Rwanda and CHOGM: Michela Wrong wrong-headed again

In Kinyarwanda, sometimes someone’s name reflects their temperament or attitude.

I did not know this situation could be the same in English.

But incidentally, there is one British journalist called Michela Wrong, a sworn hater of Rwandan President Paul Kagame, and today’s Rwanda, for reasons only known to her.

She is one of the anti-Rwanda entities and individuals who opposed ferociously the Commonwealth Heads  of Government Meeting (CHOGM) taking place in Kigali. She even authored a book “Do Not Disturb” whose whole purpose was to malign Kagame, the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), and to push the most outrageous genocide revisionism and denial.

Much to her disappointment, and that of fellow Rwanda haters, the summit went head and became one of the best held on the African continent. Despite the visible success of the summit, Wrong persists in her wanton vilification of Rwanda and its leadership.

Since the train already left the station a long time ago, Wrong is grasping the straws trying to besmirch Rwanda and its President. A case in point is her recent fabrications in the op-ed “Rwanda is a brutal, repressive regime. Holding the Commonwealth summit there is a sham” published in The Guardian on June 22.

She reharshes the same old baseless attacks contained in her book, and recaps the same anti-Rwanda propaganda. Instead of talking of the major breakthroughs achieved in this summit, like the construction of the BioNTech’s vaccine manufacturing facility in Rwanda, she rehashed the same allegations made by HRW which is known for its insidious agenda on Rwanda.

To borrow words from British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Wrong and her cabal “are basing their criticisms on a perception, perhaps a stereotype of Rwanda that is now outdated.” But Wrong writes her vile attacks with total knowledge that what she writes is absurd.

Kigali city, like many others around the country has always been clean. Wrong wants to fool the world into believing lies that “before important get-togethers, the government relocates homeless people to “transit centres” for “re-education.” This ill intended lie, which Rwanda debunked, was manufactured HRW in its many reports on the country.

Wrong should, instead, feel concerned about the plight of homeless people in London where a Hungarian man, Gyula Remes died outside the entrance to the Houses of Parliament in October 2018. When the man died, there was an outcry but Wrong is not bothered by such people’s lives.

Remes, aged 43, was Hungarian and homeless. He had been sleeping in a passage in Westminster tube station that led into Parliament square. It was the second homeless death in the same underpass in 10 months.

In her recent op-ed, Wrong throws shades on President Kagame, and cites the tired accusation that he ordered the shouting down of President Habyarimana’s plane which, she says, triggered the genocide. Has Wrong been living in a cave? Recently, the French judiciary put the issue of Habyarimana’ plane to rest for good.

She also quotes one Jim Freedman, a UN expert, who alleged that Rwanda exploited DRC mineral resources, a claim that Rwanda rejected. She is astonished that Kagame was elected with more than 90 % of votes. She doesn’t know how people love him. While in some countries in Europe, like France recently, more than half of the population abstain from voting, in Rwanda it’s la fiesta. Everybody eligible to vote casts the ballot.

Kagame is the most popular person in Rwanda. Many people in other African countries wish he were their president.  But people like Wrong will never tire mud-slinging him.

In the same piece, Wrong also accuses Kagame of backing the M23 rebellion fighting the Congolese army in eastern DRC. She doesn’t have a shred of evidence for that baseless allegation but she will throw it in anyway.

Another allegation she makes in her op-ed is that “Rwanda’s appetite for intervention is not limited to its neighbours.” Where does she get this from?

Given her affinity with genocide deniers, one is not surprised that in the same op-ed, Wrong airs the grievances of the self-styled politician Victoire Ingabire, a Hutu Power ideologue, who is the leader of an unregistered party.  Ingabire reportedly lamented that the organisers didn’t invite her to CHOGM, the very summit she wanted to fail.

Wrong quoted Ingabire as saying she requested to attend the civil society events but was refused. Certainly, there are reasons why Ingabire wasn’t welcome. But this woman forgets that she is a felon, who is toxic for society because of her Hutu Power ideology.

So, Wrong keeps fighting. But she’s fighting a losing battle.  Rwanda and its people will forge ahead.