Why legitimacy can only be measured from a citizen perspective

“What I wanted to tell everyone is to know that this army is the foundation of our party, do you understand what foundation means? This army will be the foundation of changes that will happen in this country. Therefore, everyone should always be mindful of the politics that pushed us to take up arms and fight. “For that reason, our actions and our way of thinking every time should differentiate us from those we are fighting against, alright? Because, if there is no difference with those we are fighting, there is no reason to fight.” These originally Swahili words were spoken by President Paul Kagame while addressing RPA Inkotanyi soldiers on February 21, 1991, in Karame, north-eastern Rwanda. One of the things that had to differentiate Inkotanyi and the genocidal regime was the respect for human rights, which at the time included women’s rights. Had the country not made gender equality reforms and other changes in Rwanda, the liberation struggle would not have made much of an impact. But rewinding, various sources have told me on several occasions that Kagame said that the liberation struggle was everyone’s responsibility. To him, everyone included women too. He went on to have a female-led and dominated battalion, Yankee, which played a great role in capturing Kabuga, the first strong enemy position to be defeated. It is also a well-known fact that women played several important roles in the struggle other than going to the battlefield. A big number of them were nurses, they ran RPA’s businesses to generate income, and they took care of the children when their husbands were fighting, while some even left toddlers, all to liberate a country that would then be their home. It is on record that President Kagame has always been a huge supporter of women empowerment. Women around the world would kill to have him as their president, except politics does not work like that, so we get to keep him for ourselves. So, excuse us when it comes as a shock when he is accused of genderwashing. Has this word lost its meaning? Or, is it that anything to do with Kagame bothers some people? In an article headlined “How Autocrats Use Women’s Rights to Boost Themselves” by Professors Elin Bjarnegård and Pär Zetterberg, they say Kagame rigged elections. But I can’t help but wonder, which elections? The ones where we woke up earlier than usual to have him as our president again? The one where women wore their best Imishanana, did their hair and nails as if their pictures were to be on their finger print? Rwandans would have voted for their president in their sleep. Even his opponents know this. They knew it before they even ran. And there is no better day for us than that where we get to re-affirm what we have decided since 2003, because for the very first time, Rwandans had to vote for their president. But let every unwise accusation slide for a minute. Two professors of political science at a respectable Swedish University sat and decided to manipulate the definition of the word ‘genderwashing,’ just so Kagame can fit in the worn-out narrative of ‘wannabe politicians’ who want to prove they can see the unseen. Before we even get there, self-acclaimed researchers have come up with terms such as ‘genderwashing.’ In normal circumstances, you can’t be both an advocate and oppressor. But in modern day politics, we have dictators and benevolent dictators. We have gender equality champions who are at the same time ‘genderwashing’ autocrats. They make dictatorship sound so sweet, yet wrong at the same time. They can see positive rapid change, but they brand it “strategies to seek legitimacy.” But they forget legitimacy can only be measured from a citizen perspective. In this particular case, we should take a position already. Kagame is either a gender equality champion or a sexist, misogynist, women’s rights oppressor, name all the bad stuff, and it would be pathetic, even shameful for anyone to identify him with the latter. Here is how. When he was elected president, for the first time in Rwanda’s history, “all Rwandans are born and remain equal in rights and freedoms,” article 16 of the Rwandan constitution of 2003 as amended in 2015 states. Actually, let us begin from when the RPF liberated the country. A study conducted in 2003 by Jennie E. Burnet and Rwanda Initiative for Sustainable Development (RISD) indicated that neither colonial statutory law nor post-colonial statutory law specifically protected women’s rights to land before 1994. The study reveals that Article 4 of Law No. 2/08/1913 stipulated that “women could not engage in commercial activities or in paid labour or enter into a contract without the express consent of their spouses.” It was also just in 1998 that this law was modified by Law No.42/1998 that allowed women to open bank accounts without their husbands’ consent. In an interview with The New Times, Annie Kayiraba, the Executive Director of RISD said that the milestone of women’s rights in post 1994 is the enactment of the Law No. 22 of 15/11/1999 supplementing Book I of the civil code and instituting part five regarding matrimonial regimes, liberalities and successions, replaced by Law No. 27/2016 of 08/07/2016. This law allows for equal land inheritance of both girl and boy child, with no discrimination. Another one is the organic land law No 08/2005 of 14 /07/2005, updated as Land Law No. 03/2013/06 of 16/06/2013; with the latest change in Law N° 27/2021 of 10/06/2021, which stresses equal rights to property for legally married couples, as well as the prohibition of any form of discrimination in relation to access and management of land. These milestones only prove that the Swedish professors had a bigger assignment to prove how political commitment of the post genocide government towards gender equality was a mere strategy for Kagame and the RPF to seek legitimacy. Even the assumption that these reforms were Kagame’s strategies only exposes their corrupt minds that RPF is a ‘boys club.’ Their sexist minds do not even acknowledge the contribution of women themselves in gender equality reforms in Rwanda, yet they spearheaded it. They say that: “gender equality reforms tend to involve little risk to the regime compared to changes that might strengthen the opposition.” As if gender equality reforms and “other changes” they did not care to mention are an either-or decision. Something that eludes their minds is that gender equality itself is a right and not a favour, just like Kagame himself put it. They keep going, can you believe it? They say: “in many autocracies, women legislators have tended to be more loyal to their respective parties than men are,” which brings up a question whether men tend to be less loyal just for the sake. They also say: “women are often more dependent on party hierarchies and leadership because they have limited access to other pathways to politics,” which only proves that they question women’s ability to rightfully venture into politics. How sexist! Well, I hate to pop their ignorant bubble. The Global Gender Gap Index ranks Rwanda the second most gender equal country in Africa and seventh in the world, with a score of 80.5 percent. This position was not earned because of electoral gender quotas per se. Women own more land than men in Rwanda, yet less than three decades ago, they didn’t have any. I can go on and on and on. Yet we still consider our journey a long one. Rwanda has been ranked by several reports among the safest countries in the world to live or travel in as a woman. Can you believe that? Not even the US has achieved this- although they aren’t a measurement for success. The history of Kagame and women empowerment goes far back, if only the world could learn from him. If only journalists, professors, politicians understood that “what we have set out to do is not for the half-hearted, let alone the heartless,” in Kagame’s voice. If you can describe the dignity Kagame has given to Rwandan women as genderwashing, it is not a bad thing after all, and we, Rwandan women, expect nothing less. Most importantly, Kagame knows better than making women pawns. Women have carried this nation on their backs, and it’s a shame that we often don’t give credit where it’s due. Kagame deserves his his flowers, so please give them!

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Why legitimacy can only be measured from a citizen perspective