Rwanda's Obama: a comparison that doesn't hold
Photo:
Lee Slater, professor at Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA
The following article by Lee Slater is laughable!
Lee Slater is currently in Rwanda for 10 days. Outside of her academic work in Kigali, she will explore this vibrant and beautiful culture, its lands, its voices and its compelling vision for the future.
Here's an American scholar that compares Obama to Kagame! Obviously, it seems like comparing Day and Night to be clear!
Indeed, it really is Kagame, his brutal and dictatorial practices that President Obama has criticized in his recent speech on democracy in Accra, Ghana.
How can then one compare Obama to someone who has not accomplished even a hundredth of Obama’s achievements!
Reliable and well researched documents attest that Kagame is at least in part responsible for the current sufferings of the Rwandan people. Had the US “impunity policy” not been in place, Kagame might well have been prosecuted along with Military-1 defendants Bagosora and Nsengiyumva, as ICTR Prosecutor Michael Hourigan recommended in early 1997.
Kagame’s responsibility for the assassination of Habyarimana has been known to the ICTR Prosecutor since at least that time, if not early.
In his recent speech in Accra, Ghana, Obama said: "Make no mistake: history is on the side of the brave Africans and not with those who use coups or change Constitutions to stay in power. Africa doesn't need strongmen, it needs strong institutions." MK/HTPJ
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Rwanda's Obama
By Lee Slater
Hampton Roads.com
July 9, 2009
Rwanda is crazy about Obama. His name and likeness are everywhere from election '08 bumper stickers on cars to his picture on buses, bags and posters in teenagers' rooms. Like supreme leaders in other countries, the American president's framed image even occupies a central spot on some living room walls here.
In some ways, President Paul Kagame is Rwanda's Obama. Both men are visionaries, forward-thinkers, striving for reconciliation (Obama in the politically fractured U.S. and Kagame in a post-genocide Rwanda) and both are calling for institutionalized dignity in governmental structures.
While the real and tangible impact of decades of foreign aid in Rwanda and other African nations is debatable, Kagame's emphasis on foreign investment is gaining a great deal of attention from both the West and the East, and considerable traction here in Kigali. The doors are not shut even to former colonial powers.
When I asked about the Belgian and German presence here, one of my Rwandan friends offered this response: "It is different now. This is business." It is well known that China and the U.S., along with Europe, are currently vying for position on African soil. So it was with great irony that I was asked to give my seminar on literature in the Confucius Room of the Chinese Culture Center at a university in Kigali. Red banners with unfamiliar Chinese characters framed my blackboard.
My talk centered on the development of community-building skills in the classroom through discussions of film and literature. "That sounds like a game of Clue only nobody died" an American friend commented. "An American professor teaching African literature in the Confucius Room of a Rwandan University." President Kagame would be happy.
Only France has been singled out as of late because of evidence pointing to its involvement in supporting the genocidaires in 1994. The French Cultural Center in Kigali is now closed and schools must switch from instruction in French to English.
Related Materials:
Paul Kagame Compared to Barack Obama
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT TO THE GHANAIAN PARLIAMENT
On Africa, President Obama is Right. Why ?
Please share with President Obama your opinions about current governance in Rwanda
Rwanda: Obama and Kagame - Two Leaders With Passion for Sports
posted by Mamadou Kouyate @ 8:03 PM
1 Comments:
I would like to see Obama stop a genocide, with an ill equiped army against a french backed militia. Then take a state whose institutions have obliterated by civil war, and turn it to the cleanest, safest African country and leading economic reformer in the world.
And another thing get your facts right. Kagame is democratic, but his opponents are unable to pass criterions to be an election candidate i.e they use hate speech to attempt and get votes eg madame. Ingabire. And its not only Rwanda, that has political regulation. In the US former criminals would obviously be sidelined by the parties even before the courts rule. And unfortunately hate speech has taken the cloth of tea party eg. "am a real American, i want my country back" slogans. Who said free speech is alwayz a virtue.huh?
And another thing, the only main different aspect between Rwanda political field and the US, is that US has an extra political party.
I will agree Kagame is not Obama, but Kagame happens to be better, and thats a Kenyan and East African citizen's perspective. Now dare call me biased!
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