Breaking bread with the President

On the evening of June 18, I ran into an old friend in the lobby of the Serena Hotel in Kigali.

Looking astonished, he asked; “My God, what are you doing here; aren’t they going to arrest you?”

It all started with my column in The EastAfrican, which an editor who can squeeze wine out of rock gave the title “There’s something rotten in the state of Rwanda” (April 26-May 2, 2010).

It got the attention of the Rwanda government, and it responded with several rebuttals and an interview by Foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo.

My friend was surprised to see me there, because the common view is that President Paul Kagame eats critical journalists for breakfast.

I had, so to speak, taken myself into the lion’s den.

Of course not. I have covered the ruling Rwanda Patriotic Army/Front since late 1990 when they were in the bush fighting to return home.

And they have squabbled many times with me over my reporting of Rwanda while I was still at The Monitor in Kampala.

However, like the proverbial mangy dog, I kept showing up at their doorstep with my notebook and tape recorder. It paid off.

It gave me valuable access during the war, and over the years offered me glimpses into one of the most fascinating — as well as troubling — African political stories.

President Kagame’s take on reading my article was that I, of all journalists, should know better.

So I was in Kigali, among other things, to check how much the landscape had changed since I was last there, and to hear his side of the story.

I had been told in an advance of leaving Nairobi that President Kagame was not looking just to have an interview.

He wanted a no-holds-barred debate on both my, and the international media’s, view of Rwanda today.

Moreover, The EastAfrican article wasn’t the only one on the table.