Will hate-peddling sustain Rwanda National Congress?

From a carcass of a country just 17 years ago, Rwanda is now on its feet and running like many other countries that have not experienced what it went through. Literally, in all aspects of development and governance, the country has a respectable ranking amongst nations. The of Kayumba, Karegeya, Gahima and Rudasingwa clique, known by all and sundry for the wrong reasons are packed in a certain Rwanda National Congress (RNC), which sees the situation differently. And they offer to tell the true story as “experts” on Rwanda. The group has baptized itself “politicians” and is now attempting to sleepwalk to the highest political office in Rwanda through a “political liberation campaign” whose single point programme is hatred for one man; President Paul Kagame. Rwanda, in their eyes is a one-man country. That man is the embodiment of Rwanda’s democracy, accountability, transparency, human rights and even climate change issues. Under their hatred programme are sub-programmes of smear campaigns, insults, defamation against the First family, character assassination, malicious lies, building suspicion and finally stooping so low as to become Genocide apologists just because Kagame will never be one. Besides hatred, guilt and the usual African trademark politics of manipulating populations, I have found very little else. But time is not cheatable. My humble opinion, from experience, is that sooner than later, sure as night follows day, time will expose them as hate mongers, contemptible and opportunistic gamblers. Why do I say this? First, their construction of their hatred of President Kagame falls short of disclosing what the quarrel is/was. We all remember that these fellows were senior Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) cadres entrusted with heavy responsibilities and trusted to execute them exemplarily. We also know, that their quarrel with the RPF and its leader started when it was proven beyond any shadow of doubt that they had turned this trust and power into a multipurpose vehicle for primitive accumulation of personal wealth, sowing division in the National army, building personal fiefdoms, abusing the rule of law and its due process, thieving from the Private and Public sector and meting out reprisals to whoever was not toeing their line. In short, they espoused the typical devil that has consigned many African countries to injustice, impunity, pot-holed roads, empty hospitals, mass illiteracy, ethnic politics, angry and hungry citizens among other mishaps. Yet, the RPF wanted (and still wants) to be different! These are facts they will not change just by insulting or trading baseless allegations against President Kagame. They can traffic hatred but its basis is illegitimate and will surely bounce back. Rwandans will read, yes, but will hold them in contempt. Understandably, they could not absorb the shock because, in Africa, once one wields the kind of power they had, builds a constituency and has access to illegitimate resources, then he has a licence to impunity and is out of reach of the law; in fact he is law unto himself. They banked on this crude theory and got a crude awakening that tested their shock absorbers to the limit. Imagine this as a basis for forming and sustaining “the legitimate (or non surrogate) Rwandan opposition!” Secondly, while in their sleepwalk, they claim to be the voice of the oppressed, voiceless and ethnically discriminated people of Rwanda. I thought that if that was the case, we would not need any prompting to know about and question this. It is an overt act of insanity to suggest that Rwandans cannot tell whether they are in trouble or not. Rwanda has performed very well in several international rankings and polls that are well documented. International awards received by President Kagame and the country do attest to this. An oppressed and voiceless people do not perform like that. If somebody has not seen this or at least heard about it, there is a need to see a physician. Thirdly these “prospective” leaders seem focused on telling, in fact teaching us who Kagame is rather than who they themselves are. We know the man; we know his track record and stand on the issues that concern us. We twice voted him to Presidency, he is Rwanda’s President and we have a right to ask him to tell us whatever we need to know. For all that is known, President Kagame has never told any public rally, conference, meeting, journalist or anyone that he is a strategic thinker, a visionary leader, incorruptible and austere, a unifying leader or that he is responsible for Rwanda’s impressive growth. It is the people, who mandated him to lead them, who know and rate him that way. And they are not alone; international statesmen, renowned development economists and institutions, environmentalists, pro transparency activists, leaders of governments, etc, also know and rate him that way. However, Kayumba, Gahima, Karegeya and Rudasingwa are not bothered that their brand of politics is based on someone else’s imaginary negative narratives rather than on their individual solid positives. It seems they have run short of anything positive in their track records as a basis to deliver their dreams. Additionally they fail to realise that they are caught up in a serious and real integrity crisis; let’s remember that going to school is one thing and being educated is another. The fact that these deserters have no known stand on the issues that concern Rwandans such as; corruption, rights, health, education, investment, nutrition, housing, energy, water among others, implies that these men are malicious, egocentric men in charge of a struggle they would rather prophesy than be part of. Fourthly, these gentlemen are failing to read Rwanda’s story from the same page as we are. Rwandans do not belong to President Paul Kagame, he belongs to them. They love him with a passion bordering jealousy. It is not sycophancy as Rudasingwa wishfully thinks. It is true love. True love because Kagame’s story is that, with the people’s mandate, he has worked with and for them to construct a mindset of, and agree on concrete actions towards an achievable future; a future with dignity, hope, promise, pride, infinite possibility and equal opportunity. He has not only mobilised the people to take charge of the journey to that future, he has also ensured that power hungry elements like the foursome cannot disrupt it with impunity. The story of Rwanda is different. It is a story of a people who have internalised the achievability of that future and have, together with their leaders from grassroots to the President, decided to move in that direction, fast forwarding with courage and humility, doing what it takes and, fixing what needs to be fixed. The people now own the power to challenge orthodox theories of growth. They own the power to authorise their leaders to lead them or to withdraw their authority. Leaders will come and go; the journey to our future will not. How can “prospective leaders” who think they get everything right because they have PhD’s and who are mouthing us their intellectual prowess, be blinded by such hatred that they cannot see that these stories are two enigmas. Finally, the fellows have bundled themselves and others like them, into a Rwandan intelligentsia that is out of Government and/or in exile, and that the country bleeds profusely from the gaping capacity hole they left. This cannot be true of this particular brand of intelligentsia. An intelligentsia whose status detaches them from the masses (from whom they are born) and gives them unqualified licence to loot public resources and accumulate personal wealth at the expense of the masses is regressive. If the RNC leadership is the litmus test, clearly their track record places them in this brand. Like it always happens, the fate of hate mongers and political gamblers is not to sleepwalk to political office, but to disappear in thin air. RNC will not be any different. Ends