The mother of the winner Miss Rwanda beauty pageant 2017, Elsa Iradukunda has handed in a letter to the Rwandan officials, asking for their assistance in having her daughter released from a a detention facility in Kigali.
Miss Iradukunda has been arrested by Rwanda Investigation Bureau (RIB) early Monday over her interference in ongoing investigations over sexual abuse by organisers of the contest, a police source confirmed in Kigali.
The arrest comes a week after Dieudonné Ishimwe, a.k.a Prince Kid, CEO of Rwanda Inspiration Backup that organises Miss Rwanda beauty pageant, has also been arrested over sexual abuse towards the contestants on different occasions.
Ishimwe started organising Miss Rwanda in 2014 through his company, Rwanda Inspiration Backup, that has seen the annual event become one of the most popular in the country.
Details indicate that suspect, cornered at several occasions the contestants in Miss Rwanda pageants, promising then that he had the ability to help them sail through the competition and win the crown.
Following the incident, Rwanda’s ministry of Youth and Culture decided to suspend the beauty pangeant contest pending ongoing investigation into alleged sexual assault by organisers.
Reacting to the incident, Rwandan President Paul Kagame said that even though the issue [of sextortion] was reported in Miss Rwanda, in other institutions including in central government and in the army, sexual abuse is becoming a concern.
“It’s really bad and we should denounce it. But girls, women themselves should understand that men don’t own them,” Kagame said.
CU/abj/APA