Editor, RE: “‘YES’ vote is a badge that should be worn with pride” (The New Times, December 24). That Rwanda is a prime example of an era in which many previously dominated states push to determine their own affairs is precisely what raises the ire of those who are used to calling the shots in other peoples’ affairs. The worry is that Rwandans’ fierce determination to be masters of their own destiny might prove contagious. Thus the equally determined pushback to ensure Rwandans walk back from their notion that the western sloganeering about democratic self-determination should be taken seriously, or that decisions about Rwandans’ internal governance must be the preserve of the country’s citizenry rather than officials in western chancelleries who obviously must be considered to know better than developing countries’ own citizens about what is best for the latter. Fortunately, Rwandans are in no mood to cede their birthright to be masters of their own destiny. We saw a similar refusal to knuckle under to western dictates when, in the months and days before their last general elections, Kenyans were threatened with all manner of negative consequences should they dare elect those the western governments did not wish to see as victors of those elections. The Kenyans rightly ignored those threats. Mwene Kalinda
