It is 6.30pm and the busy Kisementi shopping area is bustling with activity—evening shoppers and workers returning home during the rush hour go about their business without a problem.

A few metres away Irene Muberarugo, 29, is pleading with two bulky men to give her a second chance. They seem to know each other.

“Kibonge, this time I am not selling anything. I was just from the market. I swear I am not selling anything,” she pleads.

Ms Muberarugo’s colleague, only identified as Coltilde, could not argue. She was caught red-handed by the sneaky men, who stealthily walk in on the hapless women selling merchandise to the shoppers.

Bundled into a waiting pickup

Her clothes scattered on the ground, a resigned Coltilde is already in handcuffs, waiting for her defiant friend to give in to the men before they are bundled into a waiting pickup truck to an unknown destination.

With tears rolling down her cheeks, Ms Muberarugo is forcibly handcuffed by the tough-looking men in civilian clothes. Her tears and pleas from the onlookers do not deter the bulky men from executing their mission.

To ensure that the two women do not escape, their handcuffs are criss-crossed and, soon, they join other hawkers arrested from elsewhere.

In the pickup, a high-ranking police officer seated beside the driver is speaking on the phone, oblivious to the humiliation the two young mothers are undergoing nearby.

Their merchandise is thrown after them into the pickup as it is driven off.

These men are members of the dreaded Inkeragutabara.

“These guys act like the Mafia. They treat human beings as if they are not humans themselves,” remarks on the of the motorcycle taxi riders at the scene.

Apart from the hawkers, the motorcyclists —commonly known as motards or boda boda— have also fallen victim of the war veterans who run associations of taxi motorcyclists in the city. They hunt them down and ruthlessly arrest them for failure to pay their dues to the associations, which act as the law enforcement organs for the ever growing number of taxi motos.

“They mistreat us. In some circumstances, they will beat us or confiscate out motorcycles. They are also corrupt; they extort money from you if you don’t want them to take your bike,” says Bosco Niyomugaba, a rider.

However, Eric Nisingizwe, president of the Rwandan Federation of Taxi Moto Drivers (Ferwacotamo), told Rwanda Today that they are compelled to use force in some circumstances because most of the riders are rebellious, violent and not law abiding.

Deploy strong men

“We have had to deploy strong men to handle these cases because that is the only way we can keep them sane and organised. Otherwise, they would run over the city if we left them to operate the way they want,” Mr Nisingizwe said.

He added that some of the cyclists engage in illegal activities, hence the need to keep them in check.

Allegations of harassment by the former soldiers and police officers, as well as other law enforcers, come at a time when the same organs have been accused of cracking down on free movement of people at night during their patrols around the city.

Members of the reserve force and a senior police officer are facing charges for allegedly physically assaulting a 26-year-old man identified as Jean Claude Safari, who succumbed to the injuries sustained.

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There are reports of people, particularly street vendors, who have suffered fractured limbs or lost their entire capital after their goods were confiscated by the These men are members of the dreaded Inkeragutabara. There are also reports of hawkers having been run over by vehicles while fleeing their terrifying pursuers.

End ‘brutality’

Opposition political parties are now asking the government to end what they call “brutality” of the reserve forces that is targeted at the underprivileged.

Efforts to reach the commander of the reserve forces, Lt-Gen Fred Ibingira, were futile by press time but, in an earlier interview with Rwanda Today, the police spokesperson, Assistant Commissioner of Police Theos Badege, dismissed the claims, pointing out that the vendors and motorcyclists deliberately break the law.

Supt Badege said that the culprits attempt to resist arrest, which sometimes results in the law enforcement officers using force.

“It is a complex problem we are dealing with,” Supt Badege said.

Bruno Rangira, Director of Communications at Kigali City Council, backed the law enforcement agencies’ methods.