The PANAFRICAN Review Magazine
stand in that very space ? Is it more important that they stand in that space or that they arrive there through a contentious process ?
And so , whether Rwanda ’ s political space is open or closed depends who is asking and what they wish to do with it .
INSIDE WESTERN MEDIA ’ S CONSPIRACY TO DELEGITIMIZE RWANDA
By Bernard Sabiti
On 3 rd August 2019 , a seemingly coordinated onslaught on Rwanda by western media and academics unfolded . It came in form of a painstaking effort to cast doubt on the accuracy of data that shows Rwanda ’ s progress on poverty reduction and economic growth .
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This coordinated hitjob started on 3rd August with an article in the America magazine , The Atlantic that claimed that China ’ s Investments in Rwanda were trapping the country into an insurmountable debt burden . Among many falsehoods in the article , the author , Stephen Paduano asserted that 70 % of Rwanda ’ s roads were ‘ financed and built by the Chinese .’ Mr Paduano included a link as a source of his assertions , to a CNN story that covered China ’ s President Xi JinPing visit to Kigali in June 2018 . In that story , CNN , without citing its sources , claims that “ China is by far Rwanda ’ s largest trading partner and contractor — with 70 % of roads in the country built by Chinese companies .” Despite the ludicrousness of this assertion , you can see that Mr . Paduano added a small , but important detail to his claim . By adding the word ‘ financed ’ ( which is not in the CNN story he cites ) he is attempting to amplify his claims of Rwanda ’ s heavy indebtedness . Even if CNN ’ s claim was credible , adding the word ‘ financed ’ completely changes the meaning . Where as saying the roads were just ‘ built ’ by Chinese could mean the Chinese are contracted to build them ( a common practice across Africa and else where ), Mr Paduano mischievously wanted to assert that not only have these Chinese companies built the said roads , but have also provided the money to do so . Therefore to advance his preconceived notions , Mr Paduano added fake news to fake news . Incredible !