Long live the people of Rwanda

Finally all those English quotes that have confused me for years now mean something. I now know what it means when they say twice as beautiful. When a city is so beautiful during the day then it gets really beautiful at night—that is twice as beautiful.

Friday, January 02, 2009
DEVELOPMENT: Gaculiro Housing Estate: Government has invested in housing that has helped many Rwandans get accommodation. (File photo)

Finally all those English quotes that have confused me for years now mean something. I now know what it means when they say twice as beautiful. When a city is so beautiful during the day then it gets really beautiful at night—that is twice as beautiful.

Kigali in this case can be called twice as beautiful. When they say long live... now I have people I wish that for. Long live the people of Rwanda. After all your struggles you have come out victorious and dignified. You have managed to maintain levels of security, order and progress that few could ever have imagined it’s possible. 

The satisfaction that I get by being in a country where systems work, where civil servants get to work at 7.00am and stay at work the whole day, where roads are so clean even cleaner than some verandas in-homes in other countries, where you can walk around at 11pm (though not encouraged) knowing you are secure with the police at work and the citizens maintaining law and order and people are so friendly, open and helpful.

That is what is called success. Why is Rwanda’s success not hitting headlines? I do not know how the world media works but they are missing out an opportunity to inspire others, both nations and citizens of other countries by how far Rwandans have come and how unwavering their level of commitment is.

Granted there are challenges, but the people of Rwanda are so dedicated and have so much goodwill. All I want to do, is to join their efforts and I know I’m not alone in wanting to do the best to be productive in this country.

Rwanda inspires hope like I had forgotten existed. The people of Rwanda have a lot to be proud of and even with their struggles, they are off to a very good start. The rest of the world has a lot to learn from Rwanda, starting with her sisters in the East African Community (EAC).

The EAC should take all necessary steps to open her borders so as to get closer interactions and learn from Rwanda.

Rwandans have what they have and even though it is limited, instead of complaining, they are working tirelessly and systematically to transform their lives and stand by what they believe in and what’s important for them. What a country.

What a people, what leadership and what beauty...just awesome. It’s no wonder a country like France cannot imagine losing control over such a country and are ready to go to all
levels no matter how low, including machinations and abuse of power and intimidation attempts, to derail Rwanda from her path of success.  

One thing that we all saw with Obama’s election is that the world is getting impatient with arrogant abusers of power. The world had really got tired of Bush and very ‘soon the world will tire of France’s arrogance and abuse of power.

I guess now that Rwanda cannot stoop to the low levels of machinations as France and France is ready to go down to any low levels, the only thing that Rwanda needs is resilience and to know not  to be dragged into Frances dirty ways.

Right now France wants Rwanda to come to a standstill and focus all her energy on this tramped up accusations. Rwanda as we know it will rise above this as they have, under even worse circumstances.

After all it is said and done, Rwanda will come out of this dignified and France ashamed looking for a new way to slander one of the best success stories of Africa. As it has been said, the best weapon against an enemy is success.

This time more than ever, Rwandans need to be more committed to achieving success because France’s response is a sign that they are running scared and afraid that Rwanda is on the way to becoming successful, despite all their setbacks and challenges, afraid that soon the whole world will realise what the truth really is as Rwanda’s success and unity speaks for itself.

Rwandans, press on and work even harder towards your success. Handle this as you have handled all previous issues, decisively while still forging ahead and becoming more successful and more focused.

Do Rose Kabuye proud as she gets to hear all the successes going on and this will encourage her to be stronger when facing this unfortunate situation. For those who need a 2nd opinion read what Mr Tony Blair had to say about the country.

Contact: fgatare@gmail.com