Ladies und.. Gentlemen, please allow me to undr.. you on this great occasion (borrowing a statement from the Field Marshal General Idi Amin Dada R.I.P.); never mind the unfinished words, just read between the lines. You know, we as villagers are fond of rumbling on and on, sometimes we talk in metaphors that are only known to those that went to school the same time we did. Surely, how on earth does one expect the “Dot Com” children to understand us? Just as I compile this piece of trash, a number of very important “Villagers” are here in this great Country, reason, they have been invited to come and witness the making of history. I won’t dwell on that too much, anybody worth calling somebody knows what I am talking about, if you don’t, then there must be something seriously wrong with you or your way of perceiving things! Alor (let us continue), as they say, all roads and skies led to Kigali. Kigali City was a beehive of activities. In the weeks running up to the 6th day of September 2010, people were busy working tooth and nail, preparing the city to receive the guests. The wonder of the year is the speed at which the Kigali – SOPETRAD road was dissected and reassembled (in record time); the road was split into what is technically called a “duo carriage way”, it was fitted with ultra modern lights, grass grown in the centre of the road, trees and bushes grown at the upper side, all that in record time, aye! What struck many was the fact that, on the evening of one day, the men and women working on the road were busy planting the grass, come the next morning, the grass had grown and was getting bushy such that, they had to hire some men to come and “lawn mow it” ( kogosha ubwatsi). Surely, where there is a will, there is a way! Come the day, most of the gusts must have been overwhelmed by the great beauty of the City, leave alone that of our “natural flowers”, the roads were so neatly done and organised. This reminded me of the state of the roads from N’djili Airport via Kingasani to Kinshasa Ville, I suppose, H.E. Yosefu must be reeling with a mixture of anger and awe as to how a country with virtually no resources could achieve such success and yet, his that sits on plenty of gold mines is still living in the twentieth or even the nineteenth century! I managed to overhear some foreign journalists (on their TV talk shows), they were all praises for the achievements of Rwanda. Surely that made me feel very good completely and also, this is a victory for all of us. That is why I have decided to address all of you in this manner. Great thanks go to the “Top Villager(s) and sous villagers” that make this country what it is. I’m very glad that, at long last, the Great Lakes’ troubles are eventually being put behind us, all this can be attributed to our leaders’ efforts in the right direction. mfashumwana@fastmail.fm
