Prof Makua Mutua and President Paul Kagame

I guess Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame has, or will, hit the roof upon reading Prof Makau Mutua’s article “Another of Kagame’s victims?” (Sunday Nation, October 17, 2021). It is the first time it has happened in the Nation.

— Githuku Mungai

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Prof Makua Mutua’s article presents a one-sided and offensive viewpoint which chooses to privilege a Hollywood-enshrined fictional narrative over the very real suffering of Rwandan victims of brutal terrorist attacks.

On September 20, 2021, the High Court Chamber for International Crimes in Kigali delivered sentences to 21 members of the National Liberation Front (FLN), an irregular armed group operating mainly in Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo. They were involved in at least two attacks on civilians in Southwest Rwanda. These attacks took the lives of nine innocent Rwandans, including children aged 13 and 17.

Prof Mutua focuses on the group’s founder, Paul Rusesabagina. As he has repeatedly admitted in public, Rusesabagina founded the MRCD political coalition in 2016, bringing together many foreign-based Rwandan political movements who shared the common goal of overthrowing the current government in Rwanda. Rusesabagina brought together soldiers associated with these movements to form the armed wing.

That Rusesabagina founded and supported the FLN is a matter of public knowledge. During hearings, he admitted to sending money to finance the FLN’s activities. His involvement in inciting and supporting terrorism is undeniable. That was proved during his trial in Rwanda.

It’s appalling and offensive that Prof Mutua chooses to focus on the myth of Hotel Rwanda as a false pretext for Rusesabagina’s innocence, while discrediting the very real consequences of his actions on the lives of ordinary Rwandans. There’s no excuse for the double-standards that pervade this coverage. A terrorist, who had been convicted of taking the lives of innocent men, women, and children in a Western country, would never be subject to the sympathy accorded to Rusesabagina by the Sunday Nation.

We trust that further reporting or opinions on this case will be grounded in factual information and evidence. Anything less is a failure to treat the lives of the victims of terror with the respect they deserve, and a failure to apply fair journalistic standards.

— Yolande Makolo, Rwanda Government Spokesperson

Public Editor: This rejoinder was edited to fit the space available.