Editor, RE: “Mother Rwanda, who will protect her?” (The New Times, November 16). Africa in general, and Rwanda in particular, has many sons and daughters who studied in foreign but non-western universities, in Asian universities such as China, Singapore, India, Malyasia, New Zealand, Brunei, Japan, South Korea... This continent has also got many who remained and studied in African universities; the test question is: how do these two groups of intellectuals compare with the demonized group which schooled in western universities with regard to critiquing/criticizing their countries? Are they relevant or irrelevant or vocal in their communities? Is there any notable contribution by those two groups that can solely be ascribed to them having studied in non-western education systems? Aimable Rugasaguhunga ************************* I think the argument would have been focused on the way African students deal with issues when back home from western universities, and not dealing with what is offered from those universities to African students. There are no universities in the west that enroll only African students and therefore teach them “how to criticize their home governments”. I am not sure how a university can teach a science student, say medicine, engineering, architecture, and automobile to criticize his government instead of innovation, creation, creativity and research. Many scholars turn against their governments in Africa because things arent moving at all. Corruption, public embezzlement funds, nepotism, unequal distribution of resources, accumulation of wealthy at the expense of tax payers money, luck of solutions at home problems and all that and for this reason why would they praise the government. However, for Rwanda the case is different: having failed at convincing, many Rwandan scholars, in particular those living out of Rwanda have taken a wrong path. Top agendas that would have been thrown as a last card by dissents have all been dealt in a very smart way. Security, peace, zero tolerance to corruption, zero tolerance to public fund embezzlement, fighting of poverty and disease, improving the well being of the people, not very strong economy but inclusive one, killing that element of strong men and the untouchable ones in Africa have all been contained in Rwanda. These are told stories that are well known all over the world. Yulian ************************* In my opinion, Africa has been taken hostage by its so-called politicians and the writer’s argument serves nothing but to help in effectively disabling the educated Africans so that they do not think, discern, analyse, critique, criticize, condemn those who have given themselves the power to determine the peoples destiny, but rather be their republican guards (read: the guardian of the ruling class). This article is no less than a calculated “character assassination” of an easily identifiable group of people, such that they become irrelevant (and despised) in the eyes of their respective communities as the “irrelevant-western universities-educated-bunch-of-useless-people”. I am not sure if it was the primary intention of Professor Toban quoted as the introductory reference, but this is how dangerous ideas are bred in the minds of societies. Simon. N
