President Kagame Has No Intention of Being “Dominant African Leader”

 


A misguided and ill-intentioned narrative has been doing the rounds that President Paul Kagame wants to be this or that. The overriding goal is to show him as a leader intent on doing bad. 

President Kagame’s commitment to his people’s interests is demonstrated by example and by tackling action that is available at the political level, for instance:  

- He has created a legislative and  institutional arrangements that reinforce ethical behavior and create tough sanctions against wrongdoing. 

- He is providing adequate support  and resources for ethics-related  activities throughout government.

As a consequence, these ideas are bringing verifiable changes into the lives of ordinary people. 

In addition, somethings have happened in Rwanda, that, Kagame, as leader, has the obligation to ensure they never happen again. Otherwise, he wouldn’t need to be in office. 

Over time, the choices adopted, are paying off. A particular example is making sure vulnerable people are protected. Mozambique comes in mind. Immigrants from Libya too. 

The Daily Maverick newspaper gave space to Michela Wrong to continue her diatribe to advance the agenda of her backers. In it, Wrong claims President Kagame is intent on dominating other African leaders.  

Wrong’s claims are based on falsehoods fed to her by a group of disgruntled former civil servants who have openly called for violent overthrow of the government in Rwanda. 

As various writers have evidently demonstrated, Wrong is a sensation chaser and writing about Rwanda, yet she did not set foot in the country for many years. The reason she keeps bashing President Kagame is because she cannot move on from mourning her “honey skinned” lover Patrick Karegeya. 

The regional initiatives that have been championed by President Kagame are aimed at creating a continent with shared values, one where cost of good/services are cheaper, and people can fly at half current price or less. 

President Kagame makes sure the politics works for his people, and would very happily want to see the same positives being enjoyed across the continent. 

Visionary leadership refers to a clean, clear, competent, credible, committed, courageous, and compassionate foresight and team. By team, I refer to the people that come out of the system built by the current leader. 

Leaders help to reduce ambiguity and uncertainty in people’s lives.  They do so by constructive acts that use complex social forces to achieve concrete, long-term aims and goals.  But they do more; leaders  make  meaning.  They  provide  clear and  positive  reasons for  their  aims, actions  and accomplishments. 

For example, when national career RwandAir was at its infancy, few saw it making headway. That was years ago. Today, social media posts of happy faces taking pictures around its aircraft, says it all – people are excited to have it. 

The actions President Kagame has been taking, are not in any way, an attempt to win over the west. That is a diversionary narrative.

The government's goal is to serve Rwandans and not please the likes of wannabees making a living pretending to be experts. 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Filip Reyntjens: Massacre of Tutsi 1990-92 was “Rational Response” by Habyarimana Government to RPF Rebels

Image
Between 1990 and 1992, over 2,000 Tutsi civilians were killed in a number of massacres that were perpetrated by the government of Rwanda at the time – mainly in the north-west of the country, but also in the southeastern region of Bugesera. However, writing in January 1994, Filip Reyntjens, the ethno-racist academic from Belgium’s University of Antwerp, defended the government of Juvenal Habyarimana against the accusations. He has not relented ever since. The mass targeting of Tutsi civilians didn’t just happen in the three months of 1994. Documented facts show the pattern going back years. On 8 October 1990, one week after the beginning of hostilities between the RPF rebels and the FAR government troops, soldiers from the FAR murdered  at least  65 Hima patrolists in Mutara region, northwest Rwanda. In the second act of mass murder in mid-October 1990, 348 civilians were killed in 48 hours in Kibilira commune in Gisenyi province. The local officials incited the population
Read more

The genesis of Dr David Himbara's anger

Image
Dr David Himbara never recovered from being refused entry into Village Urugwiro. Around the end of 2009, Himbara was replaced from his job in Office of the President. The following day, Himbara woke up very early as usual going to work. At the entrance, the presidential security couldn’t let him in. It’s obvious, because security protocols require that any guests are recorded beforehand. He had no invitation. Arrogant as he had always been, Himbara probably imagined that he would walk into the presidential office whenever he pleases. I highly doubt anyone else, including the President’s family, apart from the First Lady perhaps, have that right of unfettered access. The Presidency and the holder, is an institution of a country, whose security becomes of paramount importance. However, Himbara had convinced himself, from years of having access there, that he could walk in at anytime he wished. In his usual English language bravado, Himbara shouted at the guards at the entrance, a
Read more

Did ‘Hotel Rwanda’’s Paul Rusesabagina Just Sabotage Armenia-Azerbaijan Peace?

Image
Paul Rusesabagina came to fame two decades ago as the hero in the movie  Hotel Rwanda . While reality was not as Hollywood depicted, fame sparked first ambition and then, failing to gain support in Rwanda, bitterness. He spoke about the necessity to overthrow the Rwandan government by any means necessary and then  acted on it , wiring money to a terrorist group. Under Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, one of the State Department’s top goals in Africa was to convince Burundi, the continent’s poorest country, to  cease allowing  cross-border insurgents to use its territory. He succeeded. Rusesabagina fumed. In June 2020, Évariste Ndayishimiye became president of Burundi. Rusesabagina sought to convince him to cease stopping the terrorists Rusesabagina funded. After his capture, Rusesabagina’s story that he was taking a private jet to Burundi to talk to a church never made sense given Burundi’s poverty and the expense of international private charters. After the plane diverted to Rwanda, a
Read more