Of ‘Nda Ndambara’ & a photo that said ‘1000 words’ at Kagame rallies

I have a side in this election. So kindly understand if I come off as biased in favour of the RPF candidate, Paul Kagame. (But aren’t journalists supposed to be neutral?). That’s true. But in a situation where you can’t, the book says be transparent by declaring your bias. Four Sundays ago, I wrote here that, “the August 4, 2017 Presidential Election will be an emotional affair as it may be the last chance voters have to confer their mandate to a man that will always be this country’s greatest leader.” If a critic had asked me to explain exactly what I meant by the election being an ‘emotional affair,’ it would perhaps have taken me a thousand words to make a sound argument. “Use a picture. It is worth a thousand words,” Newspaper Editor Tess Flanders aptly put in a 1913 discussion about journalism and publicity. The perfect picture showed up this week. A young lady, wearing an RPF candidate’s campaign t-shirt, hands in the air with tears running down her eyes, lost in a deeply emotional moment of ecstasy, surrounded by other equally thrilled women at one of Kagame’s rallies. It is a picture that said it all, to all those that had hitherto doubted the authenticity of RPF’s mammoth rallies. Minus the campaign paraphernalia, one would have assumed the woman was at a praise and worship session. That picture helped settle the question that many a critic following the Rwandan campaign outside the country, have been throwing about; questioning the motivation fueling Rwandans that have attended Kagame’s rallies in their tens of thousands. “Absolute love for the candidate,” is the only fuel behind those gigantic rallies. But critics would stubbornly have none of that, some even sinking as low as insisting that people are being forcefully told to attend those rallies. That picture! No, it wasn’t a fraud. It wasn’t staged. Nor was it photo-shopped. It was authentically pure. It is not the only picture. We have seen dozens of other intimate photographs of the candidate Kagame hugging elderly voters in their eighties, 90s and one who is 107!; with the little energy left in their elderly bodies, these senior citizens have come out to show love and support for Kagame, a kind of love that can’t be forged. Looking at all those intimate moments captured at Kagame’s rallies, one could fairly state that this election is not even about August 4; it is about the last twenty three years of RPF leadership, a celebration of national achievements under Paul Kagame’s presidency. Elsewhere, voters would have clapped in praise after a contender pledged to cut taxes; perhaps that is what Philippe Mpayimana, one of the candidates hoped to achieve when he promised the same to a small crowd in Bugesera town. He was shocked by the response he got. “He promised us many things, including cutting taxes. It left me wondering, how then shall we continue building our roads, schools and hospitals; will all those things be done on charity?” a young voter in his early twenties wondered. Naturally, the popularity of incumbents dwindles the longer they stay in power yet in Kagame’s case, his two terms in office have only seen his support among Rwandans surging culminating in a referendum that amended the constitution to enable voters renew his mandate. This is because voters can see tangible results delivered during his previous mandate; it thus also makes sense for a rural based citizen to oppose a proposal to cut taxes because he knows they’re what government uses to deliver public services. But Kagame has hinted at (should he win next week’s poll) this being his last term in office, urging his party to start looking for a successor; the possibility that Rwandans will never see PK on a ballot paper again, could be the inspiration behind the emotions seen in this campaign. An election is not an event. It is a process. Had I been among the over 1,300 domestic and international observers set to monitor next week’s polls, I would have spent 90 percent of my time watching the campaigns and only 10 percent, the actual polls. My report would have noted that, “Victory for the RPF candidate Paul Kagame didn’t come as a surprise to me as an observer because during the campaigns across the country, it was clear that even before the vote on August 4, he had already won the hearts and minds of Rwandans.” I would then insert a sample of those emotional photographs captured at rallies from across the country to support the text observations. To a reader somewhere in Paris, my report would perhaps be disenchanting to read but the truth, to the millions that have witnessed the process inside Rwanda. Cue-in ‘Nda Ndambara!’ A campaign song whose original was remixed by RPF supporters in Rubavu, the song has become an anthem giving the lead composer celebrity status. A video clip of tens of thousands of supporters singing in chorus at a Kagame rally would certainly feature in my observer report. As the crowd sung in a chorus, Kagame walked the stage, visibly overwhelmed with love. Then he said, “With you on my side, I will fear no war.” editorial@newtimes.co.rw

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Of ‘Nda Ndambara’ & a photo that said ‘1000 words’ at Kagame rallies