Many of the more than 300 orphan students from local Kimironko based NGO Cœur Joyeux (Joyful Heart) were elated on Thursday when the NGO’s director, Janvier Batungwanayo,was remanded to prison for 30 days awaiting further disposition of the case.  

Batungwanayo was joined by prosecutors a defense attorney and more than 30 orphans he is accused of robbing.

In jail: Cœur Joyeux director Janvier Batungwanayo. (photo Steve Terrill)

For his part, Batungwanayo says he is broke.  He allegedly owns four houses in Kigali and several cars, most of which were purchased after he bilked the orphans of their money.

On 17 November, 2009, Janvier Batungwanayo was re-arrested on charges of writing a bad check for re-payment of said fees.  He also received additional charges for swindling the orphans.  On Thursday he appeared to ask for his release before the coming judicial holidays.  His request was flatly denied and he will have to wait 30 days before re-appearing in court though he has five days to appeal that decision.

The orphan’s have had an uphill battle just being heard. When they request refunds of their fees they were brushed off by the Cœur Joyeux staff. When they went to police, they were all but ignored. It was not until this newspaper published its piece two weeks ago that authorities began to take action.

Still, the police have yet to round up the full cast of characters in this drama.  

Many of the orphan’s paid fees directly to Cœur Joyeux for entry into their fraudulent program. But in addition to those fees, averaging Frw 300,000 each, many more were required to pay additional fees averaging about Frw 30,000 in cash directly to Pastor Emmanuel Rugwana who is one of the directors of Couer Joyeux and who is the brother of Batungwanayo.  

Now that the press is involved and Batungwanayo is in jail - at least for the moment - Pastor Rugwana has become increasingly defiant. He has accused some of the orphans of hurting his reputation – apparently because they have been talking to The Rwanda Focus and the police. He has ordered the students to recant their claims with police and to repudiate the news stories. He has said only then will he repay the money they accuse him of having stolen. Of course, this amounts to witness tampering and harassment (in addition to the underlying crime of fraud) but Rugwana still walks freely on the streets of Kigali threatening orphan students and refusing to repay their monies.

Recently Paul Musabyimana, one of the students featured in our earlier news article on this case, requested that the Pastor repay him the Frw 30,000 cash bribe for which he even has a receipt.  The Pastor became irate and physically assaulted young Paul in front of several witnesses by shoving him.

Also on 17 November, in an effort to get assistance from police and finally spur them into comprehensive action, a small group of the orphans in question visited the Remera Police Station and met with Commander Theofile Sibomana and others to discuss the case. Since their pleas have gone unheeded for so long, one student, Daniel Niyonsenga, tried to make an audio recording of their meeting.  He was discovered doing so by Commander Sibomana and quickly found himself locked up.

The commander was kind enough to “forgive” young Daniel but only after forcing him to spend two days in jail.

Again, Remera Police have not bothered to arrest or even to question Pastor Rugwana. Another group of victims together with this reporter paid a visit to the Executive Secretary of the Kimironko Sector and pleaded for his assistance. They presented him with an official written request for intervention. After being told they should come as a group, all 300 students together, if they have a complaint the Executive Secretary finally promised to look into the matter.  It is known that he visited Batungwanayo in jail but it is unknown what resulted from that meeting.

When asked for comment or even a simple list of charges, Prosecutor Christine Kayirebwa refused to give any answers. She referred calls to the Prosecutor General’s office which also refused comment and referred calls to Augustin Nkusi, Spokesperson for the Prosecutor General who also failed to return calls.

Assuming his five day appeal is denied Janvier Batungwanayo is set to appear in Remera 30 days after his appearance from 26 November, 2009. It is not yet known what will happen to Batungwanayo’s alleged many properties in and around Kigali or if proceeds from the sale of those properties could somehow be used to repay the orphans or perhaps establish a fund to help pay for their long promised education.

Correction:  The Rwanda Focus had originally reported that all of the victims in this case were orphans of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.  While all of the victims here are in fact orphans, The Rwanda Focus wishes to clarify that some of these students have lost parents to HIV Aids and other problems.

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Local NGO runs pitiless scam, fleecing orphans of their scarce money