Kwibohora22: Why we cannot afford complacency

This week Rwanda celebrated its 22nd Liberation anniversary. For us Rwandans, liberation means moving from darkness to light, divisive politics to unity, hatred to love, discord to union but, most importantly, from hopelessness to a life full of belief and promises. July 4, 1994 marked the overthrow of one of the world’s most brutal governments whose army and allied militia killed at least 10,000 people every day for 100 days. After the carnage, over a million innocent lives had been killed. But the survivors, desperate but lucky to still be alive in a practically dead country, found liberation in the hands of the Rwanda Patriotic Army led by current President Paul Kagame, their Commander-in-Chief. Rwanda is blessed to be celebrating 22 years of remarkable achievements, at the time when fellow Africans are descending on Kigali for the 27th African Union summit, to which dozens of heads of state are expected and slated to discuss ways of making our continent more prosperous. The particular focus of the summit will be the rights of women. Rwanda has done exceptionally well with regard to empowering women across all sectors of the country’s economy and it is not merely through affirmative action but because our leadership believes that women deserve equal rights to those that men enjoy. It’s evident that few, if not none, would have believed that hosting an event of such magnitude by a country that was branded a failed state only twenty-two years ago would be possible. But Rwanda is here, rubbing shoulders and competing with the best. Possessing no notable natural resources and being landlocked are no obstacles to our progress; the human resource is enough. This comes only in a matter of weeks after we successfully hosted the World Economic Forum on Africa. Global indices have continued to rank Rwanda among the best due to its visionary leadership and sound transformational policies. According to the recent UN’s Human Development Index, Rwanda has an annual average growth rate of about 8%, is the second easiest place to do business on the continent, and the safest to walk at night in Africa and fifth globally. Life expectancy has risen from 51 years to almost 70 years in 2016. Over 90% of the population have health insurance. These are only but a few vital statistics. For any country to record the above milestones, its people have to be united and moving towards achieving a common goal. That was the only choice that Rwanda remained with, and therefore, had to work towards that lifetime goal. Twenty-two years on, Rwanda is moving at a fast but steady pace of rebuilding and reconciling. Yet, although Rwanda continues to register these remarkable achievements, we know the journey is long and we are not anywhere close to where we want to be. One simple example is that Rwandans are working round the clock to become a middle-income country by the year 2020 and transform into a knowledge-based economy that can compete regionally and globally. But who wants to remain in that middle pool? The majority of Rwandans will tell you they want to be up there with the best, not in the middle. That’s why they show no signs of complacency but continue to work hard to achieve these remarkable goals. Many continue to associate Rwanda with it’s atrocious past that was characterised by dreadful acts carried out by the genocidal government before and during 1994. But Rwandans have decided not to be slaves of their own past.They have put their past behind them with a commitment to democracy, justice, reconciliation and development. This is vivid and visible on the faces of Rwandans, including our men and women in uniform who spend sleepless nights to ensure that those not in uniform sleep with a peaceful mind. They even go as far as putting their life on the line in foreign countries where they go for peacekeeping duties. Rwanda’s young professionals in both the public and private sector will tell you that all they need is peace and prosperity. Our leaders in higher offices continue to work day and night to make sure that nothing would temper with what has been achieved, especially by dividing Rwandans, which has always been the source of our horrific past. Had it not been for the sacrifice and charisma of the gallant men and women of RPF-Inkotanyi, the tag of a failed state would have been real. One can only thank and promise them that those they liberated and rescued from the hands of bloody murderers will continue to carry the torch and there will be an ever bright light at the end of the tunnel. There is no turning back. President Kagame once said: “We cannot turn the clock back, nor can we undo the harm caused, but we have the power to determine the future and to ensure that what happened never happens again”. Determining a bright future and avoiding the past mistakes is the choice Rwandans have made. The writer is the first secretary of the Rwanda High Commission to Kenya.

Opinions

Kwibohora22: Why we cannot afford complacency