{The just concluded cabinet retreat on a very critical issue of our national identity Ndi Umunyarwanda ( I am a Rwandan) could not have had a better timing. Better in the sense that, the recent cabinet retreat held at Prime Holdings follows an extended Unity Club (an association of present and past cabinet ministers and their spouses) held in Gabiro, both of which discussed this critical issues that is seemingly inconsequential to a third party to Rwandan national fabric, but yet a very centre piece of erstwhile rich culture that was killed and literally buried with or by our abnormal past.}

Background:

Ours is a country, that has had the most divisive politics of any post-independence Africa, so divisive that genocide resultant cost us one million of our comrades who were not considered Rwandans by various leadership regimes of our post-colonial Rwanda. Our history is too treacherous that one can only wish to forget it, and moves on with our live, hoping that tomorrow will resurrect our Rwandanness (Ndi Umunyarwanda) with passage of time.

But this would simply be national utopia, for such an attitude will only serve to postpone a serious a problem, and one that could stifle our identity and nationhood downstream our future. We lost our identity and indeed humaneness as a people when anything Rwandan was synonymous to genocide, until recently. Ndi Umunyarwanda was even a taboo in the past, for this was taken to be Ndi genocidaire by third parties. Rwandese went as low as that.

Now, this is where visionary leadership makes all the difference, and one that will make a difference for tomorrow Rwanda, if only we Rwandese appreciate that we have with us a rare bleed of leadership, and one that have dubbed un-African by many foreign friends and stakeholders, a leadership we can honestly hold on to for even more delivery public good.

That our exemplary leadership under President Paul Kagame, and First lady Jeanette Kagame (who chaired Gabiro retreat) did see the issue worth discussing and by extension resolving as a nation, and a people, shows the highest degree of discernment of our leadership, and one that we owe more than a national debt. Come to think of it, Ndi Umunyarwanda is really central to our nationhood, and with it, development of our country with the zest and nationalism crucial for our tomorrow as a viable a nation state.

Context:

If one ponders on the above issue, and indeed take a deep examination of conscious, the problem becomes elephant. But not with we Rwandese. We have the capacity, will and willing to overcome any seemingly humanly impossible obstacles/calamities that befalls us, and they have been many.

As a country, our past disastrous leadership left an indelible mark on our national conscious that we can neither negate/minimize, or even ignore, for doing to does anot cleanse our abnormal national conscious we as a people have had, kept close to our hearts which is mainly is a result of genocide of 1994, that not only cost 1 million of own, by own, but also took with it the Rwandannes among us, without which our identity and indeed unity of purpose are mere figments of the same. Such feeds back into the national fabric and undermines the well intended efforts of nation building, the scale of which cannot even be guessed.

Colonial Legacy?

And although we keep explaining our situation from the extreme divisive politics of Belgian colonizers, a people who are even more divisive of any European nation today, a bizarre situation in this modern times, but nevertheless one that exists in Belgium to the extent that, divisions (between Wallons and Flemish communities) go to the extreme of living without a central government, unusual situation indeed. Now, these divisions were exported to us in raw form, and we bought the same at the highest bidding possible resulting in serious social fractures in our society whose maxima was genocide.

As of now, the problem is no longer this colonial legacy, but rather why anyone in this millennium can allow an archaic colonial legacy to define his/her present/future with all consequences attendant, and they are priceless.

Thus, we cannot as a people accept to be held hostage by our past, nor be prisoners of bizarre divisions exported to us by Belgian colonialists. Rather, like we have managed as a country to over-come unimaginable calamities including stopping genocide by own verve and vivacity informed by our national spirit of resilience which is also reinforced by the fact that, no one, no one else, will ever resolve our intricate social fractures except ourselves. We and we alone, can cleanse this country the ghosts of our past so as to restore our Ndi Umunyarwanda spirit, absence of which contradicts our national philosophy – Agaciro. We owe this to ourselves, and to future generations.

Substance

However, Ndi Umunyarwanda program is not meant to pass judgment to either actual or passive perpetrators of genocide, but rather to provide a platform through which these can give testimonies of what our elite and others either knew, did, or omitted to do. To tell the truth, a truth that sets the individual free, and by extension sets the nation free. Telling the truth may ‘hurt’ those that do so, but hiding it from a people that know the very truth ‘hidden’ in the hearts of many a Rwandan whether in ordinary life, or in polity, is more hurting to those that mask the truth, much more so to those that know the very masked truth.

Living a pretentious life as a society is not only dangerous for in the extreme will compromise the entire reconciliation process, and with it the essence of our nationhood.

And although this is yet another homegrown solution to our abnormal Rwanda, it is aimed at making this Rwanda of ours normal, by healing both hearts. Victim and perpetrators alike. For literally every Rwandan was affected by genocide directly or at the very least indirectly, which is why Ndi Umunyarwanda is aimed at building confidence bridge which would then bring about national cohesion and unity of purpose void of suspicion /pretence.

Ironic

What is ironic in my opinion is that, it was much more easier for ordinary Rwandan folks at gacaca level to tell the truth, all truth, and give unheard testimonies of what happened during genocide than is the case with our elite. Sitting in the sessions of Ndi Umunyarwanda program, one gets the feeling that, some of our elite pray games with the memories of those of other leaders that certainly are in the know of what these comrades knew, did, or omitted to do during genocide. But this smacks leadership virtues we need to have among our polity if we are to help our ordinary rural brothers and sisters to total healing by telling it all. In fact our rural folks and of late our youth have put the blame ball in the court of the elite, and rightly so.

And although quite a number have taken courage to look into the face of their heinous past, a few have not, in my opinion. We cannot build our country on suspicions nor on pretence that truth will die with time. It does not and will not. Rather we need to break from our past for us to build a future. A future where all of us can be proud to say: Ndi Umunyarwanda: Tura Abanyarwanda. Not a hutu, not a tusti, not a twa, not a victim, nor a perpetrator, but Ndi Umunywanda.

But this process called for really leadership, a leadership that has had moral latitude/audacity to convince both parties (victims and perpetrators – by action or omission) that for us to build a strong Rwanda, Ndi Umunyarwanda is necessary, now than before, for time heals and allows the heart to face the past heart, and hold the same accountable for its past. Those who attended the two retreats whether in Gabiro (where the First Lady Jeanette Kagame ably chaired the retreat) or last week where President Kagame chaired the cabinet retreat on the same, exemplifies the exemplariness of the first family in pursuit of a national interest with immense implications to Rwanda, today and for future Rwanda.

The guidance given by the President and First Lady in this program makes them heroes in their own right, a right that has been their trade mark. Such heroic actions should be applauded, and more so supported by all Rwandans from different walks of life, for they are the best means of rebranding our abnormal Rwanda, to normal: Ndi Umunyarwanda.

Professor Nshuti Manasseh.
Economist and Financial Expert.
Email: [email protected]