By David Himbara
General Paul Kagame is very close to Clet Niyikiza. The latter is a member of Kagame’s Presidential Advisory Council since 2008.
In 2009, Kagame sponsored Niyikiza to Merrimack Pharmaceuticals as Vice President for Development. That is when Kagame ordered his minister of finance and governor of the central bank to transfer US$22 million of Rwandan workers’ pension funds into the US-based Merrimack Pharmaceuticals.
In 2014, Niyikiza left Merrimack Pharmaceuticals to establish his L.E.A.F. Pharmaceuticals, latter creating L.E.A.F. Rwanda, a wholly owned subsidiary of L.E.A.F. Pharmaceuticals.
According to Niyikiza, L.E.A.F. Rwanda is focused on “establishing Rwanda as a hub for biotechnology research and development (R&D) as well as pharmaceutical manufacturing and commercialization in Africa and beyond.”
It is further claimed that L.E.A.F. Rwanda, headquartered in Kigali
“is working to attract and retain highly skilled biotechnology scientists and clinical researchers from Africa and elsewhere, in a quest to discover and develop innovative, high quality medicines against diseases that predominantly afflict the health of the African population.”
This sounds like pure fantasy. Does L.E.A.F. Rwanda really exist? Does it operate in any form or shape, or it is a Kagame/Niyikiza front? Fast forward to March 30, 2020, Niyikiza has announced his plans to research and apply medical solutions to Covid19 in Rwanda.
God save Rwanda.
