Liberation of the “mind” remains the greatest task

Fifteen years down the road, the Rwanda Patriotic Army, now Rwanda Defense Force, and their then political wing the Rwanda Patriotic Front, will today celebrate their successful effort to liberate Rwanda from the autocratic and tyrannical Habyarimana regime. 4th July is remarkable because that’s the day that thousands of Rwandan refugees young and old, women and men ,living in exile in countless countries revived their hope of “coming home” again. The success of this revolutionary movement did not only revive the hope of the refugees who had unwillingly left their motherland for about 30 years, but it also revived the hope of people who were under terrible oppression with in the country. The Habyarimana regime was an abominable regime whose policies and principle were segregative in nature; it had no provision for the equal opportunity of her nationals, especially in the field of education. It was commonplace that during his regime a certain group of people were not allowed to exceed a certain level of education. People had not tasted what a democracy was like and the whole nation was in a state of misery except for the few who were the “rightful owners of the national cake” (most whom were the masterminds of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi). The image of Rwanda, and her people, in the eyes of the world hit rock bottom because of this clique of individuals. Their political and economic machinations remained threatened by the silent oppressed people, who bided their time as they waited for the ‘spark’ that would light the fuse. Therefore when the brave men and women of the RPF/A entered their homeland Rwandans of moral stature, regardless of color, height , size and the length of the nose were overjoyed. The success of the RPF revolution has changed Rwanda’s image and history shall remember its amazing success story. The revolution ushered in a return to democratic values, equal distribution of national resources, equal access to public services such as health and education, amazing infrastructural development in terms of housing facilities, roads and unbelievable economic recovery- all the while managing to guarantee sustainable peace and security to her people. It also ushered in a government of National Unity whose role in strengthening unity and reconciliation among the people of Rwanda been out standing. One can not describe the achievements of this revolution and finish them in a fortnight. However, the greatest challenge that the visionaries still have is liberating the minds of the people of Rwanda. The seed of Genocide that were sowed among a certain category of people by the previous regimes need to be totally uprooted. Some Genocide promoters are still at large and they need to be fought by teaching the people to love their nation more than any thing else. The core principle of the RPA/ RPF war, which was patriotism, must be embraced by the Rwandan nation. Since early times, the Rwandans’ culture was that of patriotism and hard work attained through joining hands for a common purpose. It is very important therefore for us to revive this unity and patriotism. phatari@yahoo.co.uk