Rwandans have put their trust in a president who can deliver
Al JazeeraJUL 2024
Rwanda Arrests Opposition Leader Ingabire on Unrest Charges
Above: Victoire Ingabire speaks to the press after being released from the Nyarugenge prison in 2018. Image copyright: Cyril Ndegeya/AFP/Getty Images
The Spin
Opposition narrative
Ingabire has been a brave truth-teller in a nation that is slowly turning into a dictatorship, with all power being consolidated around Kagame. Her views on the genocide, which revolve around considering Hutu as well as Tutsi victims, are not hateful and squarely fall within the bounds of free speech and respectful debate. Kagame must reverse course and stop the democratic backsliding in the country.
Pro-government narrative
The ideology that Ingabire is upholding is not merely offensive to the Tutsi victims of the genocide, but frustrates the progress the nation makes in healing and developing. By trying to legitimize or revive ideologies from the past, people like Ingabire reopen old wounds. Ingabire was disqualified from elections for breaking the law, pure and simple, and more respect needs to be paid to Kagame, who has turned Rwanda into a beacon of hope for Africa.