The Nigerian Donald Trump but 10x worse...
Essential The Africa the Media Doesn't Tell You About
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The Nigerian Donald Trump but 10x worse...
And this guy will stay in power until 2034 
She tried to run against Rwandan President Paul Kagame. Now she's looking at 20 years in prison.
By Fred Muvunyi
September 29, 2017 at 2:24 PM
Diane Shima Rwigara, a leading critic of Rwanda’s president, is escorted by her family members after she was arrested by police in Kigali, Rwanda, on Sept. 4. (Jean Bizimana/Reuters)
Fred Muvunyi, a former chairman of the Rwanda Media Commission, is an editor at Deutsche Welle, Germany’s international broadcaster.
This week, the Rwandan authorities arrestedDiane Shima Rwigara and charged her with “offenses against state security and forgery.” (She was already detained once before at the beginning of the month, though under different charges.) It’s clear to everyone, however, that her real crime was her attempt to run against incumbent Paul Kagame in the presidential election last month. Her mother and sister were also detained on similar charges. The three of them are expected to face trial in October. If Diane Rwigara is convicted on the state security charges, she’ll be facing a minimum of 20 years in prison.
Challenging the all-powerful Kagame would have already been enough to get the 35-year-old Rwigara in trouble. But she was especially bold about it. She chose to announce her protest movement the same day Kagame officially kicked off his campaign. Then she upped the ante by also demanding justice for the killers of her father, the businessman Assinapol Rwigara. He died in 2015 under what his family and many Rwandans consider suspicious circumstances, after years of tense relations with Kagame.
Kagame clearly didn’t want to complicate his campaign by facing off against an outspoken young woman. The election commission refused to admit Rwigara to the official candidate list, which included only one opposition candidate to give an illusion of choice. To no one’s surprise, Kagame won with 99 percent of the vote. Having essentially run the country since he returned from exile after the 1994 genocide against the Tutsis, he could now, under the current constitution, potentially remain in power until 2034.
Rwigara is intelligent and strong. But she has never enjoyed anything like the political stature of her wealthy father, who enjoyed considerable influence among the military, political and business elites. Kagame had every reason to see him as a serious rival. The fact that the president has now seen fit to crack down so harshly on Diane Rwigara, who never posed a comparable threat, says a lot about his sense of vulnerability.
Her father’s troubles started in July 2007, when he narrowly escaped arrest. Assinapol Rwigara’s friends in the top ranks of the military prevented the police from detaining him. I remember the episode well, because one of the police officers involved was a friend of mine. I can vividly recall how he received a phone call ordering him to take Rwigara into custody. My friend left to carry out the assignment, and the next thing I knew he himself was in jail — apparently because the army had blocked him from getting his man.
The Rwandan capital of Kigali was rife with rumors that Rwigara had joined a group of 14 prominent businessmen, who were soon dubbed “the Great 14.” They were said to be planning a revolt against Kagame with the aim of “overthrowing” his government. The businessmen were apparently financing a group of officers led by Rwanda’s former chief spy, Patrick Karegeya.
Karegeya fled Rwanda that same year. In January 2014, his body was found in a hotel room in Johannesburg. Critics blamed the Rwandan leader for Karegeya’s death.
Then, a year later, Assinapol Rwigara, Karegeya’s friend, died in a mysterious accident in Kigali. Rwandan police said that Rwigara died when a truck rammed into his car. The circumstances of the accident left many Rwandans doubting the official narrative. Rwigara’s family bravely petitioned Kagame to investigate the matter, but he refused.
All of this shows just how daring it was of Diane Rwigara to openly call out the government. Many people I’ve spoken with believe her political ambitions are motivated by her desire to overcome the suffering her family has endured.
To be honest, Diane Rwigara has little political capital of her own, but many Rwandans relate to her anguish. Rwandans know about the pain of loss. Many of us are survivors, orphans or widows.
Diane Rwigara thought that the authorities would show at least some sympathy toward her and allow her to make a symbolic run against the powerful Kagame. She didn’t reckon with his intransigent character. Kagame has never been a man to take any chances. He knows perfectly well that many Rwandans, including genocide survivors, would happily side with anyone who can share their anguish and speak on their behalf..
She tried to run against Rwandan President Paul Kagame. Now she's looking at 20 years in prison.
By Fred Muvunyi
September 29, 2017 at 2:24 PM
Diane Shima Rwigara, a leading critic of Rwanda’s president, is escorted by her family members after she was arrested by police in Kigali, Rwanda, on Sept. 4. (Jean Bizimana/Reuters)
Fred Muvunyi, a former chairman of the Rwanda Media Commission, is an editor at Deutsche Welle, Germany’s international broadcaster.
This week, the Rwandan authorities arrestedDiane Shima Rwigara and charged her with “offenses against state security and forgery.” (She was already detained once before at the beginning of the month, though under different charges.) It’s clear to everyone, however, that her real crime was her attempt to run against incumbent Paul Kagame in the presidential election last month. Her mother and sister were also detained on similar charges. The three of them are expected to face trial in October. If Diane Rwigara is convicted on the state security charges, she’ll be facing a minimum of 20 years in prison.
Challenging the all-powerful Kagame would have already been enough to get the 35-year-old Rwigara in trouble. But she was especially bold about it. She chose to announce her protest movement the same day Kagame officially kicked off his campaign. Then she upped the ante by also demanding justice for the killers of her father, the businessman Assinapol Rwigara. He died in 2015 under what his family and many Rwandans consider suspicious circumstances, after years of tense relations with Kagame.
Kagame clearly didn’t want to complicate his campaign by facing off against an outspoken young woman. The election commission refused to admit Rwigara to the official candidate list, which included only one opposition candidate to give an illusion of choice. To no one’s surprise, Kagame won with 99 percent of the vote. Having essentially run the country since he returned from exile after the 1994 genocide against the Tutsis, he could now, under the current constitution, potentially remain in power until 2034.
Rwigara is intelligent and strong. But she has never enjoyed anything like the political stature of her wealthy father, who enjoyed considerable influence among the military, political and business elites. Kagame had every reason to see him as a serious rival. The fact that the president has now seen fit to crack down so harshly on Diane Rwigara, who never posed a comparable threat, says a lot about his sense of vulnerability.
Her father’s troubles started in July 2007, when he narrowly escaped arrest. Assinapol Rwigara’s friends in the top ranks of the military prevented the police from detaining him. I remember the episode well, because one of the police officers involved was a friend of mine. I can vividly recall how he received a phone call ordering him to take Rwigara into custody. My friend left to carry out the assignment, and the next thing I knew he himself was in jail — apparently because the army had blocked him from getting his man.
The Rwandan capital of Kigali was rife with rumors that Rwigara had joined a group of 14 prominent businessmen, who were soon dubbed “the Great 14.” They were said to be planning a revolt against Kagame with the aim of “overthrowing” his government. The businessmen were apparently financing a group of officers led by Rwanda’s former chief spy, Patrick Karegeya.
Karegeya fled Rwanda that same year. In January 2014, his body was found in a hotel room in Johannesburg. Critics blamed the Rwandan leader for Karegeya’s death.
Then, a year later, Assinapol Rwigara, Karegeya’s friend, died in a mysterious accident in Kigali. Rwandan police said that Rwigara died when a truck rammed into his car. The circumstances of the accident left many Rwandans doubting the official narrative. Rwigara’s family bravely petitioned Kagame to investigate the matter, but he refused.
All of this shows just how daring it was of Diane Rwigara to openly call out the government. Many people I’ve spoken with believe her political ambitions are motivated by her desire to overcome the suffering her family has endured.
To be honest, Diane Rwigara has little political capital of her own, but many Rwandans relate to her anguish. Rwandans know about the pain of loss. Many of us are survivors, orphans or widows.
Diane Rwigara thought that the authorities would show at least some sympathy toward her and allow her to make a symbolic run against the powerful Kagame. She didn’t reckon with his intransigent character. Kagame has never been a man to take any chances. He knows perfectly well that many Rwandans, including genocide survivors, would happily side with anyone who can share their anguish and speak on their behalf..
reasonable_doubter
Banned
The Nigerian film industry -- Nollywood -- is the third most valuable in the world, behind Hollywood in the U.S. and Bollywood in India. Despite the country's challenges, Nollywood has been growing in leaps and bounds over the years -- and now even extends into Europe and North America. Phil Ihaza has more...
And this guy will stay in power until 2034
She tried to run against Rwandan President Paul Kagame. Now she's looking at 20 years in prison.
By Fred Muvunyi
September 29, 2017 at 2:24 PM
Diane Shima Rwigara, a leading critic of Rwanda’s president, is escorted by her family members after she was arrested by police in Kigali, Rwanda, on Sept. 4. (Jean Bizimana/Reuters)
Fred Muvunyi, a former chairman of the Rwanda Media Commission, is an editor at Deutsche Welle, Germany’s international broadcaster.
This week, the Rwandan authorities arrestedDiane Shima Rwigara and charged her with “offenses against state security and forgery.” (She was already detained once before at the beginning of the month, though under different charges.) It’s clear to everyone, however, that her real crime was her attempt to run against incumbent Paul Kagame in the presidential election last month. Her mother and sister were also detained on similar charges. The three of them are expected to face trial in October. If Diane Rwigara is convicted on the state security charges, she’ll be facing a minimum of 20 years in prison.
Challenging the all-powerful Kagame would have already been enough to get the 35-year-old Rwigara in trouble. But she was especially bold about it. She chose to announce her protest movement the same day Kagame officially kicked off his campaign. Then she upped the ante by also demanding justice for the killers of her father, the businessman Assinapol Rwigara. He died in 2015 under what his family and many Rwandans consider suspicious circumstances, after years of tense relations with Kagame.
Kagame clearly didn’t want to complicate his campaign by facing off against an outspoken young woman. The election commission refused to admit Rwigara to the official candidate list, which included only one opposition candidate to give an illusion of choice. To no one’s surprise, Kagame won with 99 percent of the vote. Having essentially run the country since he returned from exile after the 1994 genocide against the Tutsis, he could now, under the current constitution, potentially remain in power until 2034.
Rwigara is intelligent and strong. But she has never enjoyed anything like the political stature of her wealthy father, who enjoyed considerable influence among the military, political and business elites. Kagame had every reason to see him as a serious rival. The fact that the president has now seen fit to crack down so harshly on Diane Rwigara, who never posed a comparable threat, says a lot about his sense of vulnerability.
Her father’s troubles started in July 2007, when he narrowly escaped arrest. Assinapol Rwigara’s friends in the top ranks of the military prevented the police from detaining him. I remember the episode well, because one of the police officers involved was a friend of mine. I can vividly recall how he received a phone call ordering him to take Rwigara into custody. My friend left to carry out the assignment, and the next thing I knew he himself was in jail — apparently because the army had blocked him from getting his man.
The Rwandan capital of Kigali was rife with rumors that Rwigara had joined a group of 14 prominent businessmen, who were soon dubbed “the Great 14.” They were said to be planning a revolt against Kagame with the aim of “overthrowing” his government. The businessmen were apparently financing a group of officers led by Rwanda’s former chief spy, Patrick Karegeya.
Karegeya fled Rwanda that same year. In January 2014, his body was found in a hotel room in Johannesburg. Critics blamed the Rwandan leader for Karegeya’s death.
Then, a year later, Assinapol Rwigara, Karegeya’s friend, died in a mysterious accident in Kigali. Rwandan police said that Rwigara died when a truck rammed into his car. The circumstances of the accident left many Rwandans doubting the official narrative. Rwigara’s family bravely petitioned Kagame to investigate the matter, but he refused.
All of this shows just how daring it was of Diane Rwigara to openly call out the government. Many people I’ve spoken with believe her political ambitions are motivated by her desire to overcome the suffering her family has endured.
To be honest, Diane Rwigara has little political capital of her own, but many Rwandans relate to her anguish. Rwandans know about the pain of loss. Many of us are survivors, orphans or widows.
Diane Rwigara thought that the authorities would show at least some sympathy toward her and allow her to make a symbolic run against the powerful Kagame. She didn’t reckon with his intransigent character. Kagame has never been a man to take any chances. He knows perfectly well that many Rwandans, including genocide survivors, would happily side with anyone who can share their anguish and speak on their behalf..
And yet this mongoose looking muhfukka was trying to criticize other African leaders while the Coli cheered him on.
'Ghana is the future of Africa': Why Google built an AI lab in Accra
By Victor Asemota, Special to CNN
Updated 6:05 AM ET, Sun July 15, 2018
This illustration picture taken on April 29, 2018, shows the Google logo displayed on a screen and reflected on a tablet in Paris.
Victor Asemota is a retired Edo farmer who stumbled into tech. He's a mentor for Google Launchpad Accelerator and founder of Keita Capital an investor in emerging market startups. He founded SwiftaCorp over 20 years ago, a pioneering African software and technology services group. Swifta is a Google for Education and Business partner in Africa.
The opinions in this commentary are solely his.
Accra, Ghana (CNN)"Google is just a giant scientific research company that happens to make money," this was my first impression when I visited their offices in Mountain View for the first time.
I was not wrong, a lot of what Google does is to push the boundaries of human knowledge through research and discovery.
It is that curiosity that has led them to create some of the most widely used technology platforms in the world today and also made them the custodian of most of the data about almost anything in the world.
Victor Asemota, African tech pioneer
Google has also now declared itself an "Artificial Intelligence first," company and that statement is potentially going to change everything we know fundamentally. It will almost certainly change how we live.
This change will also resonate for us in Africa; Google just recently announced that Africa is getting a Google Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and that is just the beginning. The lab will be run by Moustapha Cisse, a Senegalese AI champion and expert.
Why is Africa Dark?
It was 2010 at the annual GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, and Eric Schmidt the former CEO and Chairman of Google was presenting his keynote where he was proudly talking of the growth of Android, Google's new mobile operating system at that time.
He had a slide on the screen with lights showing the level of Android activations globally, but on that slide Africa was dark. Someone in the audience asked; "Why is Africa dark?"
What's the real size of Africa? How Western states used maps to downplay size of continent
Someone else repeated a similar question at another presentation during Google's annual developer event in San Francisco in 2013. The presenter was talking about Google's Cloud Platform, and once again there was a global map where Africa was blank.
The question also came up -- "What happened to Africa?"
Google didn't seem to have any activity in Africa from both maps, but the illustrations were wrong. They were already active in Africa, but they decided to take a different route.
Google opted to strengthen the educational institutions by providing infrastructure and software, then from those institutions build technology communities which have now come of age.
There are hardly any young software developers you would meet in any of the major African countries who have not been part of or somewhat influenced by Google's university-based Developer Groups.
At the Barcelona keynote, someone also asked Eric Schmidt a question about plans for Africa and especially Nigeria?
With surprising accuracy for the CEO of a global technology company, he highlighted the issues with infrastructure and last-mile connectivity hampering growth and expansion of Internet technology into Africa.
Google was not ignoring Africa; they were trying to figure out a solution.
The solution has now come in many forms; massive infrastructure projects, digital skills training for millions, investments into the African startup ecosystem and most recently the announcement of an Artificial Intelligence Laboratory in Accra, Ghana.
By Victor Asemota, Special to CNN
Updated 6:05 AM ET, Sun July 15, 2018
This illustration picture taken on April 29, 2018, shows the Google logo displayed on a screen and reflected on a tablet in Paris.
Victor Asemota is a retired Edo farmer who stumbled into tech. He's a mentor for Google Launchpad Accelerator and founder of Keita Capital an investor in emerging market startups. He founded SwiftaCorp over 20 years ago, a pioneering African software and technology services group. Swifta is a Google for Education and Business partner in Africa.
The opinions in this commentary are solely his.
Accra, Ghana (CNN)"Google is just a giant scientific research company that happens to make money," this was my first impression when I visited their offices in Mountain View for the first time.
I was not wrong, a lot of what Google does is to push the boundaries of human knowledge through research and discovery.
It is that curiosity that has led them to create some of the most widely used technology platforms in the world today and also made them the custodian of most of the data about almost anything in the world.
Victor Asemota, African tech pioneer
Google has also now declared itself an "Artificial Intelligence first," company and that statement is potentially going to change everything we know fundamentally. It will almost certainly change how we live.
This change will also resonate for us in Africa; Google just recently announced that Africa is getting a Google Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and that is just the beginning. The lab will be run by Moustapha Cisse, a Senegalese AI champion and expert.
Why is Africa Dark?
It was 2010 at the annual GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, and Eric Schmidt the former CEO and Chairman of Google was presenting his keynote where he was proudly talking of the growth of Android, Google's new mobile operating system at that time.
He had a slide on the screen with lights showing the level of Android activations globally, but on that slide Africa was dark. Someone in the audience asked; "Why is Africa dark?"
What's the real size of Africa? How Western states used maps to downplay size of continent
Someone else repeated a similar question at another presentation during Google's annual developer event in San Francisco in 2013. The presenter was talking about Google's Cloud Platform, and once again there was a global map where Africa was blank.
The question also came up -- "What happened to Africa?"
Google didn't seem to have any activity in Africa from both maps, but the illustrations were wrong. They were already active in Africa, but they decided to take a different route.
Google opted to strengthen the educational institutions by providing infrastructure and software, then from those institutions build technology communities which have now come of age.
There are hardly any young software developers you would meet in any of the major African countries who have not been part of or somewhat influenced by Google's university-based Developer Groups.
At the Barcelona keynote, someone also asked Eric Schmidt a question about plans for Africa and especially Nigeria?
With surprising accuracy for the CEO of a global technology company, he highlighted the issues with infrastructure and last-mile connectivity hampering growth and expansion of Internet technology into Africa.
Google was not ignoring Africa; they were trying to figure out a solution.
The solution has now come in many forms; massive infrastructure projects, digital skills training for millions, investments into the African startup ecosystem and most recently the announcement of an Artificial Intelligence Laboratory in Accra, Ghana.
Trajan
Veteran
Shameful
Mobutu: I know my people. They like grandeur. They want us to have respect abroad in the eyes of other countries.
The liberian dollar was 1 to 76 (usd) when i was there in feb and now its 1 to 150
The liberian dollar was 1 to 76 (usd) when i was there in feb and now its 1 to 150
The Weah Presidency is kicking ass.
Thats not a good thing lol (unless you are being sarcastic).
The liberian dollar is worthless
Of course I was being sarcastic.
Btw, after visiting in Sierra Leone I really think tha Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone could and should focus more on trade with African Americans. There is a lot of potential there.
This is killing small business owners since they have to use the usd to buy goods and i heard there are banks that have run out of usd so you cant even go to a bank and withdraw usd to go to a place like Dubai to buy goods wholesale to sell back in Liberia
This is killing small business owners since they have to use the usd to buy goods and i heard there are banks that have run out of usd so you cant even go to a bank and withdraw usd to go to a place like Dubai to buy goods wholesale to sell back in Liberia
Seriously though it is time for the governments of Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone to cast their lots in with African Americans. Those four groups need to come up with a plan.
The biggest thing is creating a situation where people create jobs for locals. You could easily have a situation where those with money use their wealth to bully the weak dollars of these places and not create jobs for the locals.
You have people like Robert Johnson with business in Liberia that employs locals. AA business people simply arent thinking anout Africa as a place to make money and create jobs because the opportunity is there, and in this day and age i dont think we can use the “i dont know whats going on” excuse anymore. Wealthy AAs should be thinking about how they plan to compete globally for the next 100 years because America sure aint it.