Juggling patronage networks for political dominance in Rwanda? Give me another!

Some write-ups give me the heebie-jeebies! Are my nuts together or have they gone so a-scatter that I cannot read a piece of writing and piece together its points? Time was when I listened to a good lecture, however high sounding, and silently cheered its delivering professor. So, what is it that numbs my brain today when I ‘listen’ to this good “professor of democracy” at the University of Birmingham, Nic Cheeseman, as I had the misfortune to last Saturday, in The East African weekly? Why was his opinion piece so jading to my nerves? To me, he sounded like one of these professors we used to hear about at our Rwandan universities who, for their lectures, read out the same notes they took from lecturers in the 1960s exactly the way they’d taken them. Only now we were in the 2000s! In the same vein, our professor goes for his notes from the likes of David Booth and Tim Kersal on “post-independence African leaders and their ruling parties’ political hegemonies” and “their centralized controls of patronage networks and developmental patrimonialism”, whatever that is, that come off as, in the language of an earlier and wiser sage, Shakespeare, “full of sound and fury/Signifying nothing”. And disgorges his grandiose notes idem onto Rwanda. Which begs the question: why doesn’t he come to Rwanda, observe her governance and her variant of democracy, talk to Rwandans and their leaders, take notes and then feed us on those? Because for them, “Politics is not a game. It’s about people.” It’s not about juggling stratagems; it’s about how “to stay together”, “to be accountable to ourselves” and “to think big” for a better future. Those quotes are articulated by President Kagame talking about his people but they could as well be from the lips of any citizen, maybe in different form. Leadership here is solely hinged on well-thought-out and collectively discussed and agreed-upon governance. Building consensus has been its alpha and will be its omega. Wherefrom do I get the temerity to assert so? Urugwiro meetings of 1998, that’s wherefrom. When the RPF/RPA had stabilized the country and hearts and minds of Rwandans were beginning to heal after the 1994 calamity, it dipped hands in its bag-o-magic to examine its liberation and diplomatic triumph over hugely resourced forces, backed by said commentator’s first-world cousins across the English Channel. Tight unity had served it well and was vastly responsible for that unimaginable coup. Similarly, the RPF brought all minds together so as to jointly chart out a future for the country. Representatives from the citizenry, intelligentsia, business, old, youth, all faiths, all political leanings and more. Male or female, all were equally engaged. For months they were holed up in Village Urugwiro to examine the details of how to put together the pieces of their battered country and place her on the road to a thriving future. Every aspect of the country’s full existence was combed with a toothpick to pick out the best policies that could build a strong, united and prosperous community. That’s how every single Rwandan was involved in the promulgation of a new constitution. That’s how there is no shortage of forums for self-expression by everyone today, including a forum for all political parties. All are united on building a nation of one people. To resuscitate the economy that was found at its nadir and put it back in motion, the RPF fell back on the balance on its liberation struggle kitty that had been the product of its members’ concerted fundraising work. Two examples suffice To coax the South African mobile telephony company, MTN, to invest in Rwanda, it dug into its kitty and offered to partner with it. MTN’s discovered bounty after that aside, investors began to notice the ‘existence’ of this humble country, anyway. But when they come out to scout for investment, these money moguls don’t particularly fancy trees as cosy accommodation. The RPF therefore had to again consult its kitty. It erected a world-class hotel that many suitor-investors fought over, with Serena bagging it in the end. Today’s hotel and many other industries and businesses, as well as continued investments, owe their expanding growth to those first faltering steps. Even then, much as the RPF has built companies to spur growth and investment, it still relies on its members for all its running costs. It remains as modest as any of its opposition parties because the companies lead their own independent lives, playing in a level field with all other companies as they jostle for attention. Which is why anyone who has an understanding of the political parties of this country will tell you that the RPF, even with its strong and thoroughly-thought-through policies, owes its dominance solely to its industriousness and vision that are at the service of the people, as inspired by its charismatic chairman. For that and that alone, yes, Rwanda’s model of growth cannot work where politics is about patronage networks and where funds are squandered on building them. To think otherwise is to betray the ignorance of those Western lazy armchair thinkers who are stuck in stereotypes of bygone days on African countries. The views expressed in this article are of the author.

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Juggling patronage networks for political dominance in Rwanda? Give me another!