The government recognizes abuses in the application of the vaccination policy. For a month, Kigali has tightened the incentive measures for vaccination: without a certificate, it is impossible to work in the public service, to go to restaurants and places of worship and even to take public transport. At the same time, people claim to have been forcibly vaccinated.
With our correspondent in Kigali, Laure Broulard
In parallel with the tightening of the incentive measures for vaccination against Covid-19, testimonies of people, claiming to have been vaccinated by force or having fled the country for fear of being vaccinated against their will, have multiplied in the media and on social networks. After denying, at first, any forced vaccination, the government, through one of its spokespersons, recognizes ” overzealous from the awareness teams.
The controversy erupted in early January, when a hundred Rwandans arrived on the Congolese island of Idjwi, claiming to flee vaccination for religious reasons. While they were quickly taken back to Rwanda, testimonies of forced vaccinations in different districts of the country multiplied in the media and on social networks.
” There have been reports. Fortunately, not many people were forced to be vaccinated. Vaccination is not obligatory but among the people who raise awareness, some may be overzealous. But this should not be taken as general government policy. If someone is overzealous, he must be exposed admits Alain Mukuralinda, deputy spokesperson for the Rwandan government.
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The spokesperson adds that it is this kind of behavior that could push Rwandans to flee the country. This is the case of Emmanuel Uwitonze, who refuses vaccination for religious reasons. He claims to have been arrested, in December, during a collective prayer in the east of the country, then vaccinated by force on the orders of the local authorities, alongside several other people: “ They took us one by one to the vaccination room. Some who refused were beaten. I felt persecuted somehow. I chose to leave the country because I have the right to believe in what I want. »
Emmanuel says he is a member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, which claims about 900,000 worshipers in Rwanda. RFI was able to speak with another Adventist who explained that he had recently left the country with his relatives for fear of being forcibly vaccinated.
The Seventh-day Adventist Church in Rwanda, however, officially supports vaccination against the coronavirus, according to its communications director, Onesphore Yadusoneye. He confirms, however, that a small part of the faithful opposes it.