‘…strongman…, …once a darling of the West…, …tiny Rwanda…, …turned dictator…, …playing on the guilt of the West for not doing enough to stop the genocide …’

The above words and statements are only too familiar for anyone who has followed the writings of the critics of Rwanda, especially associates of the genocide regime. Professor Makau Mutua reproduced these words in his column published in the last edition of the Sunday Nation.

Ordinarily, academic authors pride themselves in objectivity, and writing whenever there is a new contribution to make in the existing knowledge gap. This is why, unfortunately, Professor Mutua’s article diminishes his academic stature. More than two thirds of the text is a regurgitation of all disparaging conspiracies against President Paul Kagame, and he offers no new ideas in the discussion about the arrest and trial of Paul Rusesabagina.

The case was tried in public and livestreamed for everyone to follow, there is no excuse for ramping up everything, just to create patterns. Mutua, as a law professor, ought to know that all legal and factual criticisms that were raised, about the case, in the American Bar Association’s report were responded to by Rwanda’s Bar Association. He is not obliged to agree with them, but a serious author, who has respect for his readers, would acknowledge the existence of different perspectives including those that he does not agree with.

Mutua, like other critics, does not talk about the crimes Rusesabagina and his co-accused were found guilty of, nor does he care about the victims of those atrocities.

He rushes to criticise the luring of the suspect into a trap of arrest, and brings in the bizarre abduction claim. He might disagree with a procedure of luring elusive suspects, but that does not stop it from being a common practice found in both national and international courts and tribunals. For purposes of reference, in Christophe Paulussen’s Male Captus Bene Detentus?, the author gives a comprehensive documentation of similar cases in a book of over one thousand pages.

I hate to say this but the reason we always (willingly or unwillingly) cast ourselves into darkness, whenever our governments act in defense of our national security, interests and values, the same way the West does, is <Mutua should know> that we have been brainwashed to believe that all African leaders are bad, and that those who defend them are either their ethnic allies or beneficiaries of the regime. I wish every African could see the mockery in this.

The idea that all African leaders are bad, and that the rest of us, we the citizenry, are good, is the most far-reaching neocolonial strategy that has kept Africans into endless avoidable conflicts. We have undermined our wellbeing to the extent of failing to offer an effective safeguard against all negative actors especially those that are protected by the most powerful. We have surrendered our reasoning to the western media and activists, they are the ones choosing our heroes and villains.

That is why some find it normal for Belgium to lure Mohamed Abdi Hassan, but criticise Rwanda for arresting Rusesabagina, who openly called for war that killed some nine civilians, injured many and left a lot of property destroyed.

To end on a positive note, the Rule of Law that we enjoy ‘under the diktat of one man’ has been ranked the best in Sub-Saharan Africa by the World Justice Project Rule of Law Index. If we were not wasting some of our energy on this distraction, we could be doing more than 42nd out of 139 countries studied globally.

The writer is a Senior Lecturer, School of Law, University of Rwanda