From Ellyakanga blog
“This is what has become the hallmark of the so-called dissidents – ill-mannered, have no programme except insults, out of touch with events in their own country. If they have any programme it is to destroy their country,” wrote Joseph Rwagatare in The New Times.
Do not ask me who the feisty gentleman is. The last time I checked, he was the headteacher of one if not the leading girls school in Rwanda – FAWE Girls School. That was before he switched trades. He is gradually and progressively assuming the position of Rwanda’s critic in chief specializing mainly in criticizing Rwanda’s critics. A cool way to earn a living.
I love reading from Joe. He is smart, knowledgeable albeit selectively, articulate and writes with too much passion. He typifies someone who knows what his readers want and is willing to give them exactly that, nothing more unless it is like I said, selectively less.
Anyway, Joe was referring to the events during President Kagame’s recent visit to Chicago for the much talked about Rwanda Day. Unlike Joe, I did not attend. In hindsight, I wish I had. I am a poor lad you see. Crossing the Atlantic is far from catching a train to say Brighton. It needs bucks. Had I been “the good guy” (from the with us camp) I probably would have benefited from the generous envelopes that were being handed to selected members of the Rwandan diaspora for travel and accommodation expenses to and from Chicago. Unfortunately, whoever was in charge of giving out the said envelopes appears to believe that my opinions over the years have put me on the other side (the against us camp). Thus if I had to attend, and assuming of course that I could guarantee my security, all expenses had to be on me.
But why travel so far, spend so much money, to see someone you have seen before and listen to them speak when whatever is to happen will after all, be delivered right to your desktop by great writers like Joe or members of the mainstream media?
Enough of that. Turns out that while Kagame had a good time in Chicago and was received by so many including leading businessmen and potential investors, something rather ugly was happening just outside the venue where this event was happening – a protest against Kagame.
We know from Joe’s report that this was a small group of nobodies who besides failing to raise a respectable quorum were also afraid to show their faces. Wrote Joe, “Outside, in the deserted streets, a handful of fugitives, not more than a dozen, and hired protesters made a lot of discordant noises…Even their organizers did not seem to believe in what they were doing. Theogene Rudasingwa who had promised to disrupt the North American diaspora meeting (aptly dubbed Rwanda Day) with the President of Rwanda even refused to talk to the media he had invited”.
“He and many others did not want to show their faces – perhaps out of shame and guilt (although those are not qualities you would associate with Rudasingwa). They certainly lacked conviction”.
He continued, “It was clear that the dozen noisemakers and their crest-fallen organizers were only performing a task they had to do because they had been either hired or needed to justify to their funders so that money could keep flowing”.
I am trying to figure this out. A dozen rag tag noisemakers are on Chicago’s deserted streets justifying their funding for protesting the visit of a visiting ” kick ass” head of state and a former headteacher cum presidential advisor finds this worthy worrying about? Well, I ain’t a big time gambler but if I was to put anything on this, I wouldn’t mind a tenner on the rag tag noisemakers having had such profound effect.
Experience has taught me that when it comes to protests, quite often, it is not the numbers that count but the message. The Rudasingwas may have hidden themselves away from the camera but the very fact that we are talking about this protest now or even writing opinions about it could be to them the gain they aimed to achieve. Which brings me to the question: who really benefited from Chicagogate? Was it Paul Kagame and his entourage, potential investors who got to meet Rwandan officials and speak to the man who matters, or the dozen noise makers who despite their failure to show their faces have managed to have us all, including by the way mainstream media, talking about their small act of resistance to what they say is Kagame’s oppression on Rwandans – the same people who this day was meant to benefit?
It is easy for a spin doctor or a writer for that matter to sit down at home and write a critical commentary on an event he or she considers anti-his/her belief. While getting carried away is normal, I guess we must never forget to desist falling into the trap of risking absurdity and the possibility of being accused of double standards.
I would, as someone who missed out the big day in Chicago preferred to hear and read from good writers like Joe a rendition of what exactly happened inside Hyatt Hotel. A more detailed account of the conversations that Rwandans inside the hotel discussed with Rwandan officials leave alone President Kagame, the mood inside and whether anything tangible in terms of investment had been promised or harnessed from the so called investors or members of the business community. Yes. Investment because at least, I would know that somehow, our president went to Chicago, spent a fortune on transporting himself and a few colleagues there – on board an expensive private jet - but in a few months or years to come, some qualified Rwandan who has been looking for a job for the last 2 years will finally get employed because the president went to Chicago and secured a multi-million dollar investment.
But what did we get instead? Well, Joe accusing Paul Rusesabagina of “wanting Rwandan history to revolve around his fictitious image”. And yes you hear that right. Wanting Rwandan to revolve around his fictitious image? Is this not the man who has been internationally honored for saving 1,268 refugees during the Rwandan genocide? Joe, unless you are making a claim that you feel Rusesabagina should start peddling, when was it that he ever said that Rwandan history revolved around him? As a a former headteacher, I am sure you are aware that if anything, someone else with the same first name but different surname has effectively assumed a cult hero figure status as Rwanda’s saviour and if claiming the whole country’s history is problematic, you are better off channeling your well deserved advice somewhere nearer to you than to a man you and your ilk have essentially made a monster when history has it that he was and will remain a hero to some if not many.
There is more to criticism than blatant bashing.
Over to you my little monsters…
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