By Rodney Muhumuza and Ignatius Ssuuna — Associated Press, Thursday 16 June 2022
KIGALI, Rwanda (AP) — With fresh coats of paint and streets swept clean, Rwanda’s capital is preparing for The Commonwealth Heads of Government Summit, bringing leaders of the 54-nation group of mostly former British colonies whose relevance is sometimes questioned. President Paul Kagame will host Prince Charles, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, and scores of world leaders in the summit scheduled for June 20–25. The summit will highlight Rwanda’s stability and relative prosperity under Kagame’s rule, and will also focus attention on Rwanda’s widely criticised deal with Britain to deport asylum-seekers from The UK to Rwanda — legal challenges stopped a flight that would have brought the first group just days before the summit.
Observers question what the Commonwealth means for its diverse membership. “The Commonwealth is relevant, but the question is to whom? Do governments get political capital out of it? You profile your country, you profile your name,” said Mwambutsya Ndebesa, a political historian at Uganda’s Makerere University. Dias Nyesiga, a business consultant in Kigali, offered a sharper critique: “The former master’s underlying motivation is not good governance in Africa, or improvement on the human rights platform, but influence-seeking.” Trade between Britain and Commonwealth countries has declined; the bloc accounted for only about 9% of The UK’s total trade by 2020, with the value of exports to the Commonwealth falling 16% between 2019 and 2020. With China now Africa’s leading trade partner, the UK’s political influence in its former colonies has waned significantly.