Rwandans need to embrace their cultural identity to help promote their longstanding traditions and language, the State Minister for Culture has said. 

Edouard Bamporiki said it’s about time Rwandans deliberately engaged in conversations aimed at reclaiming and preserving their heritage and passing it on to the future generations.

"Older generations should lead the way,” he told The New Times’ Rwanda Check-In podcast during an exclusive interview recently. "It’s our duty to revive our culture and re-embrace our Rwandan philosophy.”

Bamporiki, who recently sent social media users into overdrive for calling himself Idebe, said current generations had lost track of many Rwandan concepts and values that used to be deeply cherished before the advent of colonialism and Christianity.

The minister has since defended his Idebe declaration, which he says was provoked by local actress Alliance Isimbi’s surprise decision to give him a cow, explaining that in Rwandan culture when a man received a cow as a present from a woman he would be referred to as Idebe.

Many people were bemused by this since the term Idebe, which, to many, simply means an empty tin, is considered to be an insult when used in describing someone.

Bamporiki acknowledged that even some of his friends did not know the original meaning of Idebe, revealing that some even called him to express their concern about what they viewed as a public backlash.

"They were asking how they could help but I told them that everything was fine,” he said. "People just didn’t know the real meaning of Idebe in our culture and I am happy that they now know.”

Pressed further about the incident, he said that he had never met Isimbi before their encounter in Bugesera when he and a friend of his (Marie Immaculee Ingabire) bumped into the actress and her friends at a lakeside joint.  Bamporiki and Ingabire were on their way from a trip to the latter’s farm in Bugesera, he said.  

"I didn't even know that (someone was taking a video), but I am glad it did actually go viral, because it made people learn something new about our language and culture, and it showed me that there is a gap as far as understanding the Rwandan philosophy is concerned,” he said.

He said that Idebe is just one of the many Kinyarwanda concepts and words that had since been distorted or altered to mean a different thing, sometimes the exact opposite of the original meaning.

He mainly blamed this on colonialists, missionaries and previous regimes.

"When colonists came their goal was to undermine and distort the Rwandan philosophy, because Rwandan society was well organised and they did not want that,” he said. "But we can bring some of these important values and concepts back.”

Distorted Rwandan concepts, phrases  

Asked about other concepts he thought had been distorted he gave the example of the term ‘Ntacyo atwaye’, which he said today means someone who is harmless, and yet in ancient Rwanda it meant someone with no authority over anyone or anything, which meant they were almost insignificant in society.

When the colonialists first arrived, he said, they moved to denigrate the King as well as traditional chiefs (Abatware) because they wanted to strip them of their authority and legitimacy to manage society.

"There was once an event and the colonialists kept inquiring about the status of those who were arriving and they would beat those who were identified as Abatware, while they embraced those with no authority (Ntacyo atwaye). "The respective meanings of these two words have since been switched and this was deliberately engineered.”

He also said that when the colonialists came they abolished Umuganura (ancient Rwanda’s version of thanksgiving) and replaced it with tithes and church offerings. "What we were doing for our country before was effectively transferred to the Church.”

Bamporiki, an award-winning filmmaker and poet, also cited "the misleading interpretation” of the phrase ‘Aravanga amasaka namasakaramentu’ (literally to mean ‘mixing sorghum and sacramental rites’), which is widely understood to mean that someone is confusing things.

The minister, who’s also a poet and actor, said this saying was derived from a colonial scheme to discredit a traditional Rwandan chief, who they loathed for promoting the concept of Umuganura at a time Christianity was taking root.    

Bamporiki also explained that the Christian doctrine of trinity (the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit) was used by the missionaries to replace ancient Rwanda’s version of trinity: Umwami (the King), u Rwanda and the public (Rubanda). The three components in Rwandan philosophy, he said, served as the pillars of unity that characterised pre-colonial Rwanda.

He also cited distortions around several traditional rituals and practices such as kubandwa, inkwano (loosely translated to mean ‘dowry’), gutwikurura, among others.

‘Stop obsessing about foreign culture’

Bamporiki revealed that the Ministry of Youth and Culture would soon embark on a campaign to instigate debate around Rwandan philosophy and the need to "reconnect with Rwandan literature, philosophy and values.”

He said they intend to engage members of the Rwanda Elders Advisory Forum and other senior citizens in a fresh bid to actively promote Rwandan culture.

Asked about the feasibility of reviving some old traditions, he admitted that some ancient practices were long outdated, but insisted there is "a part of our forgotten and distorted traditions, values and literature” that remains relevant and needs salvaging.

"I have no doubt that the young generations love Rwanda, and it is easy to learn about something you love,” he said. "Young people should keep their feet on the ground and be open to learn about our country and culture, our language and the Rwandan philosophy.”

He called on parents to teach Kinyarwanda to their children and take pride in the country’s rich culture, instead of only obsessing about foreign languages and lifestyle.

"We can raise generations who are proud of their language and heritage,” he noted.

Bamporiki also said he was writing a book, entitled ‘Isano Muzi’, on key aspects of the Rwandan kingdom and how ancient Rwandans were a united people.