Enjoy your time in the sun because it is but a fleeting moment

Only if you’d been living under a rock over the last few weeks would you have not known that President Paul Kagame had been on a state visit to France early this week. And truth be told this trip whetted the appetites of political commentators both in Kigali and Paris and it was easy to see why. This trip was also an opportunity for every Tom, Dick and Harry, who’s ever had an issue with the Rwanda of today and its leadership, to get their 15 minutes of fame. Bearing straight to the first camera and microphone that he could find, Jean-François Julliard, the Secretary-General Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) earnestly said, “The climate for the media in Rwanda is so oppressive that the country is gradually losing its journalists”. Well, if this man was Pinocchio, he would have had a nose the size of a telephone pole by now. But what he and his organisation peddle isn’t the truth but rather what they want the truth to be. If they were even a bit fair, they wouldn’t say that Rwanda is Africa’s third worst place to be a journalist, only being above Eritrea and Sudan. But this is what they do; they twist the facts and do whatever they can to thrust themselves in the news and thus stay relevant. The RWB wasn’t the only organisation seeking a slot on the evening news. All these groups, hitherto unknown, understood that the France trip was a bonanza for them. And truth be told, it was. For two whole days, anyone who had an opinion that they wanted to air on Rwanda was given an opportunity to do so. But guess what? The President of Rwanda has left, the public’s attention WILL move onto the next big thing and the people, who had been seeking attention, will be left with nothing except sore throats. So, while the RSF and others might have thought they would get their 14 minutes of fame, in the long run they’ve done nothing of note. On the other hand, look at what Rwanda has been able to accomplish. It’s been able to strengthen diplomatic ties with France, put its points across in the international media and sold itself as a destination for French investors. These goals aren’t only short term but rather medium and long term. 20 years from now, this trip will be seen, not as just a mere media exercise, but rather the time that Rwanda and France finally put to bed the ghosts of the infamous Francafrique. On a totally different note, I was pleased to read in yesterdays issue of The New Times that the SHair Academy, a UK based charity organisation, is planning to open a professional hairdressers’ academy in Kigali in January. This school will train Rwandans in the fields of pedicure, manicure, beauty and aesthetics. While I probably won’t need a fancy haircut anytime soon, unless I get a Wayne Rooney-esque hair replacement surgery, I think that this academy is as important as any higher institution of learning. We don’t only need engineers and what not; for our economy to truly mature we need people to fill the mid-level jobs. And this academy will do that. sunny_ntayombya@hotmail.comTwitter:@sannykigaliBlog: sunnyntayombya.wordpress.com