Alas! Ms. Victoire Ingabire not be a saviour for Rwanda, may be a grave-digger!

In The Independent, issue 099 Feb. 19-25, 2010, Andrew M. Mwenda, the Managing Director of the magazine wondered whether, the self-promoted politician could be Rwanda’s saviour as she claimed upon her arrival in the country, after sixteen years of self-imposed exile. We have, for some time now in this column, exposed at great length the ideological/genocidal background of Ms Ingabire, how she has been recycling revisionist rhetoric trying to woo those still enslaved into the ethnic categorization of Rwandans as a means to achieve selfish political aggrandizement. It is thus refreshing and encouraging to see that this regular analysis of the myth-maniac lady has indeed served as food-for-thought to other true Africans to ponder over the dangers that such simple-minded yet devilish discourses can bring, and has already brought to the African communities. And it is indeed very important that Ms Ingabire and her ideological friends and followers are not shunned only by Rwandans but rather treated as such by all peace lovers both on the African continent and beyond. Andrew Mwenda’s statement that “sadly for Ingabire, many countries in Africa can afford ethnic politics; but Rwanda cannot is, in our view only partly true. We adamantly agree that Rwanda cannot afford ethnic politics, but we also strongly believe that no other African should allow this. The violence that marred the last elections in Kenya should be enough to remind ourselves of the cancer that this is in society. Rwanda’s distressing experience should be on every sensible human being’s mind, especially in Africa where the ghosts are only asleep, only awaiting some pyromaniac to awaken them, the very devilish project of Ms. Victoire Ingabire. As a Rwandan, I really do appreciate and concur with Andrew Mwenda’s presentation of issues at stake that led him to concur with our own understanding, that Ingabire can never be Rwanda’s saviour but rather, I am tempted to say, the route to hell. It is very true that the self-styled politician’s “main issue in her campaign is her claim that those who killed Hutus in 1994 genocide have not been tried…” Indeed “another way of saying the Rwandan Patriotic Front (read the Tutsi) is guilty of genocide against the Hutu...” Yes Mr. Mwenda; these people have been treading on grounds trying to erase the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi by creating an imaginary one against Hutus. And you are right to put the story into its real context as we know how things happened. We can only hope they will not label you as “Black fury” in connivance with “White liars” when you state: “Were there Hutu civilians who died at the hands of the RPF in 1994? I think so, but must note that it was a war effort to save lives and stop the genocide. But this was never RPF’s official policy, otherwise who stopped them? Any soldier who killed innocent civilians was punished and heavily too. Moreover, the broader point should not be ignored: RPF ended genocide in Rwanda. It became the moral conscience of the country in its moment of national catastrophe and utter need”. We also agree with the observations by Mr. Mwenda when he argues against the double standards applied by the so-called scholars such as “Gerard Prunier and Prof. Rene Lemarchand espousing the revisionist theories when they argue genocide of the Tutsi against Hutu pointing out that they cannot make the similar argument in regard to Churchill and Roosevelt for whatever their acts or omissions cannot be put in the same dock with Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini as it is rightly unacceptable to attempt to create moral equivalence of the crimes of the Nazis with those who saved the Western civilization from fascism.” We could not agree more with the editor when he considers that “…for a presidential candidate in Rwanda to say those who ended genocide should share the dock with those who orchestrated it; that victims of genocide should be tried alongside its architects, is irresponsible, insensitive and not worth being a leader. Whatever the mistakes and miscalculations, the RPF sought to end genocide – just like the UK and US during the Second World War sought to defeat fascism…” It is true that Ingabire has unsurprisingly failed to attract momentum behind her evil minded project that could only have spelt doom, yet Rwandans did have enough in 1994 and aren’t in for another one. Everywhere she has gone, people have indeed shunned her as the population, images and voices of the pre-genocide agitation are still vivid in their minds and are thus very skeptical of political agitators, and Ms Ingabire’s virulent rhetoric alienates any would-be follower. Her call for power sharing premised along ethnic lines sharply contrasts with the policy RPF government has advanced and that has been embraced by the Rwandan people as entrenched in the Constitution of seeing Rwandans as one people and de-emphasizing their ethnic composition. iving in the past, the over-ambitious vanguard of genocide ideology still opportunistically hopes to divide Rwandans to her political advantage and protect her constituency that seemingly is comprised of Genocide convicts like her own mother and those she has been visiting since her arrival in Rwanda, albeit some have also repented of their sins and aren’t with her in her evil project. Fortunately, Rwandans today know pretty well how dangerous such a path is and we trust they have proven wisdom to understand the danger she stands for and the pros of moving forward with the developmental strides that are on course. The never again motto is not just another slogan, at least not in Rwanda, and the likes of Ingabire have no place in the politics of today, but rather that of pre-1994. Ends