There signs that Covid-19 is fast getting behind us and we are returning to normal. Or perhaps we are only learning to live with it, finding some sort of accommodation. Isn’t it too early to sound that optimistic? When we are even taking a second booster shot? You might ask, with understandable scepticism. Or if you are the suspicious type you wouldn’t want to say this aloud lest the virus return, and with more viciousness. But look around at what’s happening. We are beginning to talk about the pandemic in the past tense, making it a point of reference in recent history as something that started and ended. You might again dismiss that as only a state of mind, our mental disposition to see it as already behind us, really a wish to return to the familiar and reassuring. Probably. Still... Away from the pandemic, there are unmistakable signs of a return to normalcy in Rwanda. We saw one such last week. President Paul Kagame resumed his citizen outreach programme that had been interrupted by Covid-19. He visited the Southern and Western provinces and met large cheering crowds. These outreach programmes are hugely popular, and judging from the President’s reception last week, they were greatly missed. You saw it in the crowd, their excitement especially when the President entered the venue and went around greeting them. TV and radio commentators caught the mood of the crowd. It was in their voices which they raised above the din and made it sound like the entry of a rock star. They made us expect a star performance. We usually get one, but of a different sort. Not the celebrity type meant to mesmerise audiences with more stage effects than substance, more manner than meaning, to bamboozle and awe, or excite and flatter, or massage and soothe and lull. His act is different. It is a conversation where truth is told. He tells it as it is even if it causes discomfort. Wrong is wrong, not ‘slightly mistaken’. Ugly is that, not ‘rather unpleasant to look at’. Negligence is what it is, not ‘a lapse of attention’, and incompetent is not ‘amateurish’ Good is also good but can be better. If this were theatre, it would fall under the realist school. The programme is also uniquely Rwandan, a feature of both governance and presidential style. I have not seen or heard of many places where the president visits, interacts with citizens, listens to and solves their problems. Only in Rwanda. In other places, it does not happen outside the five-yearly ritual of elections, or perhaps a gloating visit to a rebellious region that has been beaten into submission, or where there has been a horrible disaster to show that he does not, after all, have a heart of stone. Here, ordinary Rwandans in the provinces look forward to the visits. They want to see their president up close. And he obliges. They see him. He is not someone they hear about or only hear his voice on radio and see his face on TV. He is real. It is an occasion for some to give testimony of the progress they have made and thank him for his leadership, and for others to present him with problems for him to resolve. This latter part is the most keenly awaited moment. I am not sure local leaders are overly keen to host the president in their areas. They probably have mixed feelings – eagerness and dread. A presidential visit to their district puts them in the limelight. They share a platform with the president and bask in the attention it gives them, hopefully for the duration of the visit, but more often. for only its first few moments. But it also puts them on the spot, especially when it is revealed that some things are not going well in their area. They come under scrutiny and inevitably some not-so-nice things come to light. The limelight turns to nightmare and the momentary warmth in the presidential sun to a cold shiver. For the president, too, it is an occasion to see the country and its progress. Of course, he knows this from the reports he gets. But he still wants to see it first hand and hear it from real people. He also wants to connect with them. He may not be the glad-handing, hugging type, but he has a special bond with ordinary Rwandans. It comes from a genuine concern for their wellbeing and a strong desire, actually mission, to improve it. They also see it, sense it. It is real. The visits are also an opportunity to keep leaders focussed on their job, on their reason for being in positions of power and authority, which is service to the people. All this is happening again. The citizen outreach programme is back. We are getting back to normal. The views expressed in this article are of the writer.
