Beyond Rwanda's all-rosy image ...

Bantugbro

Bantugbro

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Feb 22, 2009
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Kama mambo yenyewe ndio haya kila siku hivi huyu jamaa ataachia madaraka kweli?

Beyond Rwanda's all-rosy image​


kagamepix.jpg

Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame at a press conference in Frankfurt, Germany, on November 11, 2008. Kagame's critics say he is turning Rwanda into a police state​

By DEO LUKYAMUZI
Posted Wednesday, July 7 2010 at 11:53

I am sure this came as no surprise to the good general since it was not the first time it was happening.

When Lt-Col. Wilson Rutayisire (Shaban) was murdered in Congo in June, 2000, I was in Kigali. I say murdered in spite of the official version that he killed himself, because I have very good reasons to counter the official story:

It is only Gen. Kayumba who represented the government and army at the burial. Those who were present can attest to the anger on Kayumba’s face.

Like a leper

In Rwanda, since the coming into power by RPF, once you are perceived to be on President Kagame’s watch list, you are treated like a leper. Even close friends distance themselves as much as they can. That explains why there is not a single person still living freely in Rwanda after disagreeing with the government. They are either dead, in prison, under house arrest or in exile.

President Kagame’s government is allergic to opposition even if some two years ago he declared, tongue-in-cheek, that it is not for him to do the job of the opposition, but the opposition itself.

It is an impossible mission to be an oppositionist in Rwanda and not be called a genocidaire, negationist, revisionist or genocide denier.

You are lucky if you are a Tutsi because you cannot fit into these categories. You are instead a thief, corrupt, a terrorist or treacherous. You can be all those depending on the mood of your accuser since prosecution is at the pleasure of the powers that be.

Genocide is less a national tragedy than it is a political tool used to ensnare genuine political opposition in the country

The RPF government made a strategic choice that being feared is better than being loved. Rwanda under President Kagame is a classic police state. The enemy of the state is defined as more internal than external. The result has been the terrorising whoever does not agree with President Kagame.

(Deo Lukyamuzi is a former assistant to general-secretary, Pan African Movement On the Great Lakes and Horn of Africa Region. He lives in Montreal, Canada: deo_lukyamuzi@hotmail.com)

Africa Review*- Beyond Rwanda's all-rosy image

Source Daily Nation.
 
Hata wale wanaoipigia debe serikali ya Kagame hawakai Rwanda wako mafichoni ukimbizini kwenye nchi za wenzao, no dignity no respect to human life. They will always be refugees until they die.
 
suprizingly Nation media write this kind of article! I thought they worshipped Kagame, or it's hot n cold
 
Geza Ulole said:
suprizingly Nation media write this kind of article! I thought they worshipped Kagame, or it's hot n cold
Click to expand...
mkuu huyo mama wa hilo gazeti kashakamatwa yuko jela toka juzi alikua njiani anatorokea congo
baada ya kutonywa kama anasakwa.na sasa kuna sheria imetungwa huko waandishi wote wa habari wameambiwa wajisajili upya mpk tar18 na baada ya hapo ambaye hajajisajili hatakiwi kuripoti.
 
Barely a month after a Rwandan editor was bumped off, news reaching the 256news.com desk indicates that another Rwandan editor was arrested last night
while trying to flee the country.

Our security sources in Kigali, Rwanda have informed us today morning that,
Agnes Uwimana Nkusi, the local vernacular newspaper, Mulabyo, editor was
arrested on charges of sectarianism, discrimination, genocidal denial
and inciting hatred in the public.

Our sources have told us that Uwimana was arrested in the district of
Rushashyi in Northern Province where she was trying to escape to DR
Congo after a tip off buy her security sources that she is to be
arrested.

This is the second time she is arrested on similar charges. She was first arrested in 2007 and was sentenced to one year in Kigali main prison.

A number of journalists have been arrested and illegally
detained, forcing many into exile and independent news papers being banned. The threat of imprisonment is by far the greatest threat to the independent
journalists in Rwanda.

As we were compiling this report, our sources in Kigali have told us that
the Minister in charge of Information and Executive secretary together
with the Director of Information are holding a press conference at
Media High Council Office in Kigali to brief the journalists on a new order requiring that for one to acquire
new press cards they will first be interrogated by the CID.

In May this year, the international watchdog group, Reporters Without
Borders, branded Rwandan president, Paul Kagame, as “a media predator”.
 
MHC sets deadline for registration of media houses

By Ivan R. Mugisha


14317-2-1-Patrice-Mulama-consults.jpg
Patrice Mulama consults Arthur Asiimwe during the meeting. (Photo: J. Mbanda) ​


KIGALI - The Media High Council has called upon all media organs that have not fully registered as stipulated in the new media law, to do so by Friday July 18, or face not being registered, making them illegal.
Speaking at a press conference yesterday, the Chairman of MHC, Arthur Asiimwe, said that ever since MHC made the call a year ago, only six newspapers and six radio stations have fulfilled all requirements needed for registration.
He said that whereas some had partially submitted the requirements, there are others that have failed to comply completely.
"We have been very lenient on this issue for a long time. As MHC, we have decided to give another week to media practitioners. By next Friday, all media bodies must send in required documents that will permit them to practice legally," Asiimwe told the attending journalists.
Asiimwe added that failure to comply will make it illegal for unregistered bodies to practice journalism in the country and if they insist, will be prosecuted.
Patrice Mulama, Executive Secretary of MHC, said that the initiative is aimed at professionalizing media by streamlining all practitioners to conform to the standards of professional journalism.
"Some media bodies are owned and operated by a single individual and don't have a consistent pattern of production. Some have even taken years without printing anything, so we don't know whether they are still in business," Mulama said.
"Registration of media practitioners will also help us to know how many media bodies are still in operation".
At the press conference, Mulama congratulated the companies that had complied by fully registering and presented them with clearance documents.
Ends
 
na uzuri tayari naona U.K wameanza kuwashtukia na kidogo kidogo wameanza kuwakaba,msaada kwenda media council wametosa kutoa na ndege yao ya mizigo imepigwa marufuku kukanyaga U.K.
 
Mkuu kwa sheria zao inamaana wanajamvi wengi tutayari hatiani kwa kujadili na kukomenti juu ya bwana mkubwa... na justice system yao ni iile ya "guilty until proven innocent"
 
Bantugbro said:
Mkuu kwa sheria zao inamaana wanajamvi wengi tutayari hatiani kwa kujadili na kukomenti juu ya bwana mkubwa... na justice system yao ni iile ya "guilty until proven innocent"
Click to expand...
he he hee shauri yako ole wako ukanyage kigali.
 
Lakini UK si ndio walimpigia debe Kagame na US kwa kila njia akang'ara kote duniani? Leo wameshtuka?:A S-eek:
 
Rwanda: We Are Far From Exhausting Our Potential - Kagame

9 July 2010
interview

Kigali - In a SPIEGEL interview, Rwandan President Paul Kagame, 52, discusses the failures of the African elite, the trouble with development aid coming from the West and the problems his country has had reconciling after the 1994 genocide.
Mr. President, right now the soccer World Cup is taking place and the world is looking to Africa in a way seldom seen before. Why is it that 50 years after independence, many African countries are still lagging so far behind?
It is true, we are lagging behind. Unfortunately. There are a number of reasons for it historical, cultural, and not least, reasons that we ourselves have caused. We are far from exhausting our potential and resources.
Why is it that statesmen who are not corrupt and do not line their own pockets are still the exception in Africa?
I admit, this is a problem. But I can not absolve the West completely of guilt. There were corrupt leaders, and the West not only stood firmly behind them, but also sometimes encouraged even more corruption.
China, which has since become an industrial power, now appears to be growing into a role in Africa formerly held by the West. Do the Chinese have a more honest interest in Africa?
To me it is not a question of whether China or the West has more honest intentions with us. It is about something else. Why don't we talk about how we can get on our feet on our own? We do not always want to be the victims and to serve as a battleground for foreign interests.
Your continent has long been comfortable in the role of the dependent.
That is true. We complain about the Chinese, who take our natural resources, pollute the environment and leave nothing behind. Or about the West which, although it does not pollute the environment, also leaves nothing behind. We must take stock of our potential and resources and consider how we want to use them ourselves -- and also how we can do business with China or the West without getting exploited.
SPIEGEL: Most of your presidential colleagues in Africa are pleased with the billions of euros from the West that are flowing to the continent. In Rwanda, you impose tight restrictions on Western donors. What do you have against aid from abroad?
The instances of aid that we have criticized were always those which created dependencies. Aid makes itself superfluous if it is working well. Good aid takes care to provide functioning structures and good training that enables the recipient country to later get by without foreign aid. Otherwise, it is bad aid
which has become the unfortunate norm in Africa.
Yes, because the West is anything but altruistic. I often wonder why the West is much more interested in aid deliveries than in fair trade, for example. The fair exchange of goods would place far more money into the hands of the affected people than relief operations. I do not want to be cynical, but if developing nations are kept backward by being told, again and again, you belong to the poor and you are there, where you actually belong, then nothing will change.
Do any countries serve as role models for you on the path to becoming a modern state?
There are things I admire, for example, about South Korea or Singapore. I admire their history, their development and how intensively they have invested in their people and in technology. It was not so long ago that they were at the same level of development as we are. Today, they are far ahead of us.
There are fair elections in South Korea. In your case, however, opposition leader Victoire Ingabire is under house arrest, newspapers are forbidden and parties are not permitted. That is not what democracy looks like.
The Rwandan Media High Council is responsible for the banning of the two newspapers. And it is an independent institution. One of the newspapers compared me with Adolf Hitler, and another spread false gossip stories. To be honest, I would have banned the papers long ago. Incidentally, editors are also fired in Europe if they write nonsense.
But no unpopular newspapers are banned. And in Rwanda, leading opposition politicians are imprisoned.
Victoire Ingabire's deputy, who returned to Rwanda from exile in January, was actively involved in the genocide of the Tutsi
At least 800,000 Tutsis were killed in 1994 by members of the Hutu majority.
He was traveling under an assumed name, he has since admitted his involvement in the genocide, and a court convicted him. And yet the international media is nevertheless still writing, as before, that opposition leaders are being arrested in Rwanda.
You placed your most dangerous challenger, Victoire Ingabire, under house arrest.
We now know that she has supported the Rwandan Hutu militias, who are now fighting in East Congo and are designated by the UN as terrorists. We have evidence that she was there and that she transferred money to them.
You are expected to be safely re-elected in early August. You no longer have any serious challengers.
I am not responsible for a strong opposition. After all, we have a special past: almost 1 million victims in a hundred days of genocide. We want to put the country back on its feet. And we have a different way of dealing with that than others.
How much progress have you made with reconstruction?
Today's Rwanda is a different country than it was 16 years ago -- in almost every respect. The people have enough to eat, there is health insurance and schools. Earlier, we had 800,000 school pupils, but today 2.3 million children are learning in primary schools, free of charge. The private sector is growing. A lot has happened. We give the people jobs and food, which also gives them a sense of dignity. If they have nothing to eat, then democracy is meaningless to them. Democracy holds little appeal for people who are struggling to survive.
With those arguments, you open the door to abuse of power. Many African potentates have used the same lines to justify their dictatorships.
Why does the Western notion of democracy also have to be the right one for us? The difference is that the West has institutions that can punish the misconduct of individuals. What drove Rwanda and Africa into decline was the fact that certain people weren't held accountable. When we move to make corrupt mayors or officers answer to the courts, people always immediately say that we are repressive. But should we allow these people to continue to get away with it?
Even today, your country still doesn't appear to have completely reconciled following the tragedy of 1994.
Reconciliation takes time. Sometimes many decades, as the example of Europe shows. It is hard work. How do you deal, for example, with people who are still moving freely despite the fact that they should actually be punished? Of the four categories of offenders that we introduced in 1994, from supporters to the instigators and masterminds of the genocide, we have already eliminated the two most harmless categories -- we do not want to pursue these people any further. Of course, it is difficult for the families of the victims of the genocide to accept that.
Are you also dealing with your own personal history through your policies?
My story is one of suffering and endurance. I was three and a half when we had to flee because of pogroms against the Tutsi from Rwanda. I grew up in a refugee camp in Uganda, and I lived there for 30 years. That shapes one's character. I constantly asked myself: Why is this misery and hunger returning to us in the camp? And why does the rest of the world remain quiet? I had to fight hard for everything. I wanted to get out. I want to take my destiny into my own hands and escape the vicious cycle of retaliatory violence. This struggle has shaped who I am to this day.
Interview conducted by Horand Knaup.
 
Koba said:
its unbelievable how ignorant certain people are!
Click to expand...

You mean US and UK? No, they are not. Remember, he is their destabilization tool for the mineral rich country next door :wink2:.
The question is, will Obama continue to support him like his predecessor did? I doubt it...
 
H.E. President Paul Kagame is actually my HERO. How many of his kind do we own in Africa??

His policies, his leadership, will lead Rwanda to even greater heights. Any intellectual and friend of Africa will agree with me, leave alone the man on the street, he is rejoicing!!!
 
Nyie Wanyarwanda, Mnatakiwa kumwacha Rais Kagame aweke nchi yenu safi. Kwa nini mnamsumbua?? Kila siku nyinyi kazi yenu kufunga mizigo,mbuzi, kuku, mikeka, vipi nyinyi? Mmempata kijana mzuri anawatengenezea nchi yenu,anawasomesha, anawapa maisha ya matumaini,bado mnataka fujo tu..Mimi kama Mtanzania, tena wa Kagera,nimewaona tangu miaka ya sabini nikiwa mtoto, mmefunga mizigo mnakimbia, nikaambiwa kuwa ni tangu miaka ya 59 huko, bado 21st century manaendelea na fujo... TULIENI,na mpeni support huyo Rais wenu!! Msije mkalia mkimkorofisha. NYIE VIPI???Acheni UKABILA!!
 
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