Last Saturday morning, President Paul Kagame and some of Africa’s leading sports personalities met to talk sports- its role and development in Africa. They gave us more than their thoughts on sports. We got a testimony on the power of inspiration. At the end of a fireside chat with the president, Mr Masai Ujiri, president of the Toronto Raptors, told him: You give me the confidence to walk as an African. It was a simple but powerful statement, spoken from the heart, a sincere appreciation of the President Kagame’s inspiration of confidence in other people. Rwandans, of course, know this. They know how empowering belief in one’s worth and ability is and how the knowledge that you can make things happen and change your circumstances is liberating. The Rwanda we see today is the result of this change in the way they regard themselves. On the flipside, nothing can be as debilitating and confidence-sapping as the absence of faith in one’s worth and ability. Which was the situation here barely three decades ago. Then this fair land was a little known small and poor country whose citizens doubted their ability to survive on their own and so looked to do-gooders from outside the country for sustenance. They thought they did not and could not have a voice or influence matters. Such was the extent to which a sense of fatalism and dependency, encouraged, sadly, by the government of the day, had been etched on the national psyche. Rwandans also know that other Africans share this knowledge and the benefits that come with it, and acknowledge the person behind this changed attitude to self. They know that Rwanda today is a place where things get done. It is not a nation of matters pending. Still, it was good to hear an outsider, albeit a regular visitor and friend of Rwanda, confirm what to us is common knowledge. This is perhaps to be expected. Rwanda under Kagame has made a complete turn, from a timid, self-isolated country of little consequence to a more confident nation, sure of itself, and more engaged on the continent and beyond. It is true, of course, that whatever President Kagame does and says is primarily directed at Rwandans. He is always urging them to aspire to, and work for, greater things; never to settle for less. To know their worth, be the best they can be, but always remaining who they are. To work together. But very often all this is also addressed to other Africans on the continent and wherever else they may be. It is good that some are listening and noticing and have been touched the right way. And so, Kagame and Rwanda have become champions of Pan-Africanism without sounding the trumpet about it., or even claiming it as such. It is up to the beholder to notice whether the effect of pronouncements and actions advance Pan-Africanism or not. This is because the Rwandan approach departs from what we are used to. It is of a more practical nature in which concrete action furthers the ideals of Pan-Africanism. In this sense the well-being of citizens is paramount and so perhaps the first step is to inspire in them a feeling of confidence and sense of purpose, and dignity as human beings. Support for practical initiatives that promote greater integration like the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) must be seen in this light. Sport too is another way of building confidence, breaking barriers and fostering cooperation. The offer to house asylum seekers facing various forms of danger, give them a home even if only for a short period, is because of a recognition of their humanity and aims to restore their dignity. Contribution to restoration of peace and security where that has been severely compromised is another such initiative. It is born out of the knowledge that instability in one part of Africa is instability for all and hurts the wellbeing of everyone. This action and results-oriented approach is what makes the Rwandan way attractive and inspires confidence, and different from what we are familiar with. For instance, there are others, the rhetorical sort, who make Pan-Africanist pronouncements without doing much about how it can be realised. It remains little more than an attractive ideal. There is also the ideological sort for whom Pan-Africanism is like a religion, with temples and tenets to learn, rituals to observe, and regular congregations and preachers. Like in most religions, devotees recite the tenets learnt by heart, confess the faith and then go on to live their usual lives, unchanged. But if observance alone were enough, we would be living in the Pan-African paradise, not dreaming about it. Obviously fervour does not always match action. Which is why we are still where we are. Back to last Saturday. Mr Masai Ujiri spoke for many Africans whose number is growing. Rwandans should take pride in the fact of their president being able to have impact on the lives of others. This ability to inspire is one of his many great attributes for which he has earned the respect and admiration of many. Ironically, it is also one for which he gets a lot of stick. Strange world, this.
