Every time you wake up, Rwandans, you should all remember to give a thought to the God of Rwanda, Imana y’u Rwanda. It’s not all the time that a people manage to choose a leadership whose governance code is the single-minded pursuit of one goal: their total emancipation. But first, a disclaimer lest we court the wrath of anybody. There is one God, Creator of all on earth. He is only thus invoked as, reportedly, only two peoples in the world have ‘appropriated’ Him: the God of Israel and Imana y’u Rwanda. Right or wrong, it’s harmless, anyway: none can monopolise the Omnipotent. Otherwise as we were saying, in our Third World, getting a leadership that sees the importance of a people-centred governance is not always a given. Some leaderships are self-serving, in which case they seek out a ‘big brother/godfather’ to help them keep at bay any heckling public daring to voice opposition to their selfish manner and method. Or to just bully neighbours! What the leaderships forget, though, is that once you make yourself easy prey, you open yourself to other big brother predators who’ll also want a piece of you. With that ensuing competition over you, your wishes will prove to be the chickens that came home to roost, lending credence to the old adage: “When elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers”. Is it the case with the leadership of the tortured people of Syria? A people being wiped out under the noses of all God’s creatures? I wouldn’t say I know, but what a demeaning shame! The UN, that noble body that was conceived to harness the resources of the world’s population and perforce ensure our peaceful co-existence, has turned impotent. Like us, it’s a bewildered bystander. These godfather predators, why can’t they live and let live? And we, the grass, why can’t we, as governments or rebels, fight our wars if we must, without yelping to godfather for help? On whatever turf the biggest-brother cowboy of the world, USA, senses that a competitor big-brother bear, Russia, is claiming interest, the cowboys raise their hackles and call upon their lieutenants, the UK, France or the entire NATO force, to come rain hell on the turf and ‘save’ souls. Next thing we know, then, Syria may be left as a charred heap of sand. Big-hearted USA says it’s on a ‘humanitarian’ mission to rescue Syria from the plague of nerve agents sprayed by Russia, even if it comes raining bombs too. But it’s not lost on us how the other day when it claimed to rescue Iraq from the fury of Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass distraction, the weapons turned out to be ants’ feathers (non-existent). Saddam is gone, alright, but Iraq remains a pile of rubble to-date. “America first”, tweeting Trump, do you remember? America, indeed, should do a self-re-examination and keep to itself. We see its hand when we look at Libya, Afghanistan, Somalia, Nicaragua, Haiti, ad infinitum, all of them damaged. Russia, if it still has any hegemonic tentacles to spread around, should also fold them. For the sake of the weeping peoples of the world, these turf wars should be halted. The world needs, nay, craves, peace. Invited or forcing themselves on others, enough with these godfathers! Also, leaderships inviting them should learn to work with their people and other peoples of the world for all to empower themselves, instead. Which is how Imana y’u Rwanda comes in. If today’s Rwanda hadn’t got a tiny RPF/A leadership that was sharply opposed to any patronage from any quarter whatsoever, we’d be history today. It’s by being content to survive on their own meagre means that Rwandans came together and are here as a united force. This, mind you, meant facing off with a super power wielding all those weapons of mass destruction. How Rwanda survived is a long story. Suffice it to say that she actually triumphed. The coast isn’t clear yet, of course, but if she couldn’t be wiped out when she was at her nadir, those who wish her ill today are whistling in the wind. Yet many around think that they can gain anything by doing the bidding of these destructive godfathers who failed to do her in. We can only wish them good hunting! Only problem is, with all their efforts consumed in that futile enterprise, the struggling belligerent leaderships turn their people into the grass that suffers. But when the leaderships reject Rwanda’s extended hand for gainful collaborative engagement, it’s a lost opportunity for us all. Such leaderships, they do a disservice to us but primarily to themselves. The poor people to our west seem to have been cast adrift and none knows if they’ll ever find their direction. Those of the north are led into groping in the dark, each feeling for what they can selfishly grab. And to the south, they are sent jumping up in confused circles to no end. For all the peoples’ miseries, aver these leaderships, Rwanda is to blame. May Imana y’u Rwanda show us all the light that we may be guided to a gainful, collaborative future! Email: butapa@gmail.com Blog: butamire.wordpress.com Twitter: @butamire. The views expressed in this article are of the author.
