You will forgive me for writing another article about the national information agency (Orinfor) in case I bore you.

And once again I am writing about the by now controversial printing press at Gikondo; the machine the government of Rwanda bought to support the private print media in the country since none of our privately owned newspapers or magazines can afford a press of its own.

Barring a little fine-tuning work here and there, the machine now stands ready to go into operation. The power back-up system is in place. Likewise other accessory parts like the compressor. The building housing the machine, formerly an abandoned warehouse, no longer is recognizable as a once derelict place. Everything is ship-shape. The engineers who have installed it say it should be ready to work in about ten days (as you read this story).

That is the good news.

The bad news is plenty, and it all points to one thing. This state of the art machine which has cost the government of Rwanda (which costs include refurbishing the warehouse and all the labor involved) anywhere in excess of 1.4 million Euros (over 1.3 billion francs)) is going to end up a white elephant.

The reason is very simple: the press will be under Orinfor (mis)management.

Before we go further I will point out that the best thing President Kagame ever did for that press was to listen to a suggestion by journalists for them to form a committee (headed by yours truly) to closely follow progress on the machine’s installation. This was after it came to light some officials were more interested in sabotaging the work than having the machine up and running.

If it weren’t for the journalists’ committee; if no one were breathing down the necks of the blind mice at of Orinfor, the machine would still be lying around in rusting parts in a Magerwa warehouse. But back to that in a little while.   

First, back to Orinfor mismanagement. 1) It is embarrassing to write, but we have only one Rwandan capable of managing and running a web machine (of the kind am writing about). This man’s name is Pius Ruhinda and two months back he resigned from Orinfor following a hail of verbal abuse from a highly incompetent superior.

2) The abusive fellow’s name is Eric Mugabo, a young graduate of the Kigali Institute of Education who is the head of Orinfor’s print press department which also is in charge of the agency’s printery.

This man has not the first idea how a printery is run, not even one using “offset” technology, leave alone the more sophisticated web machine. I count it among the mysterious ways how the mind of Orinfor Director Oscar Kimanuka works that he somehow contrived to allow an inexperienced graduate of a teacher training school become head of his agency’s printeries.

Now let’s look at the resume of Pius Ruhinda. This is a man who has worked in Kenya with the government printing press. The man has worked in Canada. He is the only certified print technologist we have here. In 1998 Orinfor hired him as a technical consultant in its print operations and in 2002 it decided to hire him permanently. Last year Ruhinda was in Canada at the invitation of one John Honderich, a former newspaper publisher, to take a refresher course in operating web machines.

But Kimanuka has allowed him to be run out of Orinfor by some pipsqueak and he never took the time to find out what the problem was. I talk to Kimanuka almost every day. In the two months since Ruhinda resigned the Orinfor director has displayed not the slightest bit of concern that he has lost the only good print man he had. That is very typical of him.

Which brings us back to the work of the committee and why, if it weren’t for it our press would still be so much pieces of metal lying in Magerwa.

To get Kimanuka and his team to do anything, I found out long ago, you have to resort to threats and uttering words this close to insults, I am sorry to say.

Take the example of making them honor the terms of the contract they themselves signed with the suppliers of the machine, originally Colina Enterprises, now Kalca Global. There were many payments to be made and they were broken down in tranches—for the machine, for auxiliary parts such as the backup generator and compressor, for transportation, for refurbishment of the building and so on.

Now, you can’t imagine what a headache it was to make the Orinfor people honor the contract. At worst it was like pulling teeth. At best it was like these characters imagined it was their personal money at stake.

A typical conversation between me and Kimanuka would go thus: “Oscar, it is three months after you said Orinfor would wire the contractor’s payment, why haven’t you done so?”

Kimanuka: “these things do take time. We have to properly account for the money.

Me: “but Oscar, really how long do you need to prepare a simple document?”

Kimanuka (beginning to sound edgy): “my dear friend, there are processes involved and you don’t just wake up…

Me: “my friend, it is three months now, and it is always like this with you. What is your problem anyway? The money is available, you can either access it from Deutschwelle (the German broadcaster with which Orinfor has a long-standing partnership that involves Rwanda leasing a piece of land at Kinyinya to them in return for such things as money or training of journalists), or you can get it from Minecofin if you prepare yourself in time, which you never do!”

Kimanuka: “But Shyaka…”

Me: “do you want me to take the case to Mugambage (the President’s chief of staff who the President has assigned to keep tabs on the machine’s progress) or do you want me to raise it in a press conference?”

That usually works like magic. Before you know it the following day Kimanuka is on the phone to the director of Kalca Global, Kamal Desai, arranging to have his payment wired immediately.

After that Kimanuka goes to the site, bringing along television cameras to have himself photographed in front of the machine and to get Orinfor journalists tape statements from him assuring everyone that the machine should be up and running “in two weeks time, if not less.”

The gentleman heads back to his office, and a few days later the cycle starts over again.

Kamal Desai sends more equipment to Kigali. He telephones me to say, “look Shyaka, my supplier, Goss expect immediate payment for this piece of equipment and they expect payment upfront what do I do?”

I look at the contract and it indeed says Orinfor has to pay for that part. They signed it themselves. I get out my phone.

Me: “Oscar, why haven’t you wired these guys’ payment?

Kimanuka: “We really have to be accountable…blah blah blah.”

It has been like this…no, most of the time worse than this…all the time.

But finally I can breathe a big sigh of relief. I have done my work. Now the machine is going to be there doing nothing and of course they will begin peddling lies to cover up for their incompetence should someone ask why it isn’t working.

You heard it here first.

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