For decades, Western journalists have written and broadcast stories that undermine the person of President Paul Kagame, Rwandans in general, and always undermined the country’s development projects.

The latest attacks come from an American international basic cable sports channel, ESPN, which on July 26, published a documentary titled: ““How the NBA got into business with an African dictator”.

The documentary was full of the same recycled attacks of alleged crimes, which Rwanda under Kagame’s leadership is accused of including human rights violations, lack of political space and freedom of expression, and many more.

It is regrettable how a channel like ESPN would give a platform to the sinister anti-Rwanda agenda, and the purpose of their attacks is very clear; persuade the NBA to cut ties with Rwanda.

In 2018, the Rwanda-NBA journey began with a common goal to create, inspire, and connect, through the game of basketball, to make Rwandans' and Africans’ lives better.

The partnership pushed Rwanda to build a word-class sports arena. Since then, Rwanda has successfully partnered with NBA’s Basketball African League (BAL), hosting the games every year. Rwanda has also partnered with other NBA business partners, to develop other sports facilities, especially promoting talents of young Rwandans.

According to Rwanda Development Board, BAL generates $10 million per year for Rwanda's economy.

Despite the remarkable outcomes of NBA partnerships, Rwanda’s detractors allege that what the country is doing is sportswashing, aimed at ‘masking’ supposed human rights abuses, and chose to use ESPN in their sinister agenda. To back their allegations, the channel visited genocide ideologue Victoire Ingabire, a so-called political opponent in Rwanda. The channel specifically chose Ingabire not only for her relentless claims about oppression in Rwanda, but her story, like all the other ones before, aimed for a gullible channel and audience.

Ingabire is a favorite for Western journalists. But she is no victim. Rwandans know her for who she is. Ingabire is a criminal who was pardoned by Kagame, the same person whose image she keeps tarnishing.  In 2012, she was found guilty of terrorism, genocide denial and planning to cause state insecurity, and sentenced to eight years in prison. The sentence was increased to 15 years after appeal. Western media, do not question Ingabire’s ties to genocidaire movements, and her double genocide ideology.

ESPN completely disregarded her genocidal venom, and sympathized with her claims of political oppression of herself and her peers. It is absurd for ESPN to focus on Ingabire, a criminal who is still on parole, to speak for millions of Rwandans, and define the state of politics in the country, when these same citizens have chosen their leaders, and not her.

“Do you think Rwanda is sportswashing?” Mark Fainaru-Wada, the ESPN journalist asked Ingabire. She answered with an enthusiastic “yes”.

Rwanda’s sporstwashing claims are not new. And ESPN claimed that Rwanda spends ‘too much money’ in the ‘Visit Rwanda’ partnership with European football clubs; Arsenal, Paris Saint Germain, and Bayern Munich. ESPN chose to deliberately ignore the fact that Rwanda is banking on sports playing a positive role in its ambitious development plans.

Western media houses like ESPN do not use ‘sporstwashing’ attacks on advanced economies. But for a country like Rwanda such a malicious attack is acceptable, which is an unfair and discriminatory. Which begs the question; why should Rwanda be criticized for doing its best in terms of development and making deals that are actually paying off?

With the help of these partnerships, Rwanda’s tourism revenue rose by 36 percent, from $445 million in 2022 to reach $620 million in 2023. In addition, Rwanda receives over one million visitors yearly, courtesy of ‘Visit Rwanda’ partnerships.

It is reported that the ESPN crew travelled to Rwanda twice while producing the documentary yet they failed to capture the most important element of the Rwanda-BAL partnership. The partnership has positively impacted Rwandan lives, promoted young basketball talents and gives hope to a bright future of the basketball game in the country.

It is illogical for ESPN to push a narrative that mixes politics and sports. While being interviewed and asked about NBA’s concerns about human rights abuse in Rwanda, Mark Tatum, the Deputy Commissioner and international commissioner of the NBA clearly stated that it’s the role of the US government to deal with that.

“Rwanda, if you had been there and saw it, the place works…All the conversations we have had with Kagame are about improving the lives of Rwandans,” said Tatum.

The NBA operates in over 200 countries and territories. ESPN chose to bully Rwanda over this partnership, just to feed a political agenda. This shows that ESPN was on a mission to distort and undermine Rwanda’s progress.

To attempt to besmirch what Rwanda is trying to accomplish using all the means at its disposal, including partnering with sports teams and organisations, is to stand in direct opposition to the country’s development agenda.