variety of worms have come out of the woodwork in the past few days, most of them attracted by the release of over 2000 prisoners, including two “celebrities”; Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza and Kizito Mihigo. Many of the affirmed Rwanda haters were caught off-guard by the decision and were at loss of words at first and then attempted to make sense of it – their own sense. Some falsely congratulated themselves that their pressure had paid off, others in the diplomatic sphere praised Rwanda for its “noble” gesture. What they all conveniently skipped is that the two star ex-prisoners were criminals convicted by courts of law. Mihigo confessed and asked for forgiveness even in the midst of his trial. The evidence that pinned Ingabire for her terror links were furnished by Dutch authorities after combing her house in The Netherlands. But all that is swept under the carpet. Now other creative minds have come out and said that the presidential pardon was a ploy to curry favour with members of the Francophonie so that Louise Mushikiwabo lands the Secretary General’s post. Again they hide the fact that the African continent and many other countries are behind her candidacy. That possibility of landing the job has made some geriatric former French officials seething with anger and accusing President Macron of selling the organization to an “Anglophone”. The former officials cannot get over the fact that the Africa they dealt with in their heydays went with them. Anyway, their opinion does not count; they may as well seat back in their rocking chairs and reminisce the good old days when they clicked their fingers and Francophonie countries jumped.
