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The history of Shri Narendra Modi is well described by his varions talks by himself and his known relatives and friends.His history is summarised as below.Narendra Modi is the current Prime Minister of India. He represents Varanasi constituency in the Lok Sabha. He is the most prominent leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He is considered a master strategist for his party. He has been the Chief Minister of Gujarat for four consecutive terms.Family and Personal Background of Narendra ModiNarendra Damodardas Modi was born to a family of grocers in a town called Vadnagar in Mehsana district of Gujarat. He was born on 17 September, 1950 to Damodardas Mulchand Modi and Heeraben Modi. The couple had six children among which Narendra Modi was the third eldest.Modi completed his studies against all odds. His saga of struggle began when as a teenager, he, along with his brother, used to run a tea stall near a railway station in Ahmedabad. He did his schooling from Vadnagar and obtained a master's degree in Political Science from Gujarat University. One of his school teachers described him as an average student but a brilliant debater. During his college days, he worked as a 'pracharak' (promoter) of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). He left home at the age of 17 years and travelled across the country for the next two years.At a later stage, during the 1990s, when Modi served as the official spokesperson of the BJP in New Delhi, he completed a three-month long course in the US on public relations and image management.One of his brothers, Somabhai, is a retired health officer who now runs an old age home in the city of Ahmedabad. Another of his brothers Prahlad, an activist on behalf of fair-price shop owners, has his own fair-price shop in Ahmedabad. His third brother Pankaj is employed with the Information Department in Gandhinagar.Political Career of Narendra ModiNarendra Modi always had the utmost zeal and enthusiasm to serve and help the people in need. As a young boy, Narendra Modi offered his services voluntarily to the soldiers at the railway stations during the Indo-Pak war in 1965. He also served affected people during the 1967 Gujarat floods. Modi started working in the Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation’s staff canteen. Eventually from there he became a full-time proponent and campaigner, commonly called a 'pracharak', of the RSS. Modi later underwent training at the RSS camp in Nagpur. It is a prerequisite for any RSS member to take up the training course for holding any official position in the Sangh Parivar. Narendra Modi was given charge of the student wing, which is better known as Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). His contribution to the Anti-emergency movement impressed senior political leaders. As a result of this, he was eventually appointed the regional organiser of the newly-formed Bharatiya Janata Party in Gujarat.Narendra Modi was an efficient organiser from a very young age. During the Emergency, he arranged for covert circulation of RSS pamphlets and also organised protests against the Emergency rule. During his RSS days, he met the two Jan Sangh leaders, Vasant Gajendragadkar and Nathalal Jaghda, who later founded the state unit of BJP in Gujarat. In 1987, the RSS deputed Narendra Modi to politics by recommending his candidature in the BJP. Modi’s efficiency was recognised and he rose to prominence after managing the Ekta Yatra for Murli Manohar Joshi.Political Journey of Narendra ModiBecame the General Secretary of the BJP's Gujarat unit in 1988.Recognised as a key strategist for being instrumental in successfully campaigning for the party in the 1995 and 1998 Gujarat Assembly elections, which made the BJP the ruling party in Gujarat.Successfully organised two challenging events on national level: the Somnath to Ayodhya Rath Yatra, which was a long march by L. K. Advani and a march from Kanyakumari (southern tip of India) to Kashmir (the northern tip) undertaken by Murli Manohar Joshi. These two events are considered to have contributed in bringing the BJP to power in 1998.In 1995, Narendra Modi was appointed as the Secretary of the BJP's national unit.Narendra Modi was credited for having successfully carried out the responsibility of revamping the party organisation in different states.In 1998, Narendra Modi was promoted as General Secretary and held the position till October 2001.Narendra Modi became the Chief Minister of the state of Gujarat for the first time in October 2001 when his predecessor Keshubhai Patel resigned from the post following the defeat of BJP in by-elections.After winning the Gujarat Assembly elections three consecutive times and holding the position of the state's chief minister, Modi contested the 2014 Lok Sabha elections for the first time. He won the elections by a grand margin and became the Prime Minister of India following the win.Schemes Launched by Prime Minister Narendra ModiPradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (for financial inclusion)Swachch Bharat Mission (for clean public places and better sanitation facilities)Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (provision of LPG to families living BPL)Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (efficiency in irrigation)Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (insurance against crop failure)Pahal (LPG subsidy)Mudra Bank Yojana (banking services for Medium and Small Enterprises)Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (to provide skill training to the young workforce)Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (to strengthen rural infrastructure)Make in India (to boost the manufacturing sector)Garib Kalyan Yojana (address welfare needs of the poor)E-basta (online learning forum)Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana (financial empowerment of the girl child)Padhe Bharat Badhe Bharat (to enhance children's reading, writing and mathematical skills)DDU-Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (vocational training to the rural youth as part of 'Skill India' mission)Nayi Manzil Yojana (skills based training to Madrasa students)Stand Up India (support to women and SC/ST entrepreneurs)Atal Pension Scheme (pension scheme for unorganised sector employees)Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (insurance against accident)Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (life insurance)Sagar Mala Project (for developing port infrastructure)Smart Cities Project (building urban infrastructure)Rurban Mission (modern facilities in villages)Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana (affordable housing for all)Jan Aushadhi Scheme (provision for affordable medicines)Digital India (for a digitally equipped nation and economy)Digilocker (securing documents online)School Nursery Yojana (afforestation program by and for young citizens)Gold Monetisation Scheme (involve gold stocks lying idle in households in the economy)Narendra Modi Elections Result2014VaranasiUttar PradeshWon2014VadodaraGujaratWonNarendra Modi's International ToursFour-nation African tour covering Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania and Kenya to strengthen ties in trade, energy, defence and maritime cooperation. (July, 2016)First Prime-Ministerial visit to Mexico in three decades to enhance bilateral relations. (June, 2016)Visit to the US to strengthen ties and enhance cooperation between the two countries. (June, 2016)Meeting with top business leaders in Qatar to deepen industry and trade relations between both countries. (June, 2016)Bilateral meet with Switzerland President Johann Schneider Ammann who supported India’s bid for NSG membership. Also met the country's business leaders to deepen industry and trade ties between India and Switzerland. (June, 2016)Visit to Afghanistan and jointly inaugurated the Afghan- India Friendship Dam with President Ashraf Ghani. (June, 2016)Visit to Iran to enhance trade, investments, energy partnership, connectivity, culture and people to people relations. The historic Chahbahar Agreement was sealed during this visit. (May, 2016)Visit to Saudi Arabia for deepening bilateral relations and strengthening business ties between the two countries. (April, 2016)Visited Russia to attend the 16th Annual India-Russia summit. As many as 16 important agreements were signed between the two countries. (December, 2015)Visit to Singapore marking fifty years of India-Singapore relations. The Prime Minister met a number of top investors and invited them to ‘Make in India.’ (November, 2015)Visited Malaysia to attend the ASEAN-India Summit. Prime Minister Modi met his Malaysian counterpart Najib Razak to discuss bilateral ties with him. He also met his Chinese and Japanese counterparts Li Keqiang and Shinzo Abe on the sidelines of the summit. (November, 2015)Historic visit to the UK, the first in over a decade, to strengthen business and cultural ties between the two countries. The UK Prime Minister David Cameron expressed support for India's permanent candidature of a reformed UNSC. (November, 2015)First Prime Ministerial visit to United Arab Emirates (UAE) in 34 years. Visit strengthened economic ties and security cooperation. (August, 2015)Tour of Central Asia covering Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Historic and special visit in which significant effort was made to expand India’s cooperation with the Central Asian nations. (July, 2015)Visit to Bangladesh included talks with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and signing of a number of MOUs. The historic Land Boundary Agreement was signed during this visit. (June, 2015)Visit to the Republic of Korea strengthened many aspects of India-Korea cooperation. (May, 2015)Historic visit to Mongolia that opened up broad avenues of partnership and cooperation between the two nations. (May, 2015)Three-day China visit augmented bilateral partnership and economic cooperation between India and China and enhanced friendship among the two of the oldest civilizations of the world. (May, 2015)Visit to Canada was first exclusively bilateral visit by an Indian Prime Minister in more than four decades to deepen ties between the two nations. (April, 2015)Visit to Germany to hold extensive talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and prominent business leaders and promote the Indian government's ‘Make in India’ initiative. (April, 2015)Visit to France for extensive discussions to strengthen India-France ties. Modi met several French leaders and business executives and discussed ways to strengthen economic co-operation. (April, 2015)Undertook a successful 3-nation tour to Seychelles, Mauritius and Sri Lanka to strengthen India’s ties with these friendly nations. (March, 2015)Visted Brazil to attend the BRICS Summit in Fortaleza. A wide range of global issues were discussed during the Summit where it was decided to set up a BRICS bank and the first head of the Bank was to be from India. Three MoUs were signed between Brazil and India. (December, 2014)Visit to Nepal to attend the 18th SAARC Summit. (November, 2014)First bilateral visit to Fiji by an Indian Prime Minister in 33 years. Modi attended a 'Forum for India-Pacific Island cooperation' where he interacted with leaders from various Pacific islands nations. (November, 2014)First bilateral visit by an Indian Prime Minister in 28 years. Modi attended the G-20 Summit in Brisbane which was followed by a state visit to Australia. (November, 2014)Attended two important multilateral summits, the ASEAN & East Asia Summits in Myanmar. (November, 2014)Undertook a successful visit to Japan during which he held extensive discussions with the top leadership of Japan to strengthen ties between the two countries in several spheres. The visit resulted in a number of agreements. (August, 2014)Embarked on his first ever foreign visit after assuming charge to Bhutan indicating the importance India attaches to ties with Bhutan. (June, 2014)Narendra Modi's Tenure as Chief Minister of GujaratAs the chief minister of Gujarat, Modi had promoted the state as 'Vibrant Gujarat' claiming that it had made rapid progress in terms of infrastructural development and economic growth. However, some critics also point out poverty, malnutrition and lack of proper education in the state. As per the statistics, the state ranked 14th in terms of poverty as on September, 2013 and 18th in terms of literacy rate in 2014. On the other hand, the state officials claim that the state outperformed other states in terms of women's education. Moreover, the school drop-out rates and the maternal mortality rates declined. Gujarat is also one of the states that does not suffer from the problem of land mafia.Contrary to the claims made by the state officials, Christophe Jaffrelot, a political scientist said that the development in the state was limited only to the urban middle class. The rural people and those belonging to the lower castes were neglected by the government. According to Jaffrelot, under Modi's governance there had been an increase in the number of people living below poverty line. At the same time, the tribal and the Dalit communities were treated as subalterns. Other critics, including noted economist Amartya Sen, are also of the same view.First Term (2001 to 2002)On 7 October 2001, Narendra Modi was appointed as the Chief Minister of the state of Gujarat.He was given the responsibility of preparing the party for December 2002 elections.As Chief Minister, Modi laid emphasis on privatisation of small governmental institutions.2002 Gujarat violence:27 February saw a major incident of communal violence, resulting in the slaughter of 58 people, when a train carrying hundreds of passengers, mostly Hindu pilgrims, was set ablaze near Godhra. This incident resulted in anti-Muslim violence, which engulfed almost the entire Gujarat within no time. The estimated death toll ranged between 900 and 2,000. The Gujarat government led by Narendra Modi imposed curfews in several cities of the state to prevent escalation of violence. Human rights organisations, media and opposition parties accused the Modi government of taking inappropriate and insufficient steps to curb the violence. A Special Investigation Team (SIT) was appointed by the Supreme Court in April 2009 to inquire into the role played by the government and Modi. The SIT submitted a report to the court in December, 2010 stating that it did not find any evidence against Modi. However, the SIT was accused of concealing evidence in July, 2013.Consequently, pressure mounted on the BJP with different opposition parties and allies demanding resignation of Modi from the CM’s post. But the subsequent elections resulted in BJP winning complete majority by clinching 127 out of 182 seats.Second Term (2002 to 2007)Modi laid stress on economic development of Gujarat, which resulted in the state emerging as an investment destination.He instituted technology and financial parks in the state.The Vibrant Gujarat Summit in 2007 saw real estate investment deals worth Rs 6,600 billion signed in Gujarat.In July 2007, Modi completed 2,063 consecutive days as Chief Minister of Gujarat, creating a record of holding the post of CM of Gujarat for most number of days.Third Term (2007 to 2012)In later years, the state substantially improved its agricultural output, mainly due to projects related to improvement of supply of groundwater in places like Kachchh, Saurashtra and other northern parts of the state. Efforts were also made to increase the use of micro-irrigation and providing farms with efficient power supply.Development projects in the field of infrastructure saw construction of 5,00,000 structures in 2008, out of which 1,13,738 were check dams. In 2010, 60 out of the 112 tehsils regained normal groundwater level. This resulted in increased production of genetically modified Bt cotton. The agriculture growth rate in Gujarat increased to 9.6 per cent during 2001- 2007 and Compound Annual Growth Rate in Gujarat for the decade 2001- 2010 reached 10.97 per cent, which was highest among all states of India.A radical change in the system of power supply to rural areas helped flourish agriculture.Sadbhavana Mission or Goodwill Mission was organised by Modi in late 2011 and early 2012 to reach out to the Muslim community in the state. Modi observed a series of fasts and believed that this step would "further strengthen Gujarat’s environment of peace, unity and harmony."Fourth Term (2012 to 2014)Modi got elected from the constituency of Maninagar after winning by a huge margin.Awards WonOn the centenary celebration of Shri Poona Gujarati Bandhu Samaj, Narendra Modi was conferred with the Gujarat Ratna award at the Ganesh Kala Krida Manch.The computer society of India bestowed him the e-Ratna awardIn 2009, the FDI magazine honoured him as the Asian Winner of the FDi Personality of the Year Award.RecognitionIn 2006, India Today conducted a nationwide survey that declared him as the Best Chief Minister in India.In March 2012, the Time magazine featured him on the cover page of its Asian edition. He is one of the very few politicians of India to be featured on the cover of Time.In 2014, Modi was featured in 'Time 100' list of most influential people in the world.Modi became the most followed 'Asian leader' on Twitter in 2014."Forbes" rated Modi as the '15th Most Powerful Person' in the world in 2014.Books on Narendra ModiNarendra Modi- A Political BiographyNarendra Modi- A Political Biography' by Andy Marino attempts to provide a clear picture of Narendra Modi, the man and his politics. It enables the readers to get a better understanding of Modi's ways of governance. The book analyses the contrasting perspectives on the Gujarat model of governance. Andy Marino takes us through Modi's journey of life from childhood to a young man who went on to become India's Prime Minister.Centrestage: Inside the Narendra Modi Model of GovernanceUday Mahurkar’s ‘Centrestage: Inside the Narendra Modi Model of Governance’ gives a balanced and impersonal judgment of Modi’s mantra of governance. Mahurkar not only talks about Modi's visionary schemes but also talks about issues on which Modi could have paid more attention and performed better. The book explains how Modi transformed Gujarat during his tenure and analyses the salient features of the Modi model of governance.Modi: Making of a Prime Minister: Leadership, Governance and PerformanceThe book by Vivian Fernandez is a peak into the political scenario of Gujarat and the way of Modi's governance from a viewpoint of a liberal Indian. In other words, the book does not take any stand or gives any judgment. Vivian describes the ways in which Modi utilised the opportunity to improve the economic conditions of the people of Gujarat.The Man of the Moment - Narendra Modi'The Man of the Moment: Narendra Modi' authored by M V Kamath and Kalindi Randeri uncovers the life and the development of a perfect politician who has expanded the boundaries of politics in India. The book unravels the motivations and the astonishing stamina of Narendra Modi to remain firm in the face of criticism.The NaMo Story: A Political Life'The NaMo Story: A Political Life' by Kingshuk Nag gives a brilliant portrayal of an exceptional politician, Narendra Modi, depicting his journey from a tea vendor's son to the Chief Minister of Gujarat. The book begins with a short history of the political situation and reforms of the 1990s. It goes on to describe how Modi utilised his administrative skills to build up the Hindutva agenda for the BJP.Narendra Modi: The GamechangerSudesh Verma's 'Narendra Modi - The Gamechanger' shows Narendra Modi as a game changer who knows how to impress and influence people with his work and turn the tables on his opponents. The book is based on all-inclusive interviews of Modi and his close associates about the things and incidents that shaped his thoughts and actions and the way Modi evolved as a man. An average man can find a reflection of his own struggle in the life of Modi.Books written by Narendra ModiJyotipunj'Jyotipunj' gives a description of all the people who Narendra Modi believes inspired him and had a strong influence on his work. Modi was associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) initially as a worker and then as a ‘pracharak’. He gives a detailed insight into the life of the people who inspired him. The book also contains a reflection of thoughts of these people.Abode of Love‘Abode of Love’ is a compendium of eight short stories written by Narendra Modi. It was written by Modi at a very young age. These stories reveal the sensitive and affectionate aspect of his character. Modi believes that the love of a mother is the source of all love and it is the greatest love. Whatever be the kind of love – of lovers, of friends etc – all are the reflections of a mother's love. The book unravels the layers of human relationships in a beautiful way.Premtirth'Premtirth' is a collection of short stories written by Narendrabhai Modi. In this book, he draws a soulful portrayal of motherly feelings in a very simple and yet impressive language.Kelve Te Kelavani‘Kelave te Kelavani’ means ‘education is that which nurtures’. The book is a compilation of words of wisdom by Narendra Modi, India's Prime Minister. The book brings forth his thoughts and his vision to bring about a knowledge revolution in Gujarat. It shows his love for education.Sakshibhav'Sakshibhav' consists of a series of letters addressed to Jagat Janani Maa. It describes the journey of inner-self of Narendra Modi and his feelings. The book brings forth the emotional thoughts of Modi at the time of his struggle when he was a worker with RSS.Samajik Samarasata‘Samajik Samarasata’ is a compilation of Narendra Modi's articles and lectures. The phrase, “Express your views not just through words but through actions too”, aptly fits this book. The book reflects Modi's views on social harmony with no discrimination on the basis of castes and unravels many incidents of his interactions with dalits. The life incidents of many social reformers are also narrated.Convenient Action: Gujarat's Response to Challenges of Climate Change'Convenient Action: Gujarat’s Response to Challenges of Climate Change' is Modi's first book in English. The book talks about the changes of climate in the state of Gujarat and how the people of the state respond to it. Under the leadership of Modi, people of the state found the ways to take up such challenges.Summary of Modi GovernmentWhen Prime Minister Narendra Modi took charge on May 26, 2014, the world looked at him with high expectations. His manifesto had laid stress on bringing down inflation, renewing the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and retrieving black money from abroad, among other initiatives. As the government completes 100 days, one thing that emerges is that Modi walked the talk. During these days, the government has been busy picking up tasks from the manifesto and ticking them. However, all their actions are not without criticism. Few initiatives that received thumbs up from everywhere:-- Bilateral relations via SAARC; BRICS;-- The WTO stand-- Budget was a big hit-- FDI Policy-- Reform bills-- Cleanliness campaign-- Digital India initiativeThe govt. has also received criticism for violence and security issue, over LOP seat, transfer of governors, the black money problem and the inflationWe can also describe him by his international recognition.Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken India’s global standing to newer heights with the world applauding his transformational leadership. He has been conferred several highest awards by many nations and organisations.Order of St Andrew the Apostle: April 2019Recently, PM Narendra Modi received the highest order of the Russian Federation “for exceptional services in promoting special and privileged strategic partnership between Russia and India and friendly relations between the Russian and Indian peoples."Order of Zayed Award: April 2019PM Narendra Modi was conferred the highest civil award of the U.A.E. in April 209 for providing exceptional leadership in forging a new strategic relationship between India and UAE.The award acknowledges that PM Modi is working for everyone in a diverse country having people with different religions, languages and cultures.Seoul Peace Prize 2018 - October 2018For contributions to the growth of the Indian and global economies, PM Narendra Modi received the Seoul Peace Prize in October 2018.The Seoul Peace Prize committee lauded Modinomics for reducing social and economic disparity between the rich and the poor. It also praised PM Modi's initiatives to make the government cleaner through anti-corruption measures.It credited the Prime Minister for his contribution towards regional and global peace under the 'Modi Doctrine' and the 'Act East Policy'.Prime Minister Modi received the award in person during his visit to Republic of South Korea in February 2019.Seoul Peace Prize 2018 - October 2018UNEP Champions of the Earth Award - September 2018United Nations' highest environmental honour, the UNEP Champions of the Earth Award is bestowed on the world's greatest change agents.For his pioneering work in championing the International Solar Alliance and his unprecedented pledge to eliminate all single-use plastic in India by 2022, PM Narendra Modi was conferred with the UNEP Champions of the Earth Award in September last year.Grand Collar of the State of Palestine - February 2018The Grand Collar of the State of Palestine is the highest order of Palestine given to foreign dignitaries.In recognition of PM Modi’s wise leadership and his lofty national and international stature, and in appreciation of his efforts to promote the historic relations between the State of Palestine and the Republic of India, he was conferred with the award during his visit to Palestine in February last year.Amir Amanullah Khan Award - June 2016The highest civilian honour of Afghanistan, the Amir Amanullah Khan Award was bestowed on PM Narendra Modi by the Afghanistan government in June 2016.PM Narendra Modi was awarded the honour following the inauguration of the landmark Afghan-India Friendship Dam.King Abdulaziz Sash Award - April 2016In a special gesture, PM Narendra Modi was conferred the King Abdulaziz Sash Award in April 2016. This is Saudi Arabia's highest civilian honour.Named after Abdulaziz Al Saud, the founder of the modern Saudi state, the Prime Minister was conferred the prestigious award by King Salman bin Abdulaziz.So we can learn and inspired by him to be honest and responsible person.Thanks.

This is the first of two essays on this topic that were published on my blog Earthsign and on the Australian Independent Media Network during 2013.Old Tired cynical and arrogant: Part 1This is a tale of two political parties: the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and the Liberal Party of Australia. The ALP was founded in the 1890s and the Liberal Party in 1945 so as political parties go they are old and as often happens in old age they have arguably grown tired, cynical and arrogant. These two old parties have dominated Australia’s political landscape since the middle of last century.There is a third old party, the Nationals (founded in 1913), the permanent minor coalition partner of the Liberals. And a young party, The Greens. They are not central to this story. For better or worse around 85% of Australian voters vote for either the ALP or the Liberals. It is these two old parties who have shaped the Australia we live in today and whether we like it or not, whether we care or not, these parties between them are now shaping the Australia of tomorrow. This story is not about the probable imminent destruction of the Gillard Labor government. It is not about the disgraceful role played by a financially challenged, over-concentrated mainstream media in the shaping of Australian choices at the ballot box. Important as these stories are in their own right they have been endlessly discussed elsewhere.This is a story of the forces reshaping these two old parties and their profound implications for the future of our democracy. It starts with the rapid decline both in membership and perceived social relevance of both the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and the Liberal Party of Australia. Much has been written about the internal problems of the ALP and according to Margot Saville at Crikey more buckets of ink are about to be spilled between now and the end of the year on the question of ‘What is wrong with Labor?’ We all know that Labor’s membership base is collapsing but little is written about the corresponding decline in Liberal Party membership.Political junkies know that the decline in Labor’s membership is due to the marginalization of rank and file members and blatantly undemocratic internal processes but are less aware that the same applies to the Liberals.Report number four for the Democratic Audit of Australia conducted by the Political Science Program of the Australian National University summed up the situation succinctly for both these ‘old’ parties:The picture with regard to internal democracy is a bleak one. Low party membership probably means even lower levels of active participation. And ordinary party members may have little opportunity to engage in debate that would conform to deliberative principles, that is, principles concerned with the quality of debate. Pre-selection is a key party activity and work by (former Labor minister) Gary Johns suggests that the major parties don’t meet even basic principles of fairness in the way they conduct these processes.Further cause for concern arises out of the extent to which parties rely on large private donations. Public funding only exists in some jurisdictions and, even when it is available, parties continue to attract high levels of private funds. There is much debate about the need for increased financial accountability and about the effectiveness of rules for disclosure, particularly given that these rules vary considerably across the country. (Jaensch, Brent and Bowden, ‘Australian Political Parties in the spotlight’, ANU, 2004)Little has changed for the better in the subsequent decade. This post is part one of an examination of the consequences for our democracy of these changes and the growing gap between them and the electorate. So I’m going to write about this. The story needs to start with some facts.Who belongs to the old political parties?The short answer is old people. Writing for Inside Story Norman Abjorensen states that the median age of Victorian Liberal members in 2008 was 62 (presumably higher in 2013) against the median age of Victorians of 43. There is no reason to believe that the membership of their coalition partner the Nationals is more youthful. According to Latham, 55% of Labor’s national membership is in the ‘concessional’ membership category, largely retirees. Given the strong influence of the Union movement over the ALP you might expect that a high percentage of Labor members would be members of trade unions. You would be wrong. Latham shows that roughly 5800 unionists Australia wide belong to the ALP. About 16% of the membership. This is less than 0.5% of the membership of ALP affiliated unions, hardly a resounding vote of confidence in the continued relevance of the ALP by the members of the Unions whose dues bankroll the Party.How many people belong to the old political parties?LIKE MOST other western liberal democracies, Australia has experienced a steady decline in membership of political parties, with the Australian Bureau of Statistics putting total party membership at just 1.3 per cent of the adult population in 2006 – the same percentage as in Britain, where there is growing concern about dramatic falls in member numbers, and much lower than many European countries. So in 2013 about one in every hundred Australians belongs to a party. There has been some discussion of the decline in ALP membership lately. Mark Latham’s Quarterly Essay ‘Not Dead Yet’ charts a membership collapse “from 150,000 members nationally in the 1930s to 50,000 in the 1990s to just 11,665 members who voted in the ballot for the ALP national presidency in 2011.” Latham probably overstate the scale of the decline as Wikipedia gives a membership figure of around 35,000 nationally. The 2010 Bracks, Carr, Faulkner Review of the Party put the number at 36,000 and after Prime Minister Gillard called for a membership drive numbers are thought to have risen to as much as 44,000 in 2012. Whether this is a temporary halt in the decline or something more permanent this is still well below a membership of 50,000 twenty years ago. Hardly cheering. It also raises the question of why, if the total membership was 35,000 people only one in three members would bother to vote in a ballot for the national president in 2011?Estimates of the membership of the Liberal Party tell a similar story. One source gives a national membership of 78,000 for the Liberals and a surprising figure (to me at least) of 100,000 for the Nationals. cites a State membership figure of 13,000 from a 2008 internal party review of the Victorian branch of the Liberal Party, down from a peak of 46,000 in 1950 when the population was far smaller. Whether such a figure in Australia’s second most populous state is consistent with an national figure of 78,000 seems questionable.To place these membership numbers in context if we accept that the current ALP membership is 44,000 and the current Liberal Party membership is 78,000 Labor has about the same membership as the Adelaide Crows AFL club and the Liberals just exceed the somewhat more successful Collingwood Football Club.Australia’s population is roughly 22,300,000. A total of 719,582 Australians are members of an AFL Club.The ALP has 44,000 members and the Liberal Party has 78,000 members. My computer’s calculator tells me that this means:One in every 31 Australians belongs to an AFL club.One in every 506 Australians belongs to the ALP.One in every 286 Australians belongs to the Liberal Party.Australians are more than nine times more likely to belong to an AFL club than to the Liberal Party and about seventeen times more likely to belong to an AFL club than to the ALP. Now perhaps this is not a fair comparison. Membership of an AFL club promises pleasure and the sense of belonging and requires nothing in return. Membership of a political party which offers nothing to ordinary rank and file members unless they become part of the Party elite and requires some contribution of time and effort is unattractive to busy Australians balancing the pressures on time and money of daily life.Why is membership of the ‘old’ political parties declining?The reasons for this can be quite specific. For example Abjorensen cites the example of the Queensland Branch of the former National Party.The former National Party in Queensland, now merged with the state Liberal Party, suffered a massive exodus soon after John Howard was elected leader of the federal Liberal–National coalition in 1996. An internal report, never made public, identifies a single reason for the abrupt slump – Howard’s clampdown on guns in the wake of the Port Arthur killings in Tasmania. The party went to considerable lengths to keep this quiet for the sake of Coalition unity, but the Queensland Nationals were fatally wounded and have never recovered their previous clout. Many of the disgruntled ex-Nats found their way into One Nation, where they caused mischief for their old party. – See more at The parties democratic deficit.The former National Party in Queensland, now merged with the state Liberal Party, suffered a massive exodus soon after John Howard was elected leader of the federal Liberal–National coalition in 1996. An internal report, never made public, identifies a single reason for the abrupt slump – Howard’s clampdown on guns in the wake of the Port Arthur killings in Tasmania. The party went to considerable lengths to keep this quiet for the sake of Coalition unity, but the Queensland Nationals were fatally wounded and have never recovered their previous clout. Many of the disgruntled ex-Nats found their way into One Nation, where they caused mischief for their old party.The former National Party in Queensland, now merged with the state Liberal Party, suffered a massive exodus soon after John Howard was elected leader of the federal Liberal–National coalition in 1996. An internal report, never made public, identifies a single reason for the abrupt slump – Howard’s clampdown on guns in the wake of the Port Arthur killings in Tasmania. The party went to considerable lengths to keep this quiet for the sake of Coalition unity, but the Queensland Nationals were fatally wounded and have never recovered their previous clout. Many of the disgruntled ex-Nats found their way into One Nation, where they caused mischief for their old party. – See more at The parties democratic deficit.But in the case of both the Labor and Liberal Parties the decline of membership is a function of the increasing centralization of decision making in both Labor and Liberal parties. This process has increasingly marginalized the rank and file members. Abjorensen again:There is a body of largely anecdotal evidence that suggests rank and file members of both main political parties find they have very little input into the parties’ processes, namely policy and pre-selections. Indeed, the more these are centralised, the less relevant local branches and their members become.In respect of the ALP Latham comments that:Compared to other community organizations the return on ALP membership is minimal. Active Branch life has been reduced to a hard core of the ageing party faithful. plus members of parliament and their staff and others hustling for elected office. … Branches go through the motions of monthly meetings and debate, knowing that their resolutions will be ignored by the Party hierarchy.The ‘Party hierarchy’ is driven by two overlapping substructures of the affiliated unions and the factions. According to Jaensch et al:In the Labor Party the factions and the unions are parallel, if not unified sub-structures. The factions have their organisational and numerical bases in the unions, and the unions spearhead the faction leaderships and decision-making. … the 2002 Rules Conference decision to set 50:50 as the national union to member vote will have no effect on faction (or union) domination.The hold of the factions and unions on ‘their’ candidates does not relax after their election. Appearing on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Lateline program on 24 June 2002, former South Australian ALP Senator, Chris Schacht commented:I want to have an open mind in debate within the party and hear the debate before I make up my mind about how I should vote on party policy—not to be directed by what a factional leader says you must vote and if you don’t follow it, you might lose your pre-selection.With regards pre-selection of candidates for the Liberal Party; when John Howard was Prime minister no Liberal Party pre-selection took place without close Prime Ministerial scrutiny. A tick from the Party Leader and the patronage of powerful party figures to whom there are direct personal and professional links were both necessary for successful pre-selection as a candidate for the Liberal Party. Local members who too strongly disagree(d) with the consensus of the powerful risk(ed) their displeasure and the possibility of negative consequences.The importance of powerful patrons is well illustrated by the rise to Parliament of Liberal Party rising stars Josh Frydenberg and Kelly O’Dwyer.In a 2009 piece for Crikey Andrew Crook wrote:…the grassroots doily conventions have been steadily eroded in favour of hand-picked or factionally-“flagged” candidates. In most states, hopefuls will have already jumped through numerous social hoops and fronted “pre-pre-selection” selection committees designed to weed out the rabble. Just like Labor’s preference for industrial officers and backroom numbers men, the idea of a Thatcher-loving shopkeeper rising through the Liberal ranks has been eclipsed by blue-chip blue bloods like Kelly O’Dwyer in Higgins and Peter Dutton in Dickson/McPherson.In the Labor Party the situation is no better. Andrew Crook in this Crikey piece paints an equally depressing picture of the process for pre-selecting candidates within the ALP.For the most part, internal democracy is a charade, and there is generally no legal requirement for “private” party structures to open up their processes. … The disjuncture with the electorate is startling. In Victoria, outcomes are determined by numbers that represent around 0.1% of the ALP primary vote in any given lower house seat.Discussing the ALP Abjorensen says:The rapidly declining relevance of its shrinking membership and the capture of its factions – and with them the party machinery – have seen Labor become little more than the plaything of unrepresentative cliques. Poor-quality candidate selection and scant attention to policy are the inevitable outcomes, not to mention the corrosive effect of even greater public cynicism and further disengagement.This position is supported by a profile of the Seat of Batman, site of a controversial pre-selection battle, which reveals the arcane tribal nature of ALP structure.The 2010 Review of the ALP internal processes and structure conducted by respected ALP elders Steve Bracks, Bob Carr and John Faulkner Faulkner supports this view of the party. Its assessment of the disillusionment of the rank and file members was that it is deep and widespread.The following are verbatim extracts from face-to-face consultations and submissions made by members to the Review process. They are a sample of what members and supporters believe is wrong, and what needs to change, in our Party. The Review Committee was struck with the consistency and strength of the views put to it.“As a party member for nearly 39 years it seems that branches are now treated as irrelevant by head office — only good for handing out on election days.” — Member, Sydney“A branch member no longer has any power and hasn’t for a long time.” — Member, Melbourne“Many branches feel very frustrated and ignored these days.” — Member, Adelaide“At the moment, the party branches are dying, because the rank and file are given no voice in the Party. The members and branches no longer have any say in preselections or in policy. Unless this trend can be reversed, we will become a party that exists just to provide a path for ex-trade union leaders and ex-staffers of politicians to enter parliament.” — Member, NSW“The [issue is the] rise of the central Party apparatus and the decline of the branches. If the resolutions of branches are ignored, if the rules of the Party are ignored, if pre-selections are determined by head office and not the relevant electoral councils, if we remove democracy as the beating heart of our Party why would people join a branch, why would people get involved in our Party, why would people vote for us?” — Member, NSW“The demand that branches be respected meant that a branch’s local knowledge and concerns should be taken seriously. There was a sense that the party leadership did not take seriously or wish to involve itself with a branch’s participation in issues and policies that profoundly affected its members and its local community. Branches, it was argued, could be at the forefront of pivotal community battles.” — Branch submission“The grassroots organisation of the ALP used to be something that we left the Liberals for dead in.” — Member, Cairns“Members have given up. They feel that their only function is to turn up on polling day and spend a day in the sun handing out how-to-vote cards. Members want to be involved at a local level at a bare minimum.” — Member, Queensland.In the case of the ALP at least the disillusionment of the rank and file members is surely also driven by the ongoing series of scandals and corruption that have dogged the party for decades and continue despite attempts at ‘root and branch reform’.Thus the disillusioned membership of both these old parties is not only shrinking but it is also aging rapidly. In Part Two I will argue that despite awareness of the process its causes and consequences neither party has acted to halt or even slow this rate of decline and I will outline the profoundly disturbing implications of declining membership of these two parties for all Australians.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------This is the second of two essays on this topic that were published on my blog Earthsign and on the Australian Independent Media Network during 2013.Old tired cynical and arrogant: Part 2In Part One of this story I described the disastrously declining membership of both the Liberal and Labor Parties. I discussed the reasons for the disillusionment that is the immediate cause of this decline. In Part Two I will canvass the reasons for the structural change that are driving this loss of members, what these parties have done to counteract this (nothing effective) and the likely corrosive consequences for our democratic processes.Why have the old parties centralized power and decision making?Abjorensen’s generic answer is that this is the inevitable result of the increasing professionalization of politics. Professional politics leaves nothing to chance. Such as the possibility of loose cannon candidates causing havoc during election campaigns. This is probably the primary motivation in the Liberal Party. However in respect of the ALP according to Latham, the problem is also strongly grounded in the shrinking influence of the unions within the Australian workforce. In Australia only 18% of workers now belong to a union and as little as 10% of Australian workers belong to unions affiliated with the ALP. As their power in the workplace has waned so the Union leadership has strengthened its power within the ALP. This process has been aided by the long term decline in branch membership which it has in turn strengthened.In any organization power flows to the centre whenever a critical mass of grassroots participation is lost. This concentration of influence usually results in self-serving processes and decisions, generating ethical problems and further disillusionment among rank and file members . . . Over time, the preservation of power internally is regarded as a higher priority than satisfying the organizations external goals.Latham continues:In effect Labor has split into two organizations, each operating in a different sphere of political activity. Branches go through the motions of monthly meetings and debate, knowing that their resolutions will be ignored by the Party hierarchy. At the Party’s centre, the branches are viewed as an irritation, a mid twentieth century anachronism . . . The union/factional wing of the Party has divorced itself from the rank and file. thus modern Labor is living an institutionalized fallacy. It is two parties in one. Two divisions pulling against one another . . . These two organizations have little in common beyond the name Labor and a romantic attachment to the notion of working class struggle.What have the old parties done to correct this situation?As far as I know the nearest thing this century to a review of the Liberal Party ‘s internal procedures and practices is the review of the 2010 election loss conducted by former Howard government minister Peter Reith in 2011. Although primarily an analysis of an election campaign, among the report’s 34 recommendations for action to be undertaken were a number of changes to the Party’s internal procedures aimed at empowering the membership. These included measures aimed at the democratization and standardization of pre-selection procedures and the direct election of the National President by the members on a one member one vote system.The Labor Party has commissioned two internal reviews of its operating procedures and processes. The most recent, the Bracks Carr Faulkner review of 2010, made 31 publicly available recommendations intended to comprehensively address the Party’s internal malaise and decreasing relevance to the community. The parallels with the restructuring recommendations of the Reith Review of 2011 are striking but more striking is the fate of the Bracks, Carr Faulkner Review. In 2013 Crikey’s Ben Westcott asked what happened to the report and its recommendations?Two years on from a comprehensive review to overhaul the Labor party, the party has squibbed on most of the significant reforms proposed. The report, written by Labor identities Steve Bracks, John Faulkner and Bob Carr in 2011, is gathering dust on a shelf. And the federal Labor government is at a catastrophic low in the polls as it appears to be on course for an electoral wipeout.The 2011 ALP National Conference rejected in whole or in part, (most) of the thirty one (publicly released) Faulkner, Bracks, Carr recommendations to increase the role, influence and say of the membership in Party affairs. These recommendations if adopted would have restrained some of the power of those currently in control of the Party. Eighteen of the recommendations were either completely rejected (8) or adopted in weakened form (10). The unrepresentative union power brokers are still firmly in control of the ALP. Elected politicians are beholden to the power brokers in the Party and threaten their own pre-selection if they fail to toe the line set by their factional allies. Attempts at reform are sputtering out and Party membership will presumably continue to decline. It is impossible to reach any conclusion other than that the Labor Party is broken and unable to repair itself.What does it mean to the 99% of Australians who are not members of the old parties that they find themselves in this situation – who cares?Probably very few people do care (yet) but we all should. It already impacts on all of us and the impacts may become far more severe in future. The decline in the membership of the ‘old’ parties has a number of consequences that effect us directly. It means that they have increasing difficulty finding the numbers needed to carry out the traditional voluntary tasks allocated to party members. Staffing polling stations, organizing community events, participating in pre-selections, door-knocking and letter-boxing on behalf of candidates etc etc. This can be overcome through increased reliance on focus groups, direct mailing, phone polling and the use of radio, television and on-line vehicles to both elicit the information they require to target their actions and to communicate their messages. Where people are required, they can be employed. Put simply this means getting hold of more money from somewhere to run the political process. And what better source of money than the Australian taxpayer? If Tony Abbott hadn’t been so severely embarrassed by his colleagues and public outrage over the Gillard government’s proposed political donations legislation that he reversed his Party’s previous support for the proposal it may by now have become law. This bill substantially watered down the disclosure rules on political donations and handed all parties (the Greens included) a share of an extra $50 million+ a year as an ‘administrative allowance’ to ‘administer and monitor compliance’ with the legislation. Independent MPs Rob Oakeshott and Tony Windsor sounded a clear warning that the attempt to pass this bill bodes ill for the future of our democratic processes. Windsor said:If people out there have some concern about their democracy – and I think they should start to get a little bit concerned about this particular issue, because all this is doing is locking in the two giants, the two major parties, so that they have this massive advantage over anybody else who wants to enter the playing field. That’s what it’s about.They’re quite comfortable having both sides of the tennis court occasionally but they don’t want other players in the pack. So that’s what this is all about.It can be argued that this little attempt to grant themselves a bigger share of the taxpayer pie to run their own businesses is part of a larger trend. Blatant political advertising by sitting governments outside the context of an election is becoming rampant at both State and Federal level.They’re spending our money to tell us how good they are!Not only does the falling membership of the ‘old’ parties already cost us substantial sums of money but another inevitable outcome of the unrepresentative and at times corrupt practices that are used to select parliamentary candidates is a widening gap between community needs and expectations and the initiatives and actions of MPs whose first allegiance is to the party and its financial backers and the unrepresentative ‘players’ who underpin their continued pre-selection as an MP.Recently in Independent Australia Sandi Keane posted a thought provoking two part piece on the ‘cartelisation’ (very ugly word that) of Australia’s political system. This concept was new to me but I have since discovered that the cartelisation of Australia’s old political parties (or its symptoms) is much discussed in scholarly circles and even in the main stream media. Where have I been! Keane’s articles are an excellent starting point for anyone interested in the implications of this for the future of our democracy.A cartel is defined as:An association of manufacturers or suppliers that maintains prices at a high level and restricts competition.A coalition or cooperative arrangement between political parties to promote a mutual interest.Keane explains:A “cartel party” is a party that deals itself resources of the state to maintain its powerful position within the political system. The emergence of the cartel party in Western Europe was first identified … in the 1990s. Like commercial cartels, major political parties colluded by employing the resources of the state to ensure their own collective survival. Election campaigns were:‘…capital-intensive, professionalized and centralized, and are organized on the basis of a strong reliance on the state for financial subventions and for other benefits and privileges.’Sound familiar?The transition of the two major (Australian) parties from mass membership models to cartels for the elite has disenfranchised party members from the political process. The steady disengagement from their membership base has seen valuable ideas crucial to problem-solving and policy-making forfeited.I think Keane understates the case. Not only has the progressive and ongoing stifling of the people’s voice (in this case party rank and file members) caused ‘valuable ideas crucial to problem saving and policy making’ to be lost but it has disproportionately strengthened the voice of that ‘other constituency’, those who bankroll elections and seek to influence political decision making in return for their financial support. Depending on which party we are talking about this is either the industry and business lobbyists, the rural producers’ lobby groups or the unions. So if you are wondering whose interests have to be secured and where possible enhanced as policy is formed and legislation passed you might like to look at who funded the old parties in 2011 – 2012, how donations from the mining sector are currently flowing and how the party coffers are filling in advance of the September 14 election in 2013.In the business world Australia’s legislators have placed strong controls on cartel activity. An Information guideline from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission ACCC states:While cartel activity has been illegal for more than 30 years in Australia there is now, for the first time, the additional sanction of criminal conviction for cartel conduct. The Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (the Act) provides major additions to cartel detection capacity, including search warrants and telephone interception. The criminal provisions provide a powerful deterrent to those who might be tempted to collude with competitors.Unfortunately for Australians with few exceptions our Parliamentarians have not shown the same willingness to regulate the probity of their own behavior. When Tony Windsor complains about the collusion between Labor and Liberal evident in the failed Gillard government political donations legislation in terms of its potential to strengthen the power of both these old parties he is complaining about typical cartel behavior. When these parties conspire to remove minor parties they would rather not have in the Federal Lower House by swapping preferences they are engaging (although in this instance the structure of our parliamentary system clearly permit it) in typical cartel behavior to limit consumer choice. When governments grant themselves vast sums of public money to engage in political advertising, as they increasingly regularly do – they are engaging in typical cartel behavior. If these parties were businesses their principals would be behind bars.So quietly, behind closed doors, at meetings, conferences and working dinners away from public scrutiny, our democratic processes are incrementally re-shaped to suit the interests of these old parties and their unelected financial backers from industry and the increasingly unrepresentative union movement. Aided and abetted by the distortions of an over-concentrated, lazy, often deliberately deceptive and disgracefully partisan main stream media the old parties and their backers quietly chip away at the foundations of our democracy. Because it happens one modest step at a time almost no-one notices. Does anyone care?

I know that these answers will trigger emotionally and aggressively many Paul Kagame fanboys but that’s what it is, let’s go:Paul KagameThe United Nations’ Mapping Report of October 1, 2010, gives a long list of mass slaughters and other crimes that should have gotten Paul Kagame arrested long before today. Yet, the report is collecting dust in UN drawers while Kagame continues to kill (both Rwandans and Congolese) with total impunity. As Dr. Theogene Rudasingwa, fellow Rwandan Tutsi, colleague, and former Rwandan ambassador to the US, said in the above BBC documentary: “Kagame’s impunity has reached scandalous proportions, as you can see in the case of Congo, his impunity has gone beyond the borders of Rwanda“.Since 1994 when the Rwandan genocide covered in the above BBC documentary took place, as the many witnesses and investigators interviewed therein state, the evidence against Paul Kagame have continued to pile up, including from his own former Tutsi colleagues and subalterns. One can get more or detailed evidence with the Gersony Report, also the Michael Hourigan’s Affidavit, or else the Information Memorandum for Secretary of State Warren Christopher by the then-Assistant Secretary of State for Africa George Moose, to name just these few. After close to one to two million Rwandan Hutus and moderate Tutsis perished between 1990 to 1997 in Rwandan and in DRC due to Paul Kagame’s actions, millions of innocent Congolese have perished and over 3 million have been gang raped and mutilated, since 1998, including little children as young as 18 months-old.My question is, how has Paul Kagame, this aberration of a “leader” whose horrific and genocide-proportion crimes have been so abundantly documented, how has he endured for over twenty-one years now? No Congolese ever did anything against any Rwandan except to welcome them in his country as refugees; but, today, Rwandan Tutsis have been repaying the Congolese with occupation and with slaughtering them all over the DRC and with ethnic cleansing of all Congolese in the villages and towns bordering Rwanda and Uganda that has surpassed Adolf Hitler’s numbers, beside the gang raping and the mutilations.Meanwhile, from the same Tutsi ethnicity as Paul Kagame, a dignified and respectful Rwandan prince of the Banyiginya lineage, the late Antoine Nyetera, who abhorred Kagame’s crimes against all Rwandans, wrote about Kagame and his RPF’s use of the Rwandan cultural trait of “manipulative lying” (Ubwenge) and sheer cold-blood slaughter just for the sake of power and wealth. Nyetera’s document, in French, is titled “Education du mensonge et de la calomnie”. In one paragraph, Nyetera sums up the horror of how Paul Kagame and his group have manipulated and misled everyone while committing the most abominable crimes:« Il faut avoir un esprit fourbe et malicieux, haineux et revanchards comme les Tutsi du FPR, pour commettre les crimes les plus abominables et crier au secours ! D’être bourreaux et se présenter pour victime ! Il faut également avoir un courage exceptionnel, un cœur aussi dur que l’acier, pour condamner les innocents avec sang froid. »Paul Kagame and his RPF armyOne of the ways Paul Kagame has used these traits described by Antoine Nyetera is by blackmailing the UN with his troops to be used for “peace missions” by the UN; so, every time he commits crimes and the UN investigations expose them, Kagame threatens with pulling his troops from these “peace” missions. Beside Kagame, this practice is used by Museveni of Uganda and, now, by Joseph Kabila (a.k.a. Hyppolite Kanambe) of the DRC. Thus, our world today has become tolerant of (laissez-faire) and powerless to stop mass slaughterers in Africa as it stopped similar mass slaughterers such as Adolf Hitler in Europe.The two former colleagues of Kagame provided evidence that challenged the data that everyone cites as tremendous “progress” in Rwanda’s economy and society.Dr. David Himbara, former Rwandan Statistician who helped Paul Kagame cook the books on Rwanda’s “tremendous progress”…Mr. David Himbara, an economist and statistician who worked as an adviser to Paul Kagame, recounted that he had to flee because he could not continue to make up false statistics in order to lie to the world about how much progress Rwanda was making. As for the women’s advances in Rwanda, these Tutsi (not the subjugated Hutu) women who have no power, are used as pawns by Kagame to fool the gullible world. All Rwandans agree that in Rwanda, the only power that is and counts is Paul Kagame.Mr Himbara pointed out that disagreement with Paul Kagame meant death. Mr. Himbara said that Kagame killed even his own driver and his private physician. As to how Kagame is “loved” by the people of Rwanda, Mr. Himbira revealed that Rwanda, under Kagame, is worse than a police state, in that “from the villages all the way to the capital city, every 10 huts or houses are controlled by one person who supervises and reports to the next level all the way to the president of the country”. And, if a hut, a house, or an individual, or a family dare to dissent or to disagree with Kagame’s dictates, the entire family or the individual would either disappear or they would find the body or bodies floating in the river the next day.Rwandan Major Robert Higiro who was hired to kill Kagame’s opponents in South Africa, he balked and recorded the evidence…The Rwandan Tutsi Major Robert Higiro, the other witness, was hired and offered a million dollars by Kagame for him to assassinate the exiled Rwandan General Kayumba Nyamwasa and Colonel Patrick Karegeya in South Africa (see BBC’s “Rwanda, the Untold Story”). Major Higiro agreed with the intended targets to tape all the conversations with Kagame’s emissary (Karegeya was finally assassinated in December 2013 and Paul Kagame could barely keep himself from boasting about the killing and warning those who are still alive that “it is a matter of time” before he gets them too). Fast forward to Saturday, June 20th, 2015, when England arrested Paul Kagame’s spy chief, General Karensi Karake on war crimes, crimes against humanity, and human rights violations, who, hitherto, has had the freedom to go and come but, now, might be transferred to Spain on pending arrest warrants for him and 39 other Kagame’s associates.Yoweri Kaguta MuseveniPaul Kagame helped Yoweri Museveni seize power in Uganda (1980-1985); he led the murderous invasion from Uganda to seize power in Rwanda in 1994; and, in 1996, he masterminded the invasion of a sovereign country, Zaire (DRC), and, since then, the occupation of eastern DRC for land and the illegal exploitation of the DRC’s resources.Background (Tutsi refugees in Uganda)The UNHCR set up refugee camps for Tutsis soon after they arrived in Uganda in 1960, at Rwimi and Base Camp Kasese in Toro, Kamuhingi and at Rukinga Valley in Ankole. Rukinga Valley was a sparsely populated area. It provided excellent grazing grassland for those that came with their livestock. The UN agency took full responsibility for those people. Uganda, as a young nation, had never experienced such an influx of refugees and did not know how to handle such problems. Rwanda as rulers. We cannot accept to be ruled by Hutus who are supposed to be our slaves, so they declared. Soon after they settled in those camps, they devised plans of taking back power in Rwanda through force. In the 1960s Tutsi refugees made several attempts to capture power by force. There were about 5 attempts during Kayibandas reign, when Tutsi militant groups made unsuccessful attempts to attack Rwanda from Uganda and Congo. At the same time they were accusing Rwanda of being undemocratic. They continued waging a two prong attack: accusing the Hutu regime in Kigali of being undemocratic and repressive, while at the same time mobilizing an armed invasion of Rwanda. While still under the UNHCR supervision in Uganda, those refugees tried to mobilize their youth into an armed guerilla group. The militant group was called the Banyarwanda Youth Association. A. Milton Obotes first regime prevented them from using Uganda as a military base for an attack on a neighboring country because it was a violation of both the U.N. and OAU Charters. That did not go well in the minds of a people who were obsessed with taking power at any cost. They worked around it by undermining the very country which gave them refuge.At that time their efforts were thwarted but their conviction to regain power in Rwanda did not die. They continued to use other avenues including negotiating with the Kigali regime for their return to Rwanda, which could give them an opportunity to maneuver to regain power, by any means, from within the country. There were several negotiations sponsored by OAU and UN to work out a compromise of returning refugees back to their country. Each time a compromise was reached; the Tutsi side undermined its implementation and quickly blamed the Hutu side for the apparent failure. It was self evident that the Tutsis wanted nothing short of taking total control of the country and return to the old ways of Tutsi domination and enslavement of Hutus. They resented the fact that Rwanda was under the control of a majority group a people they deemed not fit to rule. That sentiment was confirmed many years later when Paul Kagames junta officially condemned retired Archbishop André Perraudin for his pivotal role in the emancipation of Hutus in 1950s.The then Fr. Perraudin (who was a Missionary teacher at a Seminary in Rwanda during the 1950s) expounded to his students the Catholic doctrine of Social justice and Human rights. On that basis the Diocesan newspaper called Kinyamateka was entrusted to Gregoire Kayibanda, an ex-seminarian, who wrote extensively on social reform, condemning Tutsi brutality against the Hutus. Kayibanda, backed by the Church through Bishop Parraudin, vehemently preached justice and human rights for all. It was from that standpoint that Hutu liberation blossomed and formed a political party PARMEHUTU which waged a victorious campaign against the Tutsi dynasty, overthrowing the monarchy and deposing all Tutsi rulers in 1959/60.Tutsi crimes in UgandaUganda has had her share of political upheavals since independence. Human rights violations in that country have received worldwide publicity until Museveni came to power. There have been more heinous crimes during Museveni’s rule than during Amin and Obote combined and yet the self-appointed policemen of the world keep silent. Is this an accident or intentional?One of the Tutsi tactics was to infiltrate the regimes of Obote and Amin, creating havoc by committing crimes against the people and they blame the government leaders for those crimes. Such activities weakened the regimes creating an easy way for the Tutsis to emerge later as liberators of the masses. Mr. Paul Kagame, as Director of Military Intelligence, ran a notorious slaughter house where hundreds of Ugandans were tortured and brutally killed. His headquarters was at Basiima House near Mengo. The death of Andrew L. Kayiira on March 7, 1987 falls squarely on the hands of Paul Kagame and his killer squad from Basiima House, according to informers who were in the intelligence service at the time. A Ugandan Army officer registered number R00007, Paul Kagame, must be Court Marshaled for the death and torture of many people in Uganda and Rwanda.David Tinyefunza was Commander of Eastern Region and slaughtered many people during his stay in Eastern Uganda. The most pronounced incidence of his brutality was the roasting of people in train wagons in Teso in 1987. Bayingana, who was in charge of Prison medical services, was responsible for the killing of many prisoners at Luzira between 1986 and 1990. Hundreds of people particularly from Buganda and northern region were detained as squatters and many did not come out alive. He was among the invaders of Rwanda under RPF banner. Bayingana was responsible for injecting political prisoners with slow killing poison. Such prisoners would be released and only to dies a few days or weeks later. Consequently they would claim death as being due to natural causes. That poison was imported from Cuba and Rumania, according reliable sources. Among such victims were Lt. Namiti, Paulo Muwanga, Col. Otto, Henry Bwambale, A. Bazira. One of the greatest lies of the 20th century was that those Tutsis were refugees in Uganda. They ceased to be refugees in the mid 1960s when the camps were closed and UNHCR closed shop. Those people were integrated thoroughly into the Ugandan society. Refugees do not hold ministerial posts in their host country like Rwigyema was. When Paul Kagame traveled to USA for military training, he did not use a U.N. Refugee Pass, but a genuine Ugandan passport. He is a genuine Uganda military officer with registration number R00007. It has been recently revealed that Paul Kagame used to visit his aunt in Butale during the Habyarimanas reign. He traveled as a Ugandan of Rwandan extraction.Museveni and his clique of Tutsi/Hima tribesmen established named itself The National Resistance Movement/army and monopolized the bush war that ousted Obote in 1986. The following were its members:High Command were: Yoweri Museveni, Salim Sareh, Fred Rwigyema, David Tinyefunza, Jim Muhwezi, Eri Tumwine, Paul Kagame, Moses Kigongo, Mugisha Muntu, Kiiza Besigye.Senior Officers were: Kahinda Otafire, Benon Tumukunde, P. Kutesa, Julius Ayine, Mugume, Frank Guma, Stephen Kashaka, John Kyaakuta, Barihona, Rwandari, Rweyibanda, Muchunguzu, Gasinzi, Amanya Mushega, Amama Mbabazi, Fenehams Katirima, Mathew Rukikayire, Eriya Kategaya, Byemalo, Shef Ali, Kasigazi, Kihanda, Sande Mukulu, Monday, James Kazini, Makanga Bogere, PeterKerimu Kazora, Ruhakana Rugunda, Stephen Kwiringia, Kasula Kyomuhendo, Kashilingi Lubaramira, David Ndyayondi, Fred Kagonyera,, Kyakabare, Samuel Kaka and many others.As soon as they started fighting in Luwero triangle, their first strategy was to kill as many civilians as they could and destroy their properties, and put the blame on Obotes soldiers. They often bragged about this trick as one they learned when training with FLERIMO of Mozambique.The grand plan to control and dominate the East and Central African Region.In 1979, another development was taking place in Rwanda. A group of Rwandese (mostly Tutsis) in Rwanda launched an opposition party named Rwandese Alliance for National Unity (RANU) calling for national unity and the return of exiled Rwandese. That party was forced to go underground and was maintained by Rwandese exiles. In 1987, a year after Museveni took power; it changed its name to Rwandese Patriotic Front (RPF). It enjoyed support from many Tutsis in Museveni’s regime who were at the same time camouflaging as Banyankole or Bakiga. Tutsis occupied strategic and controlling positions in Museveni’s regime, thus achieving their primary objective: that of controlling Uganda and using it as a staging ground to take over other countries. Fred Rwigyema (first leader of RPF) was Minister of Defense; Paul Kagame was Director of Military Intelligence, and responsible for exterminating Ugandans who could be real or imaginary opposition. He operated his death camp in Basiima House at Mengo and at various other locations. Other Tutsis in the control of Uganda was Pierre Kabatzi. Peter Bayingana was Chief of Medical Service for Uganda Prisons. Chris Bunyenyezi was Administration Chief at Army Headquarters.Soon after Museveni took over, he lured the Rwandan leader J. Habyarimana to accept lifting travel document requirements for citizens of Uganda and Rwanda. A special bus service between Kampala and Kigali was established by Tutsis in Museveni’s government. Its daily runs from Kampala, in most cases, went half full and always returned full of people from Kigali. This activity went on till shortly before October 1, 1990, when the RPF commenced their invasion. It later became evident that the bus passengers coming from Rwanda to Uganda were recruits for military training for the eventual invasion of Rwanda in 1990. The recruits mostly came from Tutsi families. Others were from various parties opposed to Juvénal Habyarimana rule. The destination was Kabamba Military Training Camp, others were sent to a secret training camp at Karugutu in the Rwenzori Mountains. Its Chief Commander was Mr. Biganja.RPF and the invasion of Rwanda (oct. 1, 1990)The decision to invade Rwanda was made soon after Tutsis were dethroned in 1959/60 and arrived in Uganda as refugees thereafter. From that time, they carried numerous attempts to take over power by forces. At the same time they tried galvanizing public opinion against the Hutu dominated regime, but yield limited results. The FRONASA groups which was formed in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania was the one to come up with a winning strategy when it took advantage of political anarchy, to which they significantly contributed, in Uganda and thus opted to taking over that country and in turn use it as a staging ground to invade Rwanda.The actual preparation for the RPF invasion of Rwanda started in 1985 while NRM was still fighting in Luwere before taking power in January 1986. The NRA High Comand composed of Yoweri Museveni, Salim Sareh, Fred Rwigyema, David Tinyefunza, Jim Muhwezi, Paul Kagame, Moses Kigongo, Kizza Besigye, Kahinda Otafiire, formed a committee which will organize the invasion of Rwanda soon after NRM/NRA takes over Uganda. That committee included the following: Fred Rwigyema, David Tinyefunza, Mugisha Muntu, Jim Muhwezi, Paul Kagame, Shef Ali,Matteka, Byensi, and Biganja. By the end of 1985, more than 3,000 Tutsi/Hima had completed their military training at Mulima Barracks, a secret place in the Rwenzori Mountain.After Museveni took over power, he invited President Habyarimana to be the guest of honor at a military ceremony whereby ranks were awarded to senior NRA officers. During that meeting, Museveni asked Habyarimana to allow three senior NRA military officers to join the Rwandan Army but that request was rejected. The officers were Fred Rigyema, Mugisha Muntu and Paul Kagame. Museveni further requested Habyarimana to allow ordinary Tutsi soldiers from the NRA to join the Rwandan Army; that too was turned down. Finally Museveni asked Habyarimana to allow ordinary Tutsi civilians to return to Rwanda on a gradual basis. That was accepted on the basis that that those returnees have no criminal record. Towards the end of 1986, Museveni deployed into Rwanda the 3000 soldiers who were trained in Mulima Barracks. They were disguised as civilians and each one was given 300,000 Uganda Shillings as a resettlement fund. This advance team was constantly sending back information about the Rwandan Army and Government.In early 1987, a Bulemezi farmer who had been put in charge of NRA farms was ordered by Fred Gisa Rwigema to buy machetes, axes, hammers, hoes, spades, slashers and knives from Jinja Steel Mills, Ssembule Investments and Uganda Bati Co. LTD with labels reading Made in Rwanda. He was also ordered to hand all the purchase to Paul Kagame and Mugisha Muntu. Byemalo and Kalyegyeya took charge of the delivery.In 1987 Jim Muhwezi and Moses Kigongo started a clandestine program of recruiting Tutsis and Hima from Bulemezi, Singo, Gomba, Butambala, Mawogola and other areas of Buganda who were trained at ISO school near Entebbe. At the same time, Kahinda Otafire, Kiiza Besigye, Amanya Mushega and Kale Kahihura were recruiting Tutsis and Hima in Bushenyi, Ntungamu, Mbarara, Rukungiri and Kabale and training them at Mirama Hills Detach Center where Mr. Fuluma was in charge of training.In 1987, the NRA High Command gave two buses to a Mr. Samuel Black, a Kasese businessman, to transport all the trainees from Milima Barracks of Rwenzori Mountain to Kabale where they were received by Mr. Batuma to distribute them in different places inside Rwanda. Another Kasese businessman, Mr. Katoto, was given two buses by NRA to transport trainees from Milama Hills into Rwanda with the help of Mr. Batuma.Between 1987 and 1989, Moses Kigongo, Mathew Rukikaire, Kakwano and Kaka were authorized by Uganda Government to transport people, weapons and all equipment which were kept at ISO stores and at Basiima House from Uganda to Rwanda. Those equipments were distributed to their men who were already stationed inside Rwanda.Museveni took power in 1986. He placed Tutsi men in total control of the Ugandan military which was going to be used as staging ground. They control numerous other strategic and powerful positions in Uganda, so that neither political nor military opposition could rise up against their sinister plans. On the military side, many of their commanders received advanced military training abroad, particularly the USA and UK. RPF collaborating with a cadre of Tutsis inside Rwanda scouted the countryside. They took young Tutsi kids out of school and brought them to Kigali for the purpose of agitating for jobs. Those kids were anywhere between 11 and 17 years old. They were promised, according to eye witnesses, to return to their schools after RPF takes power. Those young people terrorized Kigali in many ways demanding employment which the Habyarimana Government could not offer. That gave the Tutsi political opposition more ammunition against the Hutu leadership for having failed the economy..The Conquest of UgandaThe reign of Idi Amin exasperated a political decadency which started in the 1960s. It exploded with the fall of Amin’s regime. A country cannot experience stability and progress when ruled by a minority regime. The Tutsi planners knew this very well and indeed one could argue that their effort to contribute to the internal insecurity, political murders, and polarization of the general population against the ruling groups of Obote through GSU and Amins State Research was towards this aim.Some people have claimed that Museveni volunteered to fight for FRELIMO in Mozambique and later underwent military training in North Viet Nam. While this could make him look like a macho fighter, there is no concrete evidence to support that claim. President Nyerere was a strong supporter of FRONASA and so permitted them to send their trainees to Nachingwea Military Training Camp in southern Tanzania where FRELIMO trained their men. The team which went there for training included:Ahmed Sseguya (leader), Sallim Sarey, Fred Rwigyema, Jim Muhwezi, Muchunguzi, Kihanda, Rwandali, Keitongwa, Rweibanda, Muwanga Jackson, Yoweri Museveni, Kashaka Shaban.Could this have been part of the Tutsi Dynasty Plan of 1962 to train their youth in military tact for eventual takeover of the Great Lakes Region?One of the strategies which NRA used extensively and effectively in Uganda’s bush war against Obote was to kill thousands of civilians at night and by daytime fabricate stories that Obotes soldiers massacred innocent civilians. Such a trick caused the civilian population and world community to turn their sympathy from Obotes government to the rebel group. In 1983 a German Journalist, Mark Schumdt, went to the war zone in Bulemezi to investigate what was going on as news of mass killings in the Luwero triangle were spreading worldwide. Mr. Schumdt met with Museveni and his high command who told him what they wanted him to hear. They then chose David Sejusa and Jim Muhwezi to escort him to places where they had piled up dead bodies of civilians whom NRA themselves had killed. The same killers blamed Obotes soldiers for their crimes. When Mark saw those bodies, he became suspicious and asked: Why would Obotes army collect dead bodies and not bury them knowing this could implicate them for killing innocent people? He also asked them how they knew that dead bodies are collected in that place since there was nobody in that area other than the NRA soldiers. He insisted that he wanted to interview civilians in the area so as to get their views about these killings. Museveni s officers did not like Marks approach because he had become suspicious that Obote s army may not have killed those civilians, but NRA did the killing for the purpose of tarnishing Obotes image with the population and the international community. Hence, they ordered that Mark Shumidt be sent back immediately. While on his way back, they killed him and confiscated his camera and notes.We see a parallel in later years when RPF invaded Rwanda, killing people by the hundreds in the northern part of the country. Alison DeForge, Catherine Watson, Colette Brackman and Roger Winters were the most notorious propagandists for RPF, fabricating favorable stories and covering up RPF s crime. Alison DeForge in particular crisscrossed the English speaking world spreading RPF s mendacious flatteries.During the bush fighting to overthrow Obote, Tutsis including Museveni, used to brainstorm their plan of taking control of Uganda first using it as a staging ground to take over Rwanda and other neighboring countries. They used to claim that only Tutsis were destined to rule and despised Hutus and other Bantu tribesmen as inferior objects whose role in society was but to follow orders. This same sentiment was to be echoed later at RPF training of their intelligent operatives in the Catholic Bishops house in Kabale, Kigezi some years later.Soon after Museveni took over power in 1986, he imposed on the people of Uganda the nonsectarian law which forbids calling any person by his tribal affiliation. It was later discovered that such law was intended to forbid Ugandans from complaining about the excessive number of Tutsis in high positions of government. Fred Gisa Rwigema was Minister of Defense and the entire Command and control of that ministry was in the hands of a Tutsi/Hima clique. Uganda Commercial Bank under a Hima Frank Mwine was totally bankrupted; so were all the parastatal corporations. The funds which were channeled through fictitious personal loans may have ended up in financing RPF operations. The Uganda Treasury accumulated foreign loans supposedly for development projects which are non-existent in Uganda. Perez Kamwinanwire became Ambassador to the U.N. and later to Germany. Ezra Surumana alias Suruma was Deputy Governor of the Bank of Uganda. Emmanuel Ndungutse headed the Uganda Investment Authority an agency he mismanaged and robbed thoroughly. With millions from the UIA, he went to Rwanda after the RPF conquest and invested in a number of business ventures in addition to serving RPF regime.It is important to recall that the bulk (80% to 90%) of the fighting force which toppled Obotes regime were Baganda. By the time of capturing Kampala and taking over the reign of power, most Baganda fighters of officer material had been killed in mysterious circumstances. Hence, the control of the NRA was in the hands of Musevenis Tutsi men. He further purged the skewed number of Baganda in the military by dismissing hundreds of them in order to create room for other tribesmen. While that move gave him temporary political credit, the actual results were different. Instead, he recruited thousands of your people from Ankole and Kigezi areas to the total exclusion of the entire northern region plus other areas of the country.Mass Killings in Rwanda and Democratic Republic of the CongoIn an ethnic conflict such as is the case in Rwanda, truth is the first victim especially, regarding the accused. We do not have to wait hundreds of years like Oedipus Rex to be told the bitter truth.Thousands of innocent people were killed in Rwanda since October 1, 1990 when RPF invaded that country from Uganda. Between October 1, 1990 and April 1994, over 140,000 people were systematically killed by RPF/NRA in northern Rwanda, and over a million people were displaced rendering them to excruciating suffering without help from anywhere. That baleful killing of the innocent has continued up to today and also extended into Democratic Republic of the Congo when RPF/NRA assisted by US Commandos, invaded Zaire slaughtering thousands of refugees in camps. The cabal went to great length to cover up their crimes as has been demonstrated over the years. Their lies have fooled the entire world community up to this very day, including the UNO. Nobles, intellectuals and commoners alike have come to believe the fabrications generated purposely to give legitimacy to a criminal gang dressed in the banality of evil so as to give them legitimacy, sympathy and acceptability, while covering up their heinous crimes against humanity which superseded those of Pol Pot of Cambodia and Salvadore Ayende of Chile.The evidence, based on revelations from NRA military and intelligence officers plus interviews of peasant refugees which our organization has collected point to Tutsis. The RPF, together with NRA and the United State are implicated very clearly as the greatest criminals of the Rwanda genocide.Because of the lies and cover-ups which have been thoroughly concocted and orchestrated ever since the invasion started on October 1, 1990, the victims have been made to look like the criminals. This criminal cabal has utilized tactics common to typical compulsive liars. The former UN Secretary General, Butros Butros Ghali, has often lamented over the fact that on many occasion he wanted to convene the Security Council to look into the Rwanda Crisis as it was unfolding in order to protect the lives of innocent civilians. Each time his efforts were thwarted by the USA and UK for reasons only known to their leaders. The USA went as far as training, arming, financing, and manipulating the international media in order to make the cabals criminal agenda prevail and succeed.One does not have to graduate from a Military Academy to know that in war, the victor wins if it kills more of the enemy. If RPF and NRA defeated the Rwandese army, it goes without saying who killed more of whom. Regarding the theory of winning a war, General Patton said that, Let the other son of a bitch die for his country? How can then any person be fooled to believe that the defeated Hutus killed that many Tutsis and still lost the war? The campaign to demonize all Hutus as genociders an accusation which was never applied to Germans after WWII has been effectively applied to Hutus and has demonized the entire ethnic group, including those who lived abroad during those years. This kind of blanket accusation which is intended to protect the true criminals in this horrendous crime of invasion and mass murders and ethnic cleansing, which Tutsis are committing in Rwanda up to now, paints a an unbelievable picture of Hutus as being sophisticated in the art of war and so highly organized that they had the capability of amassing their enemies and slaughtering them in a matter of days. Not even a fool would believe that. It is sad to admit that that Hitler and Goebbels ingenuity in twisting facts and truth have made believers among today’s worlds greatest democracies.Hutu genocideSecondly, we look at the population of Rwanda which was about 7 million people at that time. Tutsis were about 10% about 700,000 people. Is the cabals propaganda machine trying to convince us that all Tutsis in Rwanda were mobilized to be in accessible locations so that murderous thugs could butcher them in a matter of days? Depicting Hutus as a collection of murderous thugs, when in fact they are the victims, and yet the German population was not so depicted after WWII is not only a skillful cover up of the truth but also an abomination of human reasoning. The Tutsis were always a minority in Rwanda. During the Hutu rule of Kayibanda and Habyarimana, there were many Tutsi attempts to invade and take power by force. There was no single time when Hutus ordered their army of civilians to butcher Tutsis. Yet in neighboring Burundi where Tutsi minority control the country, since 1960, there have been numerous pogroms of Hutus by ruling Tutsis which have claimed thousands of innocent Hutus. The UN has done nothing to bring the killers in Burundi to justice. Why?Now that we know what NRA did in Uganda during the war that ousted Obote’s regime and brought Museveni to power. The same tricks were repeated in Rwanda when the same group NRA/RPF invaded Rwanda and overthrew Habyarimana’s government and established a Tutsi dominated junta. Former NRA intelligence officers reveal that in January of 1994, NRA deployed 950 soldiers from Uganda to Kigali in civilian clothes to take up positions in preparation for the planned mass killings that were to take place soon after the Rwandan President was killed by NRA/RPF in collaboration with Belgian troops, both of which had full control of the airport. They later sent another force of 5000 soldiers in other localities in the country to carry out the same job on a simultaneous basis. We have also learned that machetes, pangas, axes plus mobile radio transmitting units were brought in from Uganda to be used in the mass murders of civilians who happened to be Hutus, not Tutsis as the cabal wants us to believe. Those tools were returned to Uganda as soon as the job was finished. Could this have been a nasty way of paying back the Hutus for their 1959/60 overthrow of the Tutsi monarchy when no guns were used?The same tactic has been effectively applied in northern Uganda where for nearly 20 years, NRA original goal of wiping out the Nilotic tribes are conducted with impunity. It is inconceivable that the Lords Resistance Army or Lakwena, who do not exceed two thousands, can prevail over NRA for all these years when operating inside Uganda which is under Musevenis full controls. NRA successfully invaded Rwanda and Zaire and also gave the Sudanese army a hard time but cannot clean up an area as narrow as Acholi? According to local people in northern Uganda s and also people inside NRA, There are reports which have been suppressed by the western media to the effect that the so called crimes of mutilating people in Acholi, abducting children etc.. are all the works of NRA in order to justify their ethnic cleansing in northern Uganda.The Tutsi controlled radio MUHABURA was spreading ethnic hatred of Hutus and never received criticism from either the USA or the UK. The Voice of America also set up a special Kinyarwanda Broadcast reporting the Tutsi side of the Rwanda crisis. The game of demonizing Hutus as mass killers was orchestrated at maximum speed by the western media, utilizing reporters and human rights watchers who were censored by US or UK and had to go through Uganda to reach Rwanda. Roger Winters of the U.S. Committee for Refugees, plus another hired gun, William Pike, played a key role that made those two white men look like twin sons of Joseph Goebbels. We learned later that RPF/NRA had portable radio transmitters which broadcast their messages over the same channels of Hutu radio and spread murderous messages as part of the wider scheme to demonize Hutus. For outside listeners, all that sounded as the work of a highly organized Hutu killing machine. Yet indeed, the Hutus as a people were in total disarray and confusion at that moment in time. This assertion does not deny a fact that Hutus killed Tutsis. However, the organized killing of thousands of innocent civilians was the work of Kagame and Museveni. The greatest majority of the victims were Hutus but not Tutsis as the cabal propagandists want us to believe. The USA had already supplied RPF with radio jamming technology to block Hutu broadcasts to the masses. This was confirmed by a State Department person at a meeting of The Rwanda Forum that I attended in Washington DC in 1993.If in fact the death toll was anywhere between 500,000 and a 1,000,000 people, and most of that killing took place in and around the city of Kigali, it absolutely impossible to have had that many Tutsis in the area. I personally visited Kigali and Ruhengeri twice in March and August of 1993. I drove through the markets, hospitals, public car parks and around town. I could hardly count ten (10) Tutsis among those crowds much as Tutsis are very conspicuous when among Hutus. The Hutus who reacted and indeed did kill some Tutsis could have responded to the misleading radio massages given out by the RPF killing machine which I have outlined above. Others may have reacted in anger in a manner no different from that of Black Americans after the killing of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968 or the barbaric treatment of Mr. Rodney King on April 29, 1992 in Los Angeles. We cannot blame the US government for both of those riots since they were natural reaction to a provocative tragedy. Besides, what would anyone expect people to react like when they are slaughtered by invaders and their government leaders have been killed by the enemy who is clearly known?As soon as RPF came into power, they exhumed the skeletons of their victims from where they had hidden them. They collected the skeletons and paraded them all over Kigali and on roadsides throughout Rwanda to impress outside investigators so as to justify their criminal invasion of a Free State and murdering her citizens.Foreign journalists, Human rights investigators and foreign policy makers who went to Rwanda during the fighting and after RPF took over, had to go through Uganda from where they were escorted by NRA or RPF agents. They were managed thoroughly as to which places they can visit, whom to interview etc. In some of those interviews that were broadcast abroad, the local people who were interviewed could speak English with a Ugandan accent while others could be overheard speaking broken Swahili. We already know that Tutsis from Uganda, Congo, USA, Tanzania, Belgium and elsewhere flocked back to Rwanda after RPF conquered the Hutu army. They took over homes, farms and other properties that belonged to Hutus who were either killed or fled into exile. There are cases where Hutu families who returned home to find their family home occupied by Tutsis were permitted to build grass shanty nearby instead of reclaiming their original nice houses which they had built with their own labor. Their only role in life is to be slaves of the Tutsis.No one has ever questioned what could have motivated an entire population to run off from their land into exile, as was the case in Rwanda during those dark days. The cabal s propaganda has blindfolded to believe what is unbelievable. Only fire at each one’s rare end can force a people to flee for their lives in such huge numbers. I find it very difficult to believe that all those skulls are what they claim to be. After all, no one can tell the difference between the skull of a Tutsi and that of a Hutu or a Chinese or German for that matter. This trick of fabricating facts to favor NRA in Uganda was done to the maximum and served Museveni very well to convince the world that the Luwero Triangle skeletons he paraded were victims of Obotes soldiers while in actual fact it was NRA who killed the citizens of that area and put the blame on Obote’s government. The same people who did that in Luwero repeated it in Rwanda and, unfortunately, it worked for them both times.The cabal fabricated and carried out a well managed media campaign to demonize Hutu people as murderers while covering up the crimes of the real murderers. The crimes of NRA and RPF, first of invading another country have been swept under the rug for all these years. Yet, when Iraq invaded Kuwait a few years ago, the USA and Britain mobilized other nations to drive the invaders out of Kuwait. RPF/NRA crimes of murdering thousands of innocent civilians and displacing nearly a million people from the day of invasion in 1990 to April of 1994 have been ignored tactfully. Contrary to public lies which have been spread all over the world that Hutus massacred nearly a million Tutsis right after the RPF killed President Habyarimana we have information from people who were inside Museveni’s military/security system bringing new revelations that the so called genocide was planned by the Museveni/Kagame group to justify their attack on Kigali and win sympathy for their monolithic Tutsi regime, and also enable them to mobilize foreign aid without anyone questioning their barbaric brutality and gross human rights violations.Kagame and Museveni knew and planned the mass killings of innocent people who were to be predominantly Hutus, right after the President’s plane was shot down by RPF. Kagame is quoted as saying that about 500,000 people will be slaughtered during that period of confusion. Hose people who did not know that Kagame was behind the planned genocide have accused him of being callous because he did not take steps to protect those many innocent lives, but rather was merely interested in taking power. We can now understand why he was not concerned about the loss of innocent lives if, in fact, he was responsible for their death. Second, the people who got killed were predominantly Hutu civilians as he had done in Northern Rwanda since October of 1990 and especially in Byumba and Ruhengeri in February of 1993. However, this time around Kagame had already set in motion media propaganda to claim that the people hacked to death were Tutsis and their killers were Hutu thugs..Skulls of Hutus killed by RPF:The RPF massacre of innocent people in northern Rwanda in February of 1993 claimed over 25,000 civilian lives and displaced more than 100,000 people from their home area. At one location near Byumba, in a football stadium built by Mr. Kabuga, RPF massacred about 2000 people, cutting off their heads which they then buried in pits. After the conquest of Rwanda, the RPF junta dug out all the skulls of their own victims and paraded them in Kigali and everywhere as skulls of Tutsis who were killed by Hutus. Such calculated and blatant lies horrified the local people who witnessed those crimes being committed and also witnessed the actual unearthing of the skulls and skeletons for display in Kigali and on roadsides for the world to further condemn the Hutus en masse.Corpses in the River Kagera and Lake Victoria:RPF has become a master of deception and lies which have gone on unabated for years. One should look at the way RPF entered Rwanda in two columns. One column followed eastern route along the Rwanda Tanzania border. That area was already under RPF control. It is through that swampy area that River Kagera passes and has a bridge that crosses into Tanzania. During that time many Hutu civilians fled their homes and country as RPF invaders were on a wild rampage of killing any person in sight. Those who attempted to enter Tanzania via the only crossing there is met RPF invaders waiting for them at the bridge. Thousands of Hutus were thrown into the raging river by RPF men. Others drowned in the attempt to cross the river away from the bridge where certain death awaited them. It is important to emphasize that all those corpses which floated into the river and eventually reached Lake Victoria were of Hutus and their killers were RPF. The Tutsi propaganda twisted the facts claiming those floating corpses as being of Tutsis killed by Hutu extremists. The world community and you here in this Tribunal have swallowed those fabrications up to this very day.How could intelligent people in the UN and western governments be so myopic and not ask a simple question: if Hutu rioters in Kigali were killing any people I am not denying the killings which took place mainly in Kigali did they have any reason or means to transport their victims as far away as to dump those bodies in the river where there were columns of invading RPF on the move towards the capital?Now we know who was killing and who were being killed. It is obvious that the people who were being killed were the ones on the run for their lives. That is why the world witnessed in horror a tremendous exodus of Hutus fleeing to Congo, Burundi and Tanzania but not to Uganda where the killers were coming from.The U.S. role in RPF/NRA crimes in Rwanda and Democratic Republic of the CongoIf this Tribunal and/or any other Court of Law is seriously committed to seeking the truth and justice, the crimes committed in Rwanda starting on October 1, 1990, and indeed in the region must be fully and thoroughly investigated and their perpetrators brought to justice. The U.N. and O.A.U. Charters both declare it illegal for one country to invade another, except under specific circumstances. None of those specific circumstances ever existed as far as Uganda-Rwanda relations were concerned. There were no Tutsi refugee camps in Uganda, as defined by the UNHCR, since all Tutsi former refugees had been settled and intermingled in the Ugandan society. Some Tutsis were already holding high government positions in their newly adopted country. Therefore, President Museveni bears full responsibility for allowing his army to invade a sovereign nation without provocation. When Iraq invaded Kuwait, the world community rightfully amassed troops to repel the invaders. Unfortunately, that was not the case for Rwanda. Instead, the cocalled defenders of peace and democracy (USA and UK) were sending more than abravo message to the invaders of Rwanda.There was no time when United States and Britain ever condemned Uganda for invading Rwanda or Congo/Zaire. Instead, each subsequent year, the United State in particular increased her military training of the so called Ugandan officers, who ended up beefing up the troops that were involved in the invasion. The invaders continued to milk Uganda of her meager resources, equipment, funds and manpower for the duration of the invasion. World Bank and IMF loans to Uganda skyrocketed purportedly for development projects which never existed. All that money went into financing the invasion of Rwanda. War is expensive in every aspect and not many countries, specially in Africa, can afford such costly undertaking.It is now coming to light that the then UN Secretary General tried on many occasions to convene the Security Council on Rwanda during the invasion, but was repeatedly blocked by the United States and British Ambassadors to the UN. The United States played a significant role in the Rwanda tragedy and therefore should not and cannot be overlooked if justice is to be sought in all earnest. The triad of murderers is none other than: RPF leaders and Museveni’s government and the USA.The American plan to control Africa’s resources is well documented. When Africa was getting out from under European colonialism, America was plotting how to take over. Various strategy planning meetings took place in Washington DC. At a meeting of the U.S. National Security Council of January 14, 1960, it was discussed, .. since we must have strong men of Africa on our side, perhaps we should develop military strong men. A special Africa Fund for Technical Assistance was set up to finance those who were anxious to establish control of Africa through military dictatorships.. A new program was introduced in the 1970s solely for training African military officers in America called IMET (International Military Educational Training). This training was designed to be similar to the infamous School of the Americas. The main purpose was to groom African military dictators similar to what the School of the Americas achieved in Latin America.At the core of this is as Zbigniew Kazimierz Brzezinski noted in a secret memo to the President on March 17, 1978, The mineral resources of the area continue to be of great value to the normal functioning of industries in the United States and allied countries. He goes on to express serious concerns over the growth of African nationalism and its potential effect on American interests, particularly the country of Zaire, to which he cautioned that the administration would have to take specific steps to stabilize the situation.Specific steps take on different forms of operation since the Washington planners already outlined the strategies when they agreed that, Sensitive operations would be disguised as multilateral programs or even private activities, and eventually the most objectionable of these actions would come to be conducted in such a secretive way as to conceal the fact that they even existed at all..The insatiable greed of U.S. corporations to control and loot Africa’s enormous natural resources is very much at the core of this tragedy as the unfolding events have subsequently proved. Prior to the fall of President Mobutu, American corporations were already inside rebel-controlled eastern Zaire devouring large tracts of mineral-rich areas. Neither the survival nor the welfare of the African people were or are ever considered.US Training RPF of OfficersIt has been expounded time and time again that United States was involved in training RPF invaders long before 1990. A colleague and I went to the Pentagon and met with Major Tony Marley who was in charge of the IMET training for RPF/NRA. We informed him of what was taking place in Rwanda and he promised to relate the matter to the appropriate officials. We learned later that the training increased in size since our visit and more money was allocated to Uganda, presumably to finance the invasion.Lies and Cover-ups.In early March of 1994 a team from the U.S. Administration went to Uganda and met with Museveni and RPF leaders. According to intelligence sources, their mission was to tell Museveni to convince President Mwinyi of Tanzania to convene a conference of Heads of States from the region to discuss the Rwanda crisis. That resulted into the fateful Summit conference which President Habyarimana attended and met his death upon his return to Rwanda. That team comprised of Ms. Prudence Bushnell, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Africa; Ms. Arlene Render, Director of Central African Affairs Bureau at State Department; Ms. Patricia Irvin, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Humanitarian Affairs. They also visited Rwanda, Burundi and Zaire. The meeting of regional leaders took place in Dar es Salaam as planned and President Habyarimana attended as expected. His plane was shot down RPF in collaboration with Belgian troops as it was about to land at Kigali Airport returning from that meeting. We learned later that General I. Kombe, head of Tanzanian Intelligence who was privy to the fateful events surrounding the shooting of the airplane carrying Rwandan and Burundian Presidents told his subordinate officers that these orders came from high up and we have only on thing to do and that is of carrying out the technical work. One of the junior officers expressed a feeling that this could ignite a fire in the region which we cannot extinguish. President Moi and Mobutu were invited but declined to attend after receiving tip of a pending danger. Nevertheless, US war ships with hundreds of Marines were already on standby near Matadi, Zaire and near Mombasa, Kenya, just in case there could have been a fire the local puppets could not extinguish.In June of 1994, a reporter asked Ms. Bushnell if the State Department knew about the RPF invaders, where they were trained, who financed and armed them? Her answer was, we do not have that information. The same person who had met with RPF leaders and President Museveni only 3 months earlier was denying knowledge of RPF. AS a high ranking official in the State Depart Africa Bureau, Ms. Bushnell was privy to the information that her government was heavily involved in the training of RPF and was arming them from their stockpiles in Europe. U.S. military C 130 transport planes used to make daily landings at Entebbe Airport every night.After RPF took power in Kigali, a U.S. Commando force of about 800 men were secretly stationed in Rwanda, where they have jointly participated with RP soldiers I military and criminal activities. According to one U.S. soldier from Texas who was stationed in Rwanda, we are not supposed to let our families know that we were sent to Rwanda . Another soldier who served there and now lives in Connecticut said, human rights and democracy are none of our concerns. We are concerned with making sure that Kagame s regime is well planted and can survive.A former U.S. A.I.D. official, Mr. Harald Marwitz writes as early as 1989, U.S. Embassy reported to the State Department from reliable sources in Rwanda such as foreign military observers, confirming Ugandan involvement in incipient border skirmishes and the subsequent invasion of Rwanda. He further reveals that, between 1989 and 1992, the U.S. alone provided almost $183 million in economic aid enabling Uganda to finance the invasion. This sum was as much as all the U.S. aid to Uganda in the previous 27 years.Asst. Secretary of State for Africa, George Moose, informed the Africa Subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives on May 4, 1994 that, in conformity with our policy of promoting democratization, we shall never recognize a government which takes power by force. A few weeks later, the same Mr. Moose was in Kigali raising the U.S. flag onto a building that was to house the U.S. Embassy in Rwanda. Ms. Bushnell was promoted to Ambassadorship to Kenya.The old Entebbe Airport became an American military base. Locals who lived in nearby homes were driven out and replaced by either U.S. military personnel or NRA officers. Was this intended to cover up the trafficking of weapons which USA military was giving to Museveni and RPF which were used in the invasion of Rwanda and Congo/Zaire?The U.S. participation in the RPF invasion of Rwanda reached the highest officers of government.