Rwanda chief executive tears into John Humphrys over Arsenal FC sponsorship
Rwanda’s development board chief executive ripped into BBC 4 presenter John Humphrys this morning when he claimed the African country’s decision to spend an alleged £30 million promoting its tourism product with Arsenal football club was ‘bizarre’.
Humphrys also told Akamanzi that the country’s decision to sponsor Arsenal’s shirts was ‘positively eccentric’, adding: "An awful lot of people would say that the sort of people who watch football may notice the advert on a shirt but then saying they will go to Rwanda rather than somewhere with a nice beach and lots of bars seems highly eccentric."
And he pointed out that many people were angry that a country that receives £62 million a year in UK aid should spend half that amount on a three-year football sponsorship deal.
In her robust defence of the move, Clare Akamanzi told the host of the Today programme he was ‘very biaised’ and either ‘ill-informed or ill-intentioned’.
She said the country was aiming to double its income from tourism from $400 million to $800 million. And she said the sponsorship money, which she claimed was ‘way below’ the reported £30 million, had been generated from Rwanda’s tourism industry.
The country is best known for its mountain gorillas and permits for tourists to visit the apes in their natural habitat earn the country more than £50 million a year.
She said Arsenal’s shirts, which will sport Visit Rwanda on their sleeve for the next three years, are seen by 35 million people worldwide every time they play. It is one of the most popular clubs in Africa, as well as the UK.
However, Humphrys suggested Rwanda would attract more tourists if its political regime was ‘significantly less brutal’, to which Akamanzi retorted: "Clearly from your questions your are very biased and either ill-informed or ill-intentioned.
"Rwanda is one of the best performing countries in the world but you, like so many others out there, refuse to accept that a country like Rwanda can manage itself."
The UK aid agency Department for International Development said UK aid is not used for sponsorship deals with Arsenal FC and DfID is not giving any money to Visit Rwanda or the Rwanda Development Board.
UK visitor numbers to Rwanda rose 21% last year, compared with 2016, to over 16,000.
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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