So how much will it cost to have the African All-Stars here (Rwanda) for this noble cause -‘One-dollar’ campaign? It sounds like the start of a bad joke, doesn’t it? But this is no simple matter; this is real. Quite why some people are still caught between optimism and pessimism about the coming of all the names on the list of stars as confirmed by Sports and Culture minister Joseph Habineza is beyond me and, if anything, I’m, as always holding the distinct impression we may not be able to have them all on the same field—I just don’t know but I find it quite too expensive. If Mr. Habineza succeeds in having Samuel Eto’o, Didier Drogba, Alexandre Song, Yaya Toure, Rigobert Song, Kolo Toure, Salomon Kalou, Geremi Njitap, Idriss Kameni, Boubacar Sanogo, S. Toure, Idriss Ulolo and Emmanuel Eboue here for this righteous cause, it’ll be without any doubt his best achievement since replacing Robert Bayigamba in September 2004. For starters, the African stars, all of them from West Africa are coming today to play in a Charity game against the Amavubi Stars, that game is schedule for tomorrow (Monday). The proceeds from the game will go towards the ‘One-dollar’ campaign to help the survivors of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsis. During their three-day tour, the stars will also pay a courtesy call to President Paul Kagame before paying visits to the Kigali Genocide memorial site and orphanage centers in Kigali. Reports say the President himself is footing the All-Star team’s travel costs, which to me; gives the whole project more significance—with the President involved, nothing or very little can go wrong. Knowing the big man is involved, there is little doubt the Stars will descend on Kigali, and am actually excited about the whole thing unlike the last time minister Habineza promised to bring certain stars and we ended up with others—anyone remember that? With the kind of excitement that comes with the prospect of rubbing shoulders with Zinedine Zidane, Eto’o, Drogba and Marcel Dessaille, people were disappointed when only the latter along with Bazil Bolli and Christian Karembue came. I was personally frustrated, and through that irritation, I did a piece on this page stating how the minister had fed Rwandans hot air (Kiwani of the year), which didn’t go down well with the man himself, but I cared less after all a whole minister together with Lotto Rwanda somehow had made empty promises. Fast forward and the year is 2009. Now, we’re faced with probably a similar situation only that this time, things are quite different with the President himself involved in some capacity. With that first ‘half empty’ promise, minister Habineza, despite his good intentions, made a complete and utter cock up of his image—but now he has the best opportunity to redeem himself. No matter which angle or perspective you look at it, it’s always going to be quite costly to have all these stars on the field whether in Rwanda, America (US), Brazil or China, nevertheless, with such a right cause of helping the survivors of the 1994 Genocide against Tutsis, the cost shouldn’t be a big issue—what’s important is the bigger picture. As for the visitors, Bienvenue au Rwanda Contact: nku78@yahoo.com
