With Rwandans going to the polls to elect the President of the Republic and 53 deputies from lists proposed by political organizations or for independent candidates, media attention especially from outside is focusing on smearing Rwanda's leadership.

The most fascinating narrative in Western media is the usual song from the Westerners' rule book; that incumbent President Paul Kagame winning with high percentages is an indication that there is no credible opposition leading to a simplistic conclusion that there is no democracy in Rwanda.

Whether Kagame wins big or small, it’s the choice made by majority Rwandans.

There is also the claim that the opposition has been stifled and therefore, there is no level playing field. One thing that people from the west have persistently refused to learn, is that democracy which works in their countries cannot be applied wholesale. The fact is that the history, context and the wish of the people of a given country has much to do with the choices of democracy.

There is also the attitude and mindset that the West is superior to other countries especially when it comes to developing countries and therefore, their choices should be copied blindly.

Even when developing countries are poor, their people have the liberty to self-determination and to make choices of what they want. When countries in Africa look at the democracy in Western countries, say in the US where the president is not elected by the majority, such countries can also say that there is no democracy because the president does not enjoy majority support of the citizens.

But because African countries respect the choices of other countries on how to run their affairs, African media does not point accusing fingers at Western countries.

In this 21st century, the West should turn a new page by putting aside the ‘big brother syndrome’ and let other countries do their own politics and democracy in a way that pleases their people. The west does not own Africa nor is it Africa’s assigned watchdog.

In the political campaigns, the RPF candidate Paul Kagame has been pulling crowds of hundreds of thousands of supporters. These hundreds of thousands of supporters will be turned into votes.

Additionally, the six political parties allied to RPF will also bring in votes to the RPF’s candidate. This means, therefore, that among the nine registered political parties, including RPF, only three are on their own.

For anyone who has been keenly following the campaign rallies, it is clear that Kagame is headed to a huge winning percentage. Unfortunately, Kagame cannot create the “credible opposition” to reduce his winning numbers because it is a political competition.

A recent public statement by Amnesty International titled Rwanda: “Repression in the context of elections,” openly showed what the ‘so called credible opposition’ the west wants to see in Rwanda. Infact, it also revealed that Amnesty International was in partnership with the failed “Forbidden Stories” agenda of tarnishing the image of Rwanda.

The statement devoted almost more than a page to talk about Ingabire Victoire and her unregistered Dalfa Umulinzi party. Ingabire who is an unrepentant genocide ideologue is the most preferred politician to lead Rwanda according to “human rights” organizations like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.

First of all, these organizations when dealing with African countries cease to be focused on human rights but instead become political activists. It is not only an insult to Rwandans but a wish to take Rwanda back to the dark past that led to the genocide against the Tutsi in 1994.

Ingabire needs self-rehabilitation first to abandon her genocide ideology and the double genocide mindedness before asking the government for rehabilitation for the sake of qualifying for competitive political positions.

Much as in US politics since 1940, Communist candidates were removed from the ballot in Arizona and Georgia states, on allegations that they supported overthrowing the government using violence.

In May 2024, a Germany Court found a prominent far-right German politician guilty of knowingly using a Nazi slogan in a speech. Björn Höcke, who leads the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in the state of Thuringia, was on trial for saying the words "Everything for Germany!" at a May 2021 rally. The slogan is associated with the SA stormtroopers, who played a key role in the Nazis' rise to power. In 2017 Höcke called the Holocaust memorial in Berlin a "memorial of shame".

When Ingabire returned to Rwanda from the Netherlands, her first stop-over was at Kigali Genocide Memorial where she said that she could see only graves for the Tutsi and none for the Hutu; evidence of her double genocide ideology.

Ingabire in Rwanda is no different from Höcke in Germany. Why is Amnesty International advocating for Ingabire and leaves out Höcke? Hypocrisy, double standards, and arrogance is always at play when the West is dealing with Africa. They forget that what's good for the goose is good for the gander.