One result of writing this column is that some people have been accusing me of being a “Kagamist” or, as those that make the accusation claim, “I am a propagandist singing the praises” of the Rwandan president. I try to imagine that some of them are making the accusation in good faith. So, I will agree, yes indeed I’ve said some good things about Kagame and his administration. Mea Culpa! Does what I write qualify to be labeled propaganda, in the truest definition of the word, though? Simply put, propaganda is information put out to win support, sympathy, goodwill, and so on, for a government, a political figure, any group, in biased, misleading ways. Inversely, propaganda is misinformation often tailored in such ways as to foment hate, sow enmity, discredit, and cause misunderstanding, et cetera, against a state, an ethnic group, a religious organization, even individuals. Interestingly, one can hurl accusations of propaganda, as a form of propaganda in itself. For instance, one can call what I write propaganda, simply as a way to discredit me! Still, if indeed I write so many good things about the president and the government, I am in a dilemma. I begin looking like a true propagandist, a praise singer. The thing we most feared in J School. As a trained journalist I am supposed to be critical of government, or politicians, big civil servants, other public officials, and figures in positions of trust. We in “the Fourth Estate” are society’s watchdogs, not lapdogs of the powerful. We are supposed to be the voice of the voiceless. Or those that comfort the afflicted, and afflict the comfortable. Am I betraying these ideals by writing great things the administration of President Kagame? I asked myself this question before I took up writing this column, and I find I am comfortable with what I do. I’ve even asked myself: am I selling out? The answer I tell myself is no, and I think I’ve been honest with myself. You see, Kagame makes things very easy. I can write stuff that, on the face of it look suspiciously like propaganda, while being one hundred percent factual. Without one misleading word. It’s for instance very easy to write about an incorruptible president, when the said president rides in a convoy of, at most, eight vehicles; never makes ostentatious displays of wealth; never grabs anyone’s land, be it public or private land; never, you get the idea... And that’s before we start talking about the amazing record of public service that’s transformed Rwanda from the lowest of Third World backwaters, to what is today. Kagame (I know, this will sound just like more propaganda!) is our Lee Kuan Yew. I feel like a Singaporean journalist writing about the late great statesman. Seriously, given the astounding challenges ahead of the country that one saw upon entering Rwanda for the very first time in 1994, what chance was even there of just restoring, and maintaining security and safety? There was just too much hatred, too much mutual suspicion between Rwandans. The genocide perpetrators were reorganizing across the border in Zaire, vowing to launch counter insurgencies to make “Rwanda ungovernable.” In this situation, who could’ve dreamed that the new administration one day not only would it turn this into one of the safest countries in the world, but that we could actually export security and safety to other countries in need? Beyond that, well, there is so much wherever one looks, to point at as examples of what great leadership can result into. Well, some say, surely there also are a few not so great things in Rwanda that, as a journalist, it is your duty to point at and criticize? I am aware that no government, or political leader is perfect. Yet over the years I’ve grown wise to one thing. Being vocally critical of a group, or an individual, cannot be an end in itself. I remember, years ago when young Arab militants perpetrated terrorist attacks in the United States, and in the aftermath there were zero journalists writing, or broadcasting any criticisms of the government. Everyone was unified in denouncing the attackers. There wasn’t a single voice coming out in support of them. In other words, everyone knew their civic responsibilities in that situation. Now, here in Rwanda, whether one chooses to believe it or not, we are under attack – by the regime of Tshisekedi in Kinshasa. As part of that, Rwanda is the target of a war of words, with a phalanx of merchants of misinformation amplifying that misinformation to the world. As if to make his intentions even clearer, Tshisekedi has armed the genocidal, terrorist FDLR to the teeth, integrated it into his military, while publicly ranting that he will effect “regime change” in Kigali. What don’t people see? We are under attack. We aren’t facing armed attack, but that’s only because our military has kept that threat at bay. We are under attack because a hostile government next door has in fact fired shells into Rwandan territory, and is itching to sic a regional coalition of armed forces upon us. It has a client regime in Burundi that works hand in hand with it in that objective, and it operates a fifth column right here in Rwanda, in the form of the (unregistered) political party of Victoire Ingabire. And so, it’s my duty as a civic-minded journalist to desist from any petty criticisms of our government – which criticisms moreover would be weaponized in the most dishonest ways by those that seek to do us harm – while focusing on the good it’s done for Rwandans. It is also my duty to hit hard, and expose those bent on destabilizing, or tearing us down. I am proud of it too.
