From Hollywood’s box office now Rwanda’s story goes to the Prime Time with NBC

All things prime have a new favourite home In Rwanda today. It is quite not surprising these days to find a photo of a Hollywood superstar with his fans-mostly curvaceous beautiful local girls posing in pictures taken in the streets of Kigali. Even young tourist girls from western countries have had opportunities to have their pictures with Hollywood A list actors taken in the city’s backyards cue Bourbon Coffee. (In my unofficial survey, this joint could rival Hollywood cafes in the statistics for hosting celebrities, but this another topic.) The 2009 photo albums so far posted on facebook have appearances from Matt Damon, Edward Norton, Brian Lara-a cricket legend and many more. It is possible that Damon was attracted to Rwanda by his close friend and former campus roommate Ben Affleck a frequent visitor to Rwanda. To this cast you can add Ewan Mcgregor, Ashley Judd, Natalie Portman and so much more who have packed up and made the great trek to Kigali. And while you’re still talking movies, it is important to note that some from Europe’s major entertainment industry-soccer-have also visited-cum the All Europe star team that was at Amahoro just recently to make their contribution to the One Dollar Campaign including Samual Eto’o, Didier Drogba and others. While each of these superstars has had very noble reasons for visiting, I cannot attempt here to have explanations for the pulling power of Rwanda. After all, the county has been described as a model for rebuilding and stability from near annihilation and as one European journalist recently stated, “Kigali is the poor man’s version of a civilized city.” For all these accolades, visitors have become a common feature, coming along with brief cases to start projects aimed at humanitarian work or better-still a video crew to make a play or documentary about reconciliation and or orphans of the Genocide. And based on the ORTPN’s awards at Berlin’s tourism Rwanda could be one of the best summer destinations in Africa these days. The most recent project coming out of such visits and inspiration is NBC’s prime time series The Wanted. The Wanted, which premiered on Monday in the US, is likely to resemble or attract the same audience as the once Kigali favourite Kigali The PrisonBreak. The Wanted is about the work of investigative journalists from the US who follow international criminals wanted for committing crimes against humanity in their countries of origin but living well off in other countries mainly in the west. Some of these alleged criminals are Rwandans, suspected and wanted for perpetrating and participating in the Genocide. One such suspect set to appear in the series, a former lecturer in a major US college is currently under investigation. Therefore, many of you adrenaline filled people hungry for some action in the mould of Michael Scoffield, will get that and the added advantage is that you will understand some of the script as it is about people and issues you understand very well. The first two episodes will track fugitives living in Norway and Germany and even if the episodes are not about Rwandans, the two countries are reportedly harbouring or have in the past hosted wanted suspects of the Genocide in Rwanda. It is ironical that the show premiered just a day after President Paul Kagame appeared on CNNs GPS and discussed the ‘selective’ and cheeky nature of international justice in pursuit of war criminals. Don’t wish or count on the temptation that the show will improve or do better than a whole UN funded worldwide search for the same fugitives, but the power of commercial television will go a long way in exposing that it is easy to track these suspected criminals with less dollars than the Arusha based ICTR has done. (On a separate note, I call for the privatization of the ICTR and hiring bounty hunters. This way, it will take less than a week to capture Felicien Kabuga.) It is my opinion that the show will damage the public relations gibberish of the ICTR. It is possible that the hypocrisy and lies of the ICTR’s tracking team will need more public relations funds to cover up their incompetence. Such is the irony of public relations that even if the movie Hotel Rwanda had flaws in its version of events in Rwanda during 1994 and thereafter, the interpretation of events in Rwanda under the leadership of Kagame by Paul Rusesabagina, it helped many in the west to get a glimpse of Rwanda and its story. Rusesabagina then got over excited and sold his story in the west and actually attempted to accuse the RPF government of the genocide it prevented. This gave a background to the infamous French and Spanish arrest warrants. A Hollywood picture now became a major influence on the political face of Rwanda. Such is the power of celebrity culture and television in the west. Whatever fact or fiction history writers make of Rwanda 50 years from now, one thing that will stick out is that it is a beautiful and wonderful country tacked in the middle of Africa both physically and politically, on top of being at the cross section of Africa’s political economy of the past and new. A combination of that and other factors have made Kigali an attraction for both touring and development work by international movers and shakers. We could have our prized gorillas, the supposed source of River Nile, a picturesque countryside and a clean city but our humble ability to attract major figures in the world to contribute to the country’s growth today. It is very difficult to attract these people. Ends