RWANDA:Rwanda: a country close to Stalinism than African Singapore

Posted FROM THE RISING CONTINENT on June 18, 2012 | Leave a comment

Paul Kagame – President of Rwanda

Two gripping accounts of what is happening in Rwanda describe a picture of the country that foreigners cannot know, and will never get close to, because of the distorted and aggressive way the Rwandan government led by president Paul Kagame portrays itself towards the rest of the world. 
The two parts of a same narrative are published by Jennifer Fierberg in Africa Global Village and Salem News. What is striking is the truth which transpires out of the stories. Millions of Rwandans inside and outside can see themselves through them. That is how the majority experiences their unenviable lives under the Rwandan Patriotic Front regime.
In one of the stories highlighted, the writer explains for example how Rwandan government spies control every aspect of people lives. Hotels are for example asked
…. to file a report of any incidents of prominent people who were in the company of members of the opposite sex (not spouses) who were seeking a hotel room! In short, the police insist on knowing who is sleeping with whom!
After the Rwandan genocide, Kagame’s government has received billions of $. Some of these have built new infrastructures in the country, but others have sustained wars in neighbouring countries and oppressive judiciary and security systems. That the country be praised for its economic development, though only benefiting a tiny minority, this does not make it different from a Stalinist repressive dictatorship.
Far from becoming an African Singapore, Rwanda may loose all the economic gains accumulated other the years, if the Kagame’s government’s excessive and oppressive control on people’s lives does not get relaxed.
Can you imagine a place on earth where you cannot trust your wife, husband, neighbour, workmate, or child because you suspect they could be a government spy who is after you?