Now that the dust has settled, we can look back with more clarity at the National Leadership Retreat (Umwiherero) that took place from 16th to the 19th this February. So it came to pass that, as the retreat has done every year for the last 16 years, it gathered leaders of all categories in this country, but with a difference. The difference being that not only were the variety and number of the attendees increased but also that the first day was open to the world for it to be in on exactly what transpires during those hideaways. The latter fact, “open to the world”, perhaps being the reason the retreat sent more ripples outside Rwanda than inside. Even if, admit it, it also tickled Rwandans more than before. Yes, as usual, representative brains of this country were in migration, were bound to be holed up in undivided-attention seclusion to ponder the fast-paced progress of this state. Rwandans all, how to leap from this not-fast-enough growth economy to a true middle-income economy in the shortest time, but not later than 2050. Those already involved in this search were there to seriously self-examine and self-censor and then try to pick the brains of everybody present. The rest to offer those brains as they got to feel the pulse of their country and her management. From there, to propose ideas on addressing the mistakes of those in the driving seat and on how to hasten that pace. From all government organs as from all levels of the private sector. From all areas of the civil society that included all interest groups and social movements. In some detail, women emancipation activists, youth interest defenders, anti-corruption crusaders, environmental protection campaigners, animal rights advancers, on. Say them, they were there. All to engage in a frank conversation of mistakes committed and of charting out a better way forward. All to knock their heads together and squeeze out better ways of advancing faster. To set the tone of this frank conversation, the helmsman of this state, President Paul Kagame, bared it all, no holds barred. He spelt out the mistakes of government ministers who had just been dropped. One by one, each minister’s transgressions were given in detail, in succinct terms, for all to digest. The transgressions having been observed by many, as social media were witness, the government officials had to step aside, as investigations proceeded unhindered. Whoever would be cleared, however unlikely that was, would get their clean bill of health. Whoever was confirmed to have abused their office and the citizenry at large, would have their day in court. It is as it should be: public office and property are no leader’s personal fiefdoms. Not in the past, not now, not ever in the future. It’s this message open to the world that sent ripples among some outsiders. Those outsiders, you know whom: they from the West who have made it their duty to repeatedly baptise the people of this country as “A Closed Society”. “Repeatedly” because, knowing the truth, they hope that the more often they repeat the lie, the more likely it’ll be taken for fact in the end. By the West, that it should see African leadership as condemned to remain servers of self-interest and to hell with their citizens. By African citizens to lose hope of ever believing in the possibility of shaping their own destiny, owing to their oppressive and exploitative leaderships. And, alas, heaven knows we have such self-server leaderships aplenty in Africa. However, bet on it, equally many are waking up to the fact of this “self-service” actually being “self-destruction” – except perhaps some “logs-in-the-eye” to Rwanda’s north and south. But God forbid that we should flog dead horses! Anyway, these Western evil-wishers, it looks like Rwanda is slowly but surely pulling the carpet from under their feet. What has been their bête noire is proving to be more open than their ideal western democracies. And, yes, attracting the fancy of other African countries. Which is why I send this plea to the Rwandan leadership. Bare this Umwiherero to the world in its entirety as you do, the National Dialogue (Umushyikirano), Umuganda, et al. Let their names be imprinted in the vocabulary of the world. For this Umwiherero, as an example, who wouldn’t have loved to see how President Kagame so often ceded the stage to some barely-out-of-teen-years youths to listen attentively to their opinions? And, as good students all, sitting among cabinet ministers as among captains of industry, young ICT geeks as septuagenarian ‘historicals’, women-issues pushers as anti-corruption militants, etc. And all these take turns to take to the stage and argue out their presentations, to the attentive ears of all in the audience. These past 25 years have witnessed repeated efforts by this leadership at pushing for transparency, accountability, perform-or-part-ways, etc. It seems in these coming years, the word “repeat” is going to be erased from the Rwandan lexicon. Indeed, last Wednesday’s shake-up in cabinet and other government departments is an early indicator. My crystal ball tells me that the next 30 years will see action like never before. The views expressed in this article are of the author.
