It was quite strange doing a piece on integrity yesterday then last night listening to a radio programe about Paul Rusesabagina, who has just received the Lantos Foundation award for his work for human right in Rwanda, a previous winner was the Dali Lama. However it has come to light that Rusesabagina may simply be an opportunist whose role in the Hotel des Mille Collines was not quite what he is making out. A group of Genocide survivors who took refuge in the famous Hotel des Mille Collines, in Kigali, during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, have denounced Paul Rusesabagina, terming him an impostor and a fraud.
Rusesabagina is said to have assumed the management of the hotel after seizing the keys from a young receptionist. He then started demanding for money from occupants forcing those without liquid cash to sign cheques and other related documents. All the survivors present at the news conference dismissed his humanitarian claims, saying that he was simply motivated by money and greed. A city businessman, Bertin Makuza, who also sought refuge at the hotel, emphasised that, contrary to Rusesabagina’s claims, the people who were at the hotel owe their survival to the Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF).
There is also speculation about the misappropriation of funds donated to his humanitarian fund, which Rusesabagina has been touring the world fundraising for Hotel Rwanda Rusesabagina Foundation (HRRF). However, there is no record where this foundation has assisted in any way any of the orphans and widows in Rwanda. As a matter of fact, several funding institutions have been asking Rusesabagina to account for the money they gave him for his so called charities, but he has yet to provide any responses.
It just goes to show that scratch beneath the surface of the initial story and you never know what you will found.
Jason E Cooper 