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"content": "Chairman and I was the Secretary General of the East African Associations of Public Accounts Committees (EAAPAC), we went to Rwanda and set up a PAC because before then, no such committee existed. All accountability issues were taken to the office of the President. I would like, when Hon. John Cheo and myself go to Rwanda, that we be given that recognition because we played a role. Today, the PAC, both in the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies in Rwanda are robust, they are doing a good job. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, while meeting the two speakers of the Houses of the Parliament of Kenya, the President of the Senate took it upon himself to remind us, the opposition, that we should be measured in our speeches because he did not want our speeches, as the opposition leaders, to ignite any form of ethnic unrest. I could not agree with him more. Having said that, I wish to now be reminded of what some of us in the opposition think about the opposition in Rwanda. We want to urge the President of the Senate of Rwanda to ensure that the Senate makes a resolution so that the democratic space in Rwanda is expanded to the extent that hon. Victorie Ingabire Umuhoza, who in 2010 was barred from running for presidency, and who has since been kept under arrest for two charges of terrorism and national security, the Senate of Rwanda should speak with one voice, they expand the space so that this gallant daughter of the East African region can be allowed to enjoy the freedom of her mind, the freedom of expression, association and her desire to one day be the first woman in the East African Community (EAC) to be called Madam President. We cannot claim to be playing affirmative action to the women of Rwanda and by extension of the region if all that we do for them is to allow them to be nominated on party lists, but the women who are strong enough to challenge and defeat men like Victorie are arrested. I would like the Senate to raise its voice about assassinations of opposition leaders. Members of this House know the story of how a gallant son of Rwanda, who was the head of intelligence, Mr. Patrick Karegeya, was murdered in South Africa for political reasons. We want to urge our colleagues in the Senate to speak to these issues. Finally, but not least, before I finish, the issue of regional peace is not just limited to the Members of the EAC. Africa bleeds and some of us, as leaders, we are not happy when we see little children of five years – girls and little boys of Africa – running to nowhere because the guns of eastern Congo are sending salvos. We want the Senate of Rwanda to urge the Government of Rwanda to come out of eastern Congo. In fact, honorable colleagues, today the support that Rwanda was enjoying from the international community has been withdrawn. Today, sanctions are being applied on Rwanda because Rwanda is in eastern Congo because they fear the Hutus who come from the Congo side of our region. Those Hutus, as I am being reminded by Sen. Orengo, are also Rwandans. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, what a better example than yourself? Supposing somebody in Tanzania, God forbid, had differences with the Kurias of Tanzania, then he comes and starts clearing you people, the Kurias of Kenya, we should be the first people, as a Senate, to then ask the Republic of Tanzania to get out of Kuria, Kenya. I am, therefore, asking the Republic of Rwanda to get out of eastern Congo. The children are dying for the simple reason that the President of Rwanda is afraid of the militia groups of The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}