruited since January 10, 2018 in a French public hospital.

However, according to the French Penal Code, in its article 138, paragraph 12, a person under judicial control, and this is the case of Charles Twagira, cannot exercise an activity of a professional or social nature, in this case medicine.

The recruitment of Charles Twagira is a violation by France of its own criminal law and the international obligation to prevent and punish the crime of genocide.

It should be recalled that France is home to several genocide fugitives, such as Dr. Sosthène Munyemana, Dr. Eugène Rwamucyo, Laurent Bucyibaruta, Colonel Laurent Serubuga, Agathe Kanziga Habyarimana, Cyprien Kayumba, Fabien Neretse alias Fabien Nsabimana, Callixte Mbarushimana, Stanislas Mbonampeka, Marcel Bivugabagabo, Isaac Kamali, Pascal Simbikangwa, Pierre Tegera, Octavian Ngenzi, Tito Barahira, Joseph Habyarimana, Paul Camy (Kanyamihigo), Manasseh Bigwenzare, Venuste Nyombayire, Hyacinthe Rafiki Nsengiyumva, Enoch Kayondo, Claude Muhayimana, Felicien Baligira, Philippe Manier / Hatagekimana and Michel Bakuzakundi to mention a few.

Rwanda has issued 42 international arrest warrants for alleged perpetrators of the genocide in France, but only three have been executed.

In addition, the UN Human Rights Council has asked France at its 29th session, to either try all genocidaires on its territory or extradite them to Rwanda.

The National Commission for the Fight against Genocide (CNLG) strongly condemns the Recruitment of Charles Twagira as a medic at the Paul Doumer Hospital, which it considers as a trivialization of the genocide, and calls on the French government to suspend this recruitment and this in accordance with the French criminal law.

In 2009, Dr. Eugène Rwamucyo, a Rwandan medical, was suspended from his duties at a hospital in Maubeuge for alleged involvement in the Genocide perpetrated against the Tutsi.

The same measure should be taken in the case of Dr. Charles Twagira and other genocidaires prosecuted for crimes of genocide.

Speaking to IGIHE, PSD Secretary General Dr. Jean Chrysostome Ngabitsinze said that the process started last week by registering candidates in districts.

“Our activities include training members about elections processes but also encouraging members aspiring for different positions to start showing the interest and campaigns, a process that will last until the end of March,” he said.

For candidates to qualify, they must have been members of the party for a period of two years, well-disciplined and without any criminal record.

“During the congresses, they also generate ideas that we will use during our manifesto,” Ngabitsinze added.

While in league that took place in Muhanga District last week, Senator Gallican Niyongana gave a lecture about Members of Parliament elections and responsibilities of parliament. He called on league participants to take a lead in sensitizing populations about the elections when the National Electoral Commission (NEC) will announce the campaign.

“PSD is in government, and has participated enough in the development that the country has attained, we hope that in these elections we shall bring good manifesto comprising our party’s ideas aimed at continuing to champion social welfare of the people,” he said.

Every political party competing for seats in parliament provides a list of 80 candidates in NEC.