Let’s discard this bad culture

Since Friday last week, the story on most people’s lips was the much anticipated cabinet reshuffle, in which some senior Cabinet Ministers were assigned new responsibilities while new blood was introduced into cabinet. I say much-anticipated because since last year’s historical re-election, President Paul Kagame hadn’t made any change to the line-up, preferring to continue with the team that had served before the election. Indeed as usual, we Rwandans are good at providing analyses even where we are not best qualified. Before the reshuffle, grapevine was making rounds as to who would make it to the new line-up or who would be dropped. Soon after the reshuffle, you would be welcomed in a corner of groups of two or three in heated arguments of superficial analyses as to why some individuals were switched, others dropped or others brought into the fold. At times I wonder whether every one of us is a graduate of political science. Be it, motorcyclists, mechanics, plumbers, educated, semi-schooled or illiterate, you find them in deep conversations burdening themselves with analyzing how one has fallen or how one has risen. We all know that political analysts are the experts who know the core rules and regulations about politics and analyze politics behind each and every change. Therefore, not everyone is competent to have a deep understanding on these issues to be able to critically analyse them and come up with meaningful conclusions. The cheap talk that happens in our living rooms, bars, bus stops or saloons is largely informed by surface truth, gossip or rumors. You will be fed with misguided illusions as to how a certain official has been dropped because of belonging to group X or how a Minister was appointed because of paying homage to group Y. Usually, when a senior government official is given new responsibilities, we tend not to see it as an opportunity to render his/her competence and experience in another field but rather the beginning of his political demise. Different theories will emerge, how this individual has been sidelined either because the individual is incompetent or has been corrupt or refused to extend an offer to someone powerful in government or belongs to a weakening group that wields no power and authority. You will hardly hear the strengths of the individual in question. Can we accept change as a fact of life? One is not born an Army Chief or a Minister or a Director. These are positions of service that come and go. In some cases because individuals fail to accept this reality, once changes are evoked, the affected ones become disgruntled and begin to alienate themselves. The end result is running into exile with all sorts of concoctions. I was particularly impressed by an interview the former Minister of Energy Eng. Albert Butare gave The New Times on March 30th 2011 on how cabinet is training ground for which one must emerge out with skills to help you succeed in life. He says “cabinet is one of the most special training colleges I ever attended in my life. Upon graduation from this academy, as long as you are conscious of how you have performed, you have still acquired momentum good enough to push you through life. It is now that I see the benefits and enjoy the fruits of that training. From there you can easily fit anywhere, trust me.” Reading the latest utterances from Theogene Rudasingwa and his cohorts, you certainly understand that because of their megalomaniac character, they emerged out of this class with an F. We should learn to accept that in today’s Rwanda, the word ‘untouchable’ does not belong in this leadership’s vocabulary. In some countries, there are individuals who question the authenticity of the appointing power once their offices are tampered with. You find a bunch of ailing politicians, almost using walking sticks to their offices, still holding cabinet positions as if cabinet is a monarchial structure. Or you see in newspapers some of these ailing officials napping amidst serious national debates in parliament. Is this the kind of situation you want for this country? Let’s learn to accept that change is part and parcel of any dynamic society. Let’s not read misfortune or impairment in situations where individual’s responsibilities have been changed. Above all, let’s do-away with this tittle-tattle habit of trying to read foul in situations where good will is intended. We surely waste a lot of time and energy on these misplaced discussions that are of no value. Let’s leave it for competent individuals qualified in the field of revealing the relationships underlying political events and conditions. It’s a common habit that we need to discard.On twitter @aasiimwe or visit author’s blog aasiimwe.wordpress.com

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Let’s discard this bad culture