Rwandan police would succeed to stop its true colors from shining through this year!!! On January 3, 2020 the Rwandan police held a press conference to discuss the 2019 security situation in Rwanda. During the conference, the police was asked why they shoot to death the population or handcuffed people, which its spokesman CP John Bosco Kabera refuted! It is as if he thought Rwandans are ignorant or blind.
In 2019, throughout Rwanda, police shot to death civilians. Even when some of the people were handcuffed or had their hands in the air, this did not stop the police from firing. The reason the police generally invoked was that the victims had fought against them.
Journalists asked the police spokesman if elsewhere the police were shooting people. Embarrassed, he replied : “It is not possible for a police officer to shoot a person in handcuffs, it is unheard of, but some people are shot because they want to escape and even in these cases if it is established that the police officer violated the law, he will be punished“. He made his best efforts to dodge any question regarding the shooting of civilians.
CP John Bosco Kabera denied the abuses by the Rwandan police even though all the regions of Rwanda have been affected by this scourge as we have covered in our previous articles. His speech shows that he believes that Rwandans do not have ears or eyes!
In the press conference, the question of police who humiliate the population was raised: “We have heard and seen police officers sometimes insulting people in a degrading way when they have just arrested them, are police officers trained to insult or are those their new methods of operation?” . The police spokesman replied that every police officer, regardless of rank, has a duty to respect the public. “We do not teach police officers to insult or humiliate citizens, but if we see this behaviour among police officers, we will punish them and they will be excluded from the police force“, he added.
In the conference, the spokesperson of the Rwandan police disclosed the contacts citizens can use depending on the service they are looking for. “If a police officer insults you, you should call 3511; if you need emergency help, you should call 112; if you need information about an accident, you should call 113; if a person is drowning, you should call 110. In case of a fire, call 111; in case of sexual abuse, call 3512; and if you want to report child abuse, missing or exploited children, call 116”.
CP John Bosco Kabera said that in 2020, the Rwandan police will be exemplary. The question is whether he has the assurance that some of the police officers who consider themselves above Rwandan law and who believe that applying the law of the Paul Kagame regime (extrajudicial executions, arbitrary arrests, and humiliation of the people) will no longer be part of the police force. The results will tell!
Rwendeye Maxime
City of Kigali