Borrowing a leaf from Rwanda

Unless someone has a compound complex and most likely being a renegade and disgruntled character of some sort to say the least, Rwanda’s capacity to build itself as a Nation is evident and vivid. The old adage says it better; actions speak louder than words. Whoever doubts Rwanda’s ever concrete and amazing Nation Building strategies should set their feet in Rwanda to witness this atmosphere of a fast-growing and vibrant Nation with a blend of Rwandan traditional and modern values to construct her long-term broken social fabrics. Some of these values are exploited through systems such as; Gacaca (traditional courts), Girinka (one cow per poor family), Ubudehe (community service), Guhunika (Food storage), Irondo (community police), creation of associations, cooperatives, microfinance, Universal Education (amazingly now this free Education goes up to senior six). All these are ways in which Rwanda has managed to create effective governance institutions to respond to its local needs through Rwandans themselves (the power of wananchi to build their civic society) without waiting for foreign assistance. There is a need to speak from within and not from without (outside actors) whether as critiques or under the disguise of NGOs. Such outside actors criticize Rwanda pretending to have a better knowledge of Rwanda than Rwandans who are enjoying peace they have never had before. There is always a temptation of bias any time one does something from without. More often than not, such a critique has no constructive end results because their aim is nothing but malice and sabotage due to their disgruntled and desperado character of their present milieu.Nation-building is an evolutionary process. It takes a long time. One of the problems with outside actors is that they come and go. While it may be considered useful for views from outside actors in order to allow the process of nation-building to proceed, whether this is the best method remains highly doubtable.As earlier mentioned, Rwanda has used a blend of her traditional values and local institutions based on homemade strategies and international models to build itself as a Nation. Today’s Rwanda’s development and stability is due to this blend – not to always wait for an outside intervention. This is an avenue for any nation to assert its participation in the world development and civilization.As a benchmark, the Association of First Nations National Chief Matthew Coon cited the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development (released in 2001 by the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard) proposal of a Nation Building Model of Economic Development. The project defined Nation-building as: Equipping First Nations with the institutional foundation necessary to increase their capacity to effectively assert self-governing powers on behalf of their own economic, social and cultural objectives. This is a multi-faceted process that for sure proceeds differently in each local context (Carolyn 2005).”The above study identified four core elements of a nation building model and if one looks at them critically sees Rwanda’s strategies at work: 1) genuine self rule (First Nations making decisions about resource allocations, project funding and development strategy), 2) creating effective governing institutions (non-politicised dispute resolution mechanisms and getting rid of corruption), 3) cultural match (giving first nations institutions legitimacy in the eyes of their citizens), and the need for a strategic orientation (long-term planning) (Carolyn 2005).In the same line of thinking, Almond and Verba in 1963 introduced the concept of Civic Culture to the development literature. The civic culture, which combines tradition and modernity, is one of the processes that sustain democracy. Almond and Verba defined as part of this civic culture the obligation to participate and the sense of civic competence and cooperation. They also noted the importance of the role of education in the development of a civic culture. Alexis de Toqueville had noted the importance of associations in sustaining democracy in America at its earliest stages (Carolyn 2005). Through Rwanda’s values and homemade solutions and strategies, it has managed to promote peace within the country and democratic participation of all people of Rwanda. It is a truism for anyone who is not seeking glories for personal and selfish ends to see what Rwanda has done in just 17 years to build itself. The Government of Rwanda has built Rwandan civil society, economy, and polity to meet the basic needs of Rwandans, so that they are not driven by poverty and seeds of inequality.In a nutshell, in spite of few problems here and there – typical of any human nature and society –the Government has managed to create a strong sense of unity, commitment and a culture of accountability within the citizens, and the nation at large, to eradicate the injustices of the previous governments. Accountability for past injustices can be a powerful component of democratization. Unity of command with a deep and long-term commitment is an essential element in nation building time immemorial and this is the way Rwanda as a Nation is confidently and with determination heading to. Dr Eugene Ndabaga is Umutara Polytechnic University Vice Rector in charge of academics

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Borrowing a leaf from Rwanda