My Great Experience in Rwanda at #MindSpeak Kigali …….Part Two

Ok slept for some few hours before finding myself awake. I could not manage a sleep. I have programmed my body to wake up always by 6.30am but this one was unique. I found myself up by 6am despite sleeping almost at 5am. I freshened up then went up (4th floor) to take my breakfast ready for the day.

Up on the fourth floor I found Allan Kassuja with Mr and Mrs Aly Khan already taking their breakfast. You know EA food don’t differ much but our brothers and sisters in Rwanda loves beans and so you would expect lots of beans around. Let me tell you guys, Allan is big. As big as my cousin Aggrey maybe. Allan is also an activist now and very friendly. Apparently Allan is from Uganda but he speaks very good Luo and having spent lots of time in Kisumu and surrounding areas, he basically knows even my home area well. He is also very easy with strangers and so funny but so passionate about good governance and democracy. We had a great chat and a brief of what to expect and rundown on what is it to engage President Kagame since Allan had interviewed him before.

Allan briefed us on how our host is very well informed and reads deep into questions. He is also very firm and my be intimidating as well as gently stern at the same time. I was really getting curious in knowing President Kagame more so I decided to leave the table and go back to the room. I didn’t spend even 20 minutes in the room. I immediately left for town centre boarding the motos (motorcycle ttaxis) and asking the riders why they really love Kagame and what if given a chance they would ask him. Most of the Rwandans I chatted with on the street and at the barbershop and boutique in downtown Kigali believe that the priority now is peace and just like any human being, Kagame will never be perfect but for now it works for them and so I was not able to get one strong issue to hold him with. There were two who told me that they really want to see more fundings for SMEs and more on equality since the President has given the girl-child much attention and sometimes at the expense of the boy-child.

It was refreshing talking to ordinary Rwandans and getting to know what they thought. I came back to the hotel around 1pm and went straight to my room. I did not feel like taking anything for lunch. I am always well driven and active with an empty stomach so I rarely take meals when facing strong challenges. I picked my laptop, iPad and a few cables and went straight down. I expected the President’s aides to be strict with what we can carry into the room and so I carried many devices hoping that they might allow one or two. I foundothers at the Des Milles Colline lobby. We waited and chatted for sometime taking photos and just loving the moment. We then went out looking for our bust at around 2pm after waiting in vain to be called. Our driver assumed that we knew he was outside. He speaks no English and just broken Swahili with better French.

We met Joe Mucheru of Google outside while we were going to board the bus. Joe Njeru was missing from the group. We struggled looking for him all over. We later found him relaxing in his room. Ndugu, ulitutesa.

We headed northwest into Avenue De L’ Armee and then left onto Revolution Boulevard where we found barriers upon barriers mounted by the special police units who were professional and gently in checking everything we had including being courteous in asking our driver questions. I could not understand a word of Kinyarwanda but I could see that they just wanted enough reasons why they should let us through. Personally, I did understand why we must go through all that. Our comfort and luxury should not override national interest. If anything happened to Paul Kagame, I did not want it to be that it was because some Kenyans were visiting.

We disembarked from the bus then found a small gathering outside the hotel waiting to enter. The presidential guards were in charge and were very gentle in asking for info and the moment we gave out our info, we were allowed through. Our names were already on the list. Yolaine (forgive me for not getting the name right) was from the President’s office and she asked us to make one line so that we could be easily identified by the security. One of the friends we came with from Kenya, Rakesh, took it upon himself to call our names from the already prepared list and we were allowed through. to the next security level where we had to shed everything and be frisked. Mobile phones were a No No except for 3 of us who got to enter with them because we are just so addicted to Tweeting and Facebook everything. Computers and all electronics were properly checked and we had to put them on and let them run for sometime or perform random functions. If you had a camera you had to take shots lest they allowed something which could be used to detonate a bomb remotely. We went through the metal detectors and then for the physical frisking where each one of us was frisked while to guards looked on.

We passed through and then took the stairs on the left for the second floor where the main auditorium was. I entered and met the RDB Rwanda team who directed me to where we were suppose to sit. I found Eve De Souza already seated at the front right side of the podium where we were assigned seats. It was a great number with over 200 people attending. Attendance was by invitation only. 10 minutes later, two very very beautiful ladies entered the room shadowed by two ladies and a man show I assumed were Presidential aides. I quickly identified that they wore a green badge on their lapel which I was later told was used to identify the Office of the President staff. I just guessed that this must be the President’s only daughter, Ange. She was wearing jeans wish well fitting sphagetti top or something like that. She was with another lady who I was later told is a family friend.

The MC, Allan Kasujja psyched the audience and asked very pertinent questions as well as putting the event on context. He later invited the CEO of Rwanda Development Board, John Gara. The CEO took to the podium and started reading a very inspirational speech from himself and telling the audience on what opportunities were available in Rwanda. And just two or three minutes into his presentation, President Kagame walked in shadowed with just 4 bodyguards and no aide-de-camp (I thought it is an African tradition). He was accompanied by Aly Khan Satchu.

The panel consisted of Alphonsine Niyigena (PSF), Albert Kinuma (MTN), Amin Gafaranga (an entrepreneur), Suraj Sudhakar (Acumen fund), Yida Kemoli of TransCentruy and others I cant remember their names. They took their places at the podium and Allan invited Aly Khan to do a presentation.

After Aly Khan, it was the President who was invited to speak. He said he was made a prepared speech but “when you want to win, you speak from the heart”. President Kagame spoke of what his vision for Rwanda and Africa is. How the country is tackling the corruption, ethnicity and other ills affecting it. The President was in a very cool manner telling us why he should not be thought of as a dictator but just as a strict leader. He talked of the foreign influence and why everyone who comes to Africa and Rwanda should come with what can benefit either both the Africans and the foreigner or simply Africans. He says that he does not have much respect for foreigners who come to Rwanda but only want to exploit the country and leave nothing useful to the countrymen. The President also addressed the issue of equality because Rwanda just like Sweden has women dominating in leadership. Most of the Rwandans whom I talked to believe that President Kagame would hand over to a woman. Rwanda’s parliament is 56% female. President put the percentage of women in Rwanda at 54%. When I asked him if the country’s affirmative action might be at the expense of the betterment of the boy-child. He says that historically, the boy child was favoured and the girl-child at a loss. So the country has been trying to rectify that but he agreed that it must be leveled at some time so that men and women all feel equal.

The President was very much at ease in answering the questions either from the panel and the audience. He said that he is very much for those offering solutions than those seeking solutions. He believes that he is not an angel and so he also needs to hear what solutions everyone else might have.

After the engagement the President joined others for a cocktail. What you would notice is that the President was mingling freely with others and even stood to take pictures with many others. I have covered Kibaki on one or two occassions and during the media stake-out, it becomes very dangerous to even step close to the President and ask a question. The Kibaki guards have on two occassion manhandled journalists while I am watching. They have a way of grabbing someone’s groin until he/she feels such a pain they would not dare move. Kagame’s guards are very stern but simply professional. They don’t have the old and alcoholics’ face which Kibaki’s have.

You can view some of the pics we took with the President here

All in all, it is very hard to talk about Rwanda when you have not visited the country. We later that evening went to Repulica restaurant in Kigali. Very farm-house like and serving great food. The owners are a lovely couple and they know Francis Michuki who was one of the friends we went with. BTW he is the son of Minister John Michuki but you will never notice it. He manages Windsor Hotel. We ate the Ngege and Omena at the restaurant and lots of of Nyam Chom . Others later went out to dance the night away while some of us went to our rooms.

From Nyanza Cultural Centre

[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/27963984]

The morning of Friday 19th, we set for Nyanza Cultural Centre where we visited the Kings Palace. It was such a great trip that in the evening we couldn’t make it for our flight and only those who did not come to Nyanza made it back. We were rescheduled for the next morning flight and this time woke up at 4am just to make it in time. We loved the fact that there was free wi-fi at the Kigali International Airport unlike JKIA where you wouldn’t find such a facility.

My Great Experience in Rwanda at #MindSpeak Kigali …..Part One

The Group from Kenya Boarding RwandAir flight for Kigali

Now this is something which I did not plan. It was something which I didn’t even know of until 3 days to the actual take off. Apparently, I was on the list of the few Kenyans who were invited by Aly Khan Satchu ( he of the RICH fame) to be part of the Mindspeak Kigali. I knew that this was going to be a great experience because Mindspeak itself has never disappointed. Again I was going to meet a leader who many have loved and some have hated for various reasons which you wouldn’t expect considering the history of Rwanda and the rise to power of Paul Kagame.

Amani our guide at the Scene of the 10 Belgium Soldiers Massacred in Kigali

On Tuesday 16th August, I was among the group of Kenyans who went to witness what the Kenyans4Kenya contribution is doing to the people who were intended to benefit from it. I together with Nameless & Wahu, Mark Masai, Laura Walubengo, Boniface Mwangi, Ahmed Jibril (Chairman of 748 Air Services and Java), Ahmed Salim, Nelly of RedCross and many others left for Lodwar in the morning through Wilson Airport. We landed in Lodwar around 9.30 after the one hour and twenty minutes flight. We then had to drive for more than two and half hours to Kalapatan village in Turkana South. It was such a great experience in itself and I will tell you why later.

So the Lodwar experience was phenomenal that I was only able to come back to Nairobi at 9pm and so did not have much time to prepare for the flight to Kigali. Immediately after alighting from the plane, I emailed Aly Khan to get updated of the Kigali journey details. I was told to check my mail. The mail was hidden somewhere in the middle of over 200 email I receive in a day. I got my ticket plus details of the trip including locations we were to visit and a brief about our host. I was happy and set but a bit scared of myself. I never fail to be inquisitive and sometime it makes those I question very uncomfortable.

TeryAnne Chebet so sombre at the Kigali Genocide Memorial

On Monday, after getting the invitation to be part of the Mindspeak Kigali, Aly Khan later informed me that my phone number, bio and a few details were required for the journey. He sent the email at 1pm but I was in a meeting which lasted for 3 hours and so I could not see it until later when I put on my phone. I got the message at past 3pm that I should sent the details or I will have to be dropped. I sent the details by 5pm and I was then included on the trip. I was scared on Tuesday evening because of what people have been saying about Paul Kagame’s leadership and his non-tolerance of nonsense. So I thought what my phone number means and also brief history. I kind of feared that I was a marked man.

The Group from Kenya so sombre at one of the graves of the genocide victims

So we were at the airport by 8am and on air by 8.50am for the Kigali flight aboard RwandAir. One hour later we were at Kigali International Airport which is not as busy as JKIA. It is rather organised and clean. Going through immigration I was kind of intimidated some more when the officials were asking more than enough questions. We were asked questions like what are you here for? “For how long?” “Who is your host?” And “which are some of the places you expect to visit?” I was taken back with the questions and they became more curious when we mentioned that the President was our host. Anyway I think the immigration is trained to ask such intimidating questions to separate the wheat from the chaff.

At the arrival lounge we were met by two very sharp ladies spotting BlackBerrys. In fact I could see that one had a BlackBerry Torch and the other might have had the Bold 9000. I came to realise that BlackBerry is the most dominant smartphone among the miiddle class of Rwanda. You wont see much of Nokias, Samsungs and others as it is the case in Kenya. I was cagey still and thought that these might just be the President’s trusted few. Until when they introduced themselves as from Rwanda Development Board (RDB) which is the body in-charge of promoting investment. I realised that RDB is actually like tourism promotion council in Kenya only that the most promoted tourism in Rwanda is the investment tourism not the holiday tourism.

Getting into the shuttle bus, we realised that we were in another territory. We were booked into  Hôtel des Mille Collines (a four star hotel) which is where the hotel Rwanda was shot. We went through the check-in process and handed our key rooms. My room was 123 overlooking the Nakumatt, Kobil petrol station and Bank of Kigali which is also next to KCB. We later went down and took our lunch read for the 2pm city tour. Everybody was eager to know what was up in the whole tour and what we would experience at Kigali Memorial Museum which is the main genocide Museum.

So at 2pm Amani (peace) our guide was there psyched up for the tour. He was friendly and welcoming giving us lots of info and treating us with most high respect. He even took us round to the estates where you could buy a house or land and secure your investment. It was at the Kigali Genocide Memorial Museum that we did see a sense of sadness because none of us could stomach the video narrations and images, skulls, blood stained weapons and all those that brought back the ugly memory of the genocide. On the bus, Amani reminded us that people thinks that the 1994 genocide was the first. In fact the first genocide (according to official reports) occured sometime in 1959 – 1961 where more than 100,000 mainly Tutsis were butchered during the “Hutu Revolution”. The 100,000 butchered then were one third of the Tutsi population then. The 1994 genocide was actually the second genocide where 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed in the second such genocide. I really value human life and so the thought and view of the remains of what happened actually made me think a lot about what we should do to live harmoniously.

I related to this event because it brought back the memory of my actual blockage from further UN programs. In March 2006 when UN Secretary general was visiting the DRC while ending his second term as the UN secretary general, Koffi Annan, I asked a question which has forever put me into the UN blacklist of employees. I asked the SG if he felt that the blood of the over a million Rwandans who were butchered in the 1994 massacre should not be on him considering that he was the head of UN Department Peace Keeping Operations (UN DPKO) and since he was a political appointee, he would have gone much against the official position and saved lives. The forum was rushed, I was denied the chance and come the next contract renewal, I was told that my position was “being discontinued because of operational requirements”. Immediately I started signing off, my position was advertised and that resulted into the over one year battle with UN officials through the JAB and OIOS.

So the tour of Kigali was a kind remind of that day in March 2006 when I faced the UN officials and was sacked for my position.

We later came back to the hotel around 6.30pm Central African time and proceeded to the rooms to change before joining the Rwanda Development Board officials for the RDB dinner on the fourth floor of the Hotel Des Milles Colline. I realised that there were enough office of the President officials at the dinner and they wanted really to ask what we thought we wanted the President to talk about. I was a bit blunt and told them that we know what Rwanda has gone through, we understand the history well enough and it would only be good that nobody be become so eager to know what we might ask the President because to some of us, Kagame is a hero and to others, he needs to convince some more. They loosened up when I asked them what they really though about Kagame and also when I told them that it is the Rwandans who really know whether the Kagame rule is good for them or not. Whatever we could as the president, we are just foreigners and we cant impose our standards of democracy on Rwanda.

Team Leader Aly Khan at the Memorial Centre

That evening me together with 4 others on the trip went out to Shooters Club. This is one great club for sports lovers and it was great that the same evening, Barcelona was playing real Madrid and they whooped the backs of the Madrid team well enough. We later went out and just sat, talked about Africa, popped Champagne courtesy of a friend called Francis and the owners of Shooters who are two young Rwandans barely in their twenties. I asked the present Rwandans why they think Paul Kagame is the man. Most of them were of the opinion that this is the only man who gave them a chance to make a decent living in Rwanda. Most of them were directly or indirectly affected by the genocide and they would rather the devil they know. They believe that there are those Rwandese who will never accept Paul Kagame but the majority love him and would want him to continue. I learnt alot from the group and we shared the laughter and memories. Some were 10, 5, 15 or 7 when the violence occured but they would rather not see it happen again in the name of fighting Kagame. They say it is not broken so nobody should try to fix it for the Rwandans. We enjoyed the company and only managed to find our way home around 4am Central African time.

Part Two coming up…………………………………..

#Kenyans4Kenya: We are Shamelessly Being Conned by Those We Trust

I am one of the staunch supporters of the Kenyans4Kenya initiative. It is such a great idea and it is both an experience and an eye opener, not only for those who participated in it but also to the current government establishment. Ordinary Kenyans have gone out of the usual way and given their all to this initiative.

So the Media Owners, Safaricom, Gina Din Communications, KCB and others did well in initiating and putting wheels onto the Kenyans4Kenya initiative. The corporates and individuals behind the idea have been attacked by other corporates, civic society and even individuals. They have been called opportunists, frauds, scammers and all manner of names. The main beef the individuals and mostly the civic society operatives who believe that they have not been given the chance by the corporates to lead what a civic initiative like they should be doing. Basically the corporates opened our eyes and even snapped the duties of the government, civic society and activists. So you will see those whose roles have been snapped in the intitiative attack the people behind the idea. But we know the real conmen here.

The real conmen have all along pretended that they are with the idea. They have not used the idea well but have managed to use it to either fraud the organisers or the so gullible Kenyans4Kenya. Yes I am talking about REAL cons. Look around, check the tweets, view the TV clips again, any you can spot? No! You wont spot them because they are good at it. I am always straight with points and I believe that I need to tell you who the real cons are. THE REAL CONS are the, entertainment spots, advertising agencies and MEDIA DONORS. Ok! But How? You might ask. Here is how. I have been asked not to name names but I must name some for examples purposes.

If you were at the coporates pledge party on Friday at Serena oryou watched the whole episode, you might have seen something the many media houses present were doing. They were donating some “airtime” or “media time” depending on who you spoke to. Nation donated Ksh 5 Million in cash and 10 Million in “airtime”, standard group donated Ksh 2 Million in cash and some “many more” in “media time”, Citizen donated Ksh 5 million in cash and Ksh 15 Million in “media time”. What if Harun Mwau decided to donate 10 bob in cash and his political mouth worth Ksh 5 billion? What if Google decided to donate Ksh 92 million worth of Adwords exposure or Safaricom decide to donate Ksh 10 million worth of airtime on their telepresence business? Why were the media companies dreaming that through them, we would have got the best exposure?

We have seen past campaigns done by even all the media houses and they couldn’t go past Ksh 20 Million. They have the trust of the population but the trust they have cannot convince the same population to donate well to any major issue. It is like trusting your watchman with his sentry duties at your residence but can you give him Ksh 50 Million in cash to go and bank? No!. I saw Nation do some useless advert on Saturday and that advert they wrote below the page that “page donated by Nation Media”. What is the reach of Saturday Nation? It is a female targeted paper since the magazine is all ladies all the time. Would the pushers of Kenyans4Kenya initiative have chosen Saturday Nation as an edition they wanted to do an advert on? Probably not.

I have also heard of clients who approached some companies in advertising. The client did not want to donate to the Kenyans4Kenya any cash but what they wanted was media awareness. So they pay key presenters, TV and radio personalities and advertising agencies some money to talk about Kenyans4Kenya and what they get in return is awareness through brand exposure when people are talking about the Kenyans4Kenya initiative.

What if Robert Alai decided to contribute Ksh 56 in cash and said he donated Ksh 5 Billion worth of media exposure through Techmtaa? Would you have denied that Techmtaa cant have media time worth that much? What if every tweep decided that their tweet with #Kenyans4Kenya tag is worth Ksh 50,000? Would you deny that? Would it make the campaign successful? Who quantified the media donation? Who is doing the media monitoring? I sincerely think that nobody has conned us out of the Kenyans4Kenya idea as the mainstream media. Social media drove the campaign.

What is needed most in the Kenyans4Kenya initiative is food and medicine and money to buy food and medicine. The same reasons I don’t want any media company to con us that they have donated the media airtime are the same ones which made me say that we want least of the idlers and CEOs who are flying in private choppers to go and have photo opportunities with the frail in Turkana while not even carrying for them food. It is also the same reason which made me say that Safaricom don’t need to wait for Nguruma Ibambe to end to donate Ksh 10 Million for the initiative.

We need money like yesterday. We don’t need conmen who promise us donations if we watch their TV stations or buy their products. We don’t need those. People are dying and conning us into ideas and misusing our goodwill is simply foolish. We don’t contribute money to have convoys of tourists. We want food in the places and nobody should try to force a starving kid, woman or old man to stand up just for them to be photographed while they promise them food is coming. If you can fly 50 fat CEOs then you can fly 50 x 100 Kgs of food.

Others are these entertainment spots which say that if you go buy beer from their joints, then they will donate virtual, real or imagined money for Kenyans4Kenya. It is simply stupid. If K1, Tamasha, Bachus, Psyz, Carnivore and Mercury want to donate to K4K, they should do it now. They don’t have to force us to be alcoholics for a day for them to donate. They have been making money. What I am saying is that no one should promise us some phenomenal donation if we bend-over.

Ok I have said it. You can now hate me