Government criticised over language issue

A Rwandan newspaper, ‘Rwanda Newsline’, in a recent report criticised Vice-President Paul Kagame for his handling of the students. It described a speech by Kagame on the issue as “long on condemnation and short on analysis of the whole problem”. “There is a tendency for Kagame the general to forget that he is a politician when he addresses problems that should normally be addressed by Kagame the politician,” the newspaper said. “The language issue in schools is slowly evolving into a really hot potato on the RPF’s plate for several reasons, but mainly because it probably represents the first real challenge for the RPF-led government of national unity,” it went on. “That the bilingual policy on education has turned into a failure is incontestable, no matter what any of our leaders might choose to say, or whom they might choose to blame.”