It is unfortunate that the professor of finance and the journalist have elected to promote a political posture and criticism in the guise of an ostensible legal analysis. In the end, their analysis contributes very little or nothing at all to the scholarship of international law, while at the same time generating unwarranted, misinformed controversy.

The failure of Rwanda’s Faustian bargain— trading democracy for development and ending up with neither — should come as no surprise to students of history and human nature.

A recent article published by Pambazuka News raises many issues that relate to Rwanda’s internal politics under President Paul Kagame. But through misrepresentations, the authors reached conclusions that are untenable with regard to three key legal issues.

Many observers, including Paul Kagame’s critics of his horrendous human rights record, seem to have swallowed his storyline that he has built a formidable economic powerhouse. But the facts and figures expose the myth.