A question for African brothers and sisters in other countries, but specifically those that for some reason or another will feel inclined to badmouth Rwanda’s achievements, try to belittle Rwanda at every turn, say demeaning things about us, rejoice at anything perceived to be a setback for Kigali, and similar conduct: why this attitude? Obviously, the question isn’t addressed at a place like DR Congo, with its president Felix Tshisekedi and his propagandists that have made it their life mission to externalise all their governance failures and turn them into Rwanda’s problem. Neither is it addressed at all the groups or individuals whose negative energy (and interests) align with the Kinshasa regime’s. For sure, it’s hardly surprising that the Tshisekedists will pounce at every opportunity to sabotage anything perceived to be advantageous to Rwanda; to smear its every achievement with their perennial, infantile, never substantiated allegations that “Rwanda loots their minerals”. All this not mentioning their hoping from one Western capital to another, with endless made-up accusations, so as to have them sanction Rwanda, and more behavior like that. In short, they will do everything to fulfill a reactionary, anti-Rwanda agenda that, when you examine it a bit more closely, in fact is anti-African. Just one example: when one African country, for very petty, made up reasons decides it’s closing its airspace to the (civilian) air of another, it shows utter lack of consideration, about so many things that would advance the continent – from how this impacts the travel needs of even their own citizens, to the implication for the development of African air travel, among other things. In any case, the Rwandan administration is conditioned to find solutions to problems, including any such sabotage, plus everything else the Kinshasa regime has tried. Anyway, so much for the Tshisekedists, plus their pro-FDLR propagandist allies, and more. Rwanda has learnt to live with the noise they generate. What one has to wonder about other Africans that seem to have issues with Rwanda, most for no perceivable reasons, except what’s in their minds. From multitudes of petty attacks targeting Rwanda as a society, to belligerent misinformation about country’s biggest development goals, to just about anything they can find to badmouth the Kagame administration, they seem relentless. Of course this isn’t to say that Rwanda as a society is the only place that gets bad, or false and negative things said about it from fellow Africans. Far from it. What I am trying to get at is the sheer number of attacks Rwanda will attract for doing good, or great things. Consider for instance the angry rhetoric that some will emit at the observation that “Rwanda is clean.” It will attract vitriol on social media, such as: “So what, all they have is clean streets”, as if that’s something bad. Or, “Let them eat their clean spaces since they have no food.” And other snide jibes. Now, one would expect criticism for anything, but surely not for striving to live in a clean and safe environment? But that will happen to Rwanda. Sure, there are many that appreciate the cleanliness and neatness of our capital, and other towns, and it goes without saying: we can’t generalize. But the fact so many will feel compelled to sling insults at a fellow African society that’s taken the trouble to build the social infrastructure – adequate drainage to carry floodwater for instance – and passed laws against littering on roads and all public spaces surely should attract universal applause? Well, no! Beyond such pettiness, consider the reactions of some to the idea Rwanda is bidding to host Formula 1 racing, and is in fact ready to construct a circuit to make it reality. Did the news please everyone? Not at all. Some in our region took it like a personal affront. Quite a few denigrated Rwanda’s efforts to bringing this exciting sport back to the African continent – after a more than two-decade hiatus – with dismissive insults such as: “Where can impoverished Rwanda find the money to construct a circuit?” (as if it would be the only none-rich country on earth to host big international events). More than that, some even started parroting the kind of egregious, false attacks of Western media that seek to discredit the Visit Rwanda campaign, with claims that its sponsorship of major European football clubs is mere “sport washing”. Imagine that. A country from our region being so bold as to put its name on the biggest international sporting stages as a strategy (a very successful one so far) to build its tourism industry, only to attract negative press in the West, which is then parroted by more than a few fellow Africans? Unbelievable. Why can’t we – together with everyone from other nations on the continent – try to boost each other, have each other’s back, rather than buy into smears authored by those that don’t wish nothing good for us? Wouldn’t the best mindset be: whatever Rwanda can do, we too can? Also, as a country ours isn’t the only one that’s doing big, ambitious things. I just wish more of those inclined to tear us down instead were much more vocal in upholding the best examples from the continent, while rejecting whatever it is that seeks to keep us back.
