Change with continuity: A national position

The consultations by parliamentarians and senators with Rwandans on the critical issue of amending the constitution are nearing conclusion. From Rwandans in different backgrounds who are being consulted, the views collected are overwhelming. Overwhelming on one thing. NO CHANGE COME 2017. As I have pointed out severally, you need to be a Rwandan to understand them. Otherwise one gets lost in the narrative of flat third-term myth held dear in the west as if these understand every situation in the developing world, to the extent that, every situation will fit that same narrative. I have pointed out severally that, unless one factors in Rwanda’s peculiar context, one would otherwise end up making a grave error of judgment against Rwandans as to the choice they are making in the current debate. A choice informed by our heinous past, our miraculous turnaround against all odds and more importantly, a very uncertain future if you correlate our past, and present ignoring the fundamental factor – exemplary leadership of President Paul Kagame. Rwandans speak Rwandans of all ages and shades hold a similar view. In each meeting with our lawmakers, national as well as personal stories of fundamental social-economic transformation our country has registered are being told. They talk their hearts out as to their memories of their terribly abnormal Rwanda defined by everything imperfect and not worth the name nation or state as it was characterised by the very few entitled either due to their region (north), the military and few connected to the same. The majority of the other part of the population languished in abject poverty manifested by widespread infection of jiggers and malnutrition and other diseases of the poor. They talk of unbelievable unity and reconciliation that is still too fragile to experiment with, they talk of visible change in their standards of living and how they owe it to the exemplary leadership of President Paul Kagame and how he has passionately ensured that designed policies were pursued to the letter, and that delivery percolated to every Rwandan. They talked of countrywide unprecedented security model President Kagame has used to ensure that people and their properties are as safe as they can be. Even former FDLR fighters who have been integrated in our defence forces or in civil life have had their lives changed for real. They talked of infrastructure that is of envy in the region and of miraculous economic growth a case study in the development discourse only akin to Singapore’s miraculous growth and development regardless of limited or no resources to talk about. At the end of each session, these compatriots have had this to say: you are delaying the process of changing our constitution to enable President Paul Kagame carry on his exemplary delivery to all. The turn-up in each meeting is unbelievably large and as the lawmakers wind up their consultations, there is overwhelming support for amending Article 101 and other article deemed outdated and irrelevant to the new Rwanda. Going by the overwhelming resolve to amend Article 101, the subsequent referendum is a done deal. Besides the views of ordinary Rwandans, leaders of political parties endorsed the views of their respective members. Nine out of 11 registered party leaders argued that they supported the views of majority Rwandans. They had no choice anyway. Sceptics should listen Sceptics have advanced all sorts of fallacious theories especially on social media ranging from the fact that, Rwandans were forced to sign petitions sent to the parliament. Question is: were they forced to speak their mind to our lawmakers? They also advanced such theory that President Kagame wants a third term. If he did, the process we have gone through to request him to stand again in 2017 would be unnecessary. As pointed out earlier, it would have been the easiest part of our homework had he requested the same from Rwandans for we would have out-rightly handed it to him. And so, these sceptics, most of which are negative forces or their allies mainly FDLR and their cohorts, have come face to face with the reality. Rwandans have spoken. The voice of the Rwandan people during the parliamentary and senatorial consultations holds all answers. If democracy is the will of the people and that there is nothing like universal model of democracy as each model serves a given people to cater for their peculiar circumstances then sceptics who have of late made a lot of noise should listen to Rwandans. They have spoken. They have made their choice as to what leadership they need and deserve. And so the fallacious political opportunists and idealist political marketeers powered by negative energy especially genocide deniers, revisionists and negotionists and their allies have no choice but to respect the will of Rwandans. The reverse would be an insult to national intelligence and a bully to our national integrity and conscious. In our culture, such is met with a furry that non Rwandans can’t understand as they didn’t for this very home work. To our brother Frank Habineza of Green Party of Rwanda I say, go with the rational adage: ‘if you can’t beat them, join them’. Join us. You will not lose in this. We are all winners. In the end.... The consultations have confirmed the unanimity of Rwandans in their unity of purpose as to their future, a future that becomes bleak and blurred if one factors out the exemplary leadership of President Paul Kagame. What has emerged also are the divergent views not so much on lifting the term limits but rather as to how many terms President Kagame should run. Various limits were proposed with fears premised on fears that if we open up for good we may get a bad leader who we may be stuck with for far too long. I personally differ with limiting of terms. In my opinion, we should lift term limits for good and peg our leaders’ term on delivery. We should go the German/UK model where performance determines how long a leader is in office. The danger with putting a cap on the number of terms after President Kagame finishes his service to our country is that, we may get another good leader who will have been a good student of President Kagame, and limit his presumed good delivery. We shall then be a country of referenda to change term limits over and over. What we should do though is that, we should put guidelines in our constitution that enable us to remove/recall none performing leaders as and when they happen to emerge. We should come up with a version of democracy that is really Rwandan, void of foreign dictates or cut and paste methodologies that are simply simplistic. Running a country and, a developing one for that matter, is not simplistic as activists, some of whom paid to make noise, may want people to believe. It is not a job for the faint hearted or average mortals but one for selected few, which is why most leaders have failed where our own succeeded. An answer to our homework, and an end to our debate. The writer is an economist and a financial expert. Email: nshutim@gmail.com

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Change with continuity: A national position