Kigali — Members of the Chamber of Deputies belonging to Rwandese Patriotic Front (RPF) last week defended the party, saying it has no hand in the recent resignation of one of its members from the House.

They were reacting to widespread impressions created among non-RPF MPs that the ruling party could have advised MP Brigitte Tuyishime to resign her parliamentary seat after she allegedly made outrageous comments against the Genocide survivors.

Vice Speaker Denis Polisi told the legislators on Thursday that RPF would have no interest in shielding Tuyishime from explaining the remarks attributed to her before Parliament as she had earlier been asked to do.

"Our political organization cannot advise her to step down before giving her side of the story (to the House). As someone who attended the (party) meeting with her, she was advised to come and give an explanation to MPs," Polisi, who is RPF's relations commissioner, told MPs on Thursday.

The development came a few hours after the MPs received a letter from Tuyishime, in which she said she had resigned due to personal reasons, 'following a meeting with her political party'.

Plenary hearing

During the December 5 plenary, the MPs had agreed that a date be fixed to give Tuyishime a chance to give a detailed account of the allegations levelled against her by several colleagues that she said Genocide survivors were responsible for derailing the unity and reconciliation efforts in the country.

Accordingly, an agenda for the legislators' ongoing extraordinary session was drawn with Tuyishime scheduled to appear for hearing on December 21 at 3:00 pm, only for the beleaguered deputy to tender in her resignation letter on December 15, hours after she met officials from her party.

"People are not being realistic. RPF can never dream of doing such a disgraceful thing. Instead, its advice was not followed (by Tuyishime)," Polisi later told The New Times.

Asked whether Tuyishime's conduct constituted defiance against the party and whether action would be taken against her, Polisi said: "I don't know."

Abdul Karim Harerimana (RPF) said: "RPF cannot support people with such an ideology, leave alone within itself but also among all Rwandans."

The unexpected resignation caused a stir in the House, with some MPs who were very anxious to hear Tuyishime's explanation forced to believe that RPF could have advised her to quit.

A disturbed Abbas Mukama of the Ideal Democratic Party (PDI) said: "We had asked her to give us her side of the story. But in her letter, she says that 'after discussing with my political party, I have decided to resign for personal reasons'".

"We have been told that RPF has gathered a lot of information on this case, and I request that they prepare a dossier (on the issue) and send it to the judiciary to help the law to take its course," he added.

Mukama, who due to bitter emotions failed to complete his remark, is best known for leading a 2002 parliamentary committee, which unearthed cases of genocide ideology within the Democratic Republican Movement (MDR) that was subsequently dissolved.

Polycarp Gatete of the Liberal Party (LP) praised RPF for "ridding" the parliament of Tuyishime.

"It will still help us eliminate others who harbour the genocide ideology," he said.