Opinion polls in Rwanda

Today, on the Rwandan daily newspaper "New Times" homepage there is a poll on the education sector:

Poll
How do you rate Rwanda’s education sector?
Excellent
Fair
Doing well
Don’t know

We in Rwanda welcome constructive criticism.

Not a dictatorship

The (pro-government) New Times drew my attention to this recent story of Bonaventure Bizumuremyi. The following is taken from United Press International:

The UMUCO newspaper may be suspended for a year ... In a lengthy article in the current issue [the managing editor] Mr. Bizumuremyi wrote that like the Nazi leader - who was first held in great regard - only to be revered years later, President Kagame was also having his last days as the darling of the west. ... However, according to Prosecution, Mr. Bizumuremyi has no case to answer because the Ethics Committee is yet to hand them the dossier.

The paper has been suspended, despite no charges being pressed by the ethics committee? And this is even the official goverment position.

The article goes on:

Meanwhile, Mr. Bizumuremyi has not been seem since Monday raising speculation that he may be in detention, neither did he attend the Committee summon. His phone is also off and staff at the newspaper says they have not heard from him for days.

Compare that to the Amnesty International Report of 2007 which also mentions Mr Bizumuremyi:

Bonaventure Bizumuremyi, the news editor of Umuco, reportedly had his home in Kigali ransacked in January by four men armed with clubs and knives. Before this attack, Umuco had criticized the ruling party for ineptitude and for allegedly controlling the judiciary.

Financial mess real reason Umuseso had to close down

On the 23, October, 2007, Rwanda Independent Media Group (Rimeg) suspended its publications indefinitely.

The evil Rimeg published the only government-critical newspapers in Rwanda : Umuseso and Newsline. Such anti-government trash papers only reinforce my unliberal views that many of you know me for, and lead me to consider even harsher controls on the press. For example, I fully support a recent government request to all government officials to cease placing advertising in the Umuseso. This is a great way to punish those evil journalists, because government advertising makes up a huge part of newspaper revenues in Rwanda.

The patriotic Focus newspaper today said:

"...Rimeg ceased publishing their newspapers because they felt intimidated by the government... . There are those who were taken in by the claims ... such as some gullible members of the public who only ever read the generally spurious content of Umuseso or Newsline .... And of course there are those who are always ready to believe the Umuseso gentlemen because that is what they prefer to do - an example being international media rights organisations such as Reporters Without Borders.
...
I asked myself, does the [Rimeg reporter's] highly inflated sense of self-importance - no doubt grown from all those years of adulation from international media and human rights groups, diplomats in Kigali and some local readers of his publications - now make him imagine the Head of State is desperate to silence him ... ?" (Quoted from the front page article of today's Focus newspaper.)

Today I add to my personal "Axis of Evil" the following: Reporters Without Borders, international media, human rights groups and Kigali diplomats.