President of Rwanda described as ‘the Putin of Africa’

An anti-corruption campaigner has described the President of Rwanda, Paul Kagame as the “Putin of Africa.”

Bill Browder who is a financier and a political activist appeared on BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme and described Kagame to that of Vladimir Putin.

He discussed the government’s emergency legislation to send asylum seekers to Rwanda and then used an example of the hotel manager Paul Rusesabagina, from the film Hotel Rwanda.

In 2021 Rusesabagina was sentenced to 25 years in prison in Rwanda for terrorism charges and then returned to the US after serving only two years.

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Browder said, “I know this story very intimately because, the hero of the movie Hotel Rwanda, the guy who saved 1,200 people during the genocide, he was critical of Paul Kagame.

“He was then kidnapped, brought back to Rwanda and sentenced to 25 years in a trumped-up trial.

“The idea that we’re going to be sending political refugees to a country that’s like that is just absurd.”

Browder told Kuenssberg the whole Rwanda migration plan should be “torn up.”

“The whole thing should be torn up and thrown out,” he said.

“If we want to stop uncontrolled migration there are other ways, but Rwanda is just completely absurd.”

The Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has come under fire as his beleaguered Rwanda policy has already cost taxpayers £240 million even though it has never been used.

In the 2023-24 financial fiscal year the government spent a further £100 million even though flights are grounded and Downing Street has been hit with legal setbacks.

A letter from the Home Office to committee chairs has revealed that ministers are expecting the government to fork out another £50 million in the coming year which will bring the total cost to £290 million, it is not known if Downing Street will then continue with more payments.

On Thursday, the Home Office official Matthew Rycroft wrote to Home Affairs Committee chair Dame Diana Johnson, and Public Accounts Committee chair Dame Meg Hillier.

Rycroft’s letter said, “Ministers have agreed that I can disclose now the payments so far in the 2023-24 financial year.

“There has been one payment of £100m, paid in April this year as part of the Economic Transformation and Integration Fund mentioned above.

“The UK government has not paid any more to the government of Rwanda thus far.

“This was entirely separate to the treaty – the government of Rwanda did not ask for any payment in order for a treaty to be signed, nor was any offered.”

Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper saying: “How many more blank cheques will Rishi Sunak write before the Tories come clean about this scheme being a total farce?

“Britain simply can’t afford more of this costly chaos from the Conservatives.”