Rwanda’s eyes on the future

This week Rwanda marks two important days in its history. There was mention of the events related to the two occasions, but all eyes were on the future, not the past.On Sunday July 1st, the country celebrated fifty years of independence. People used to lavish feasts must have been disappointed because, well, there wasn’t too much of a feast. There no long speeches extolling the virtues of independence or bashing colonialism. We were not made to listen to a long recitation of remarkable achievements one usually hears at similar celebrations elsewhere. There aren’t many of these, anyway. And surely you can’t celebrate failure or missed chances. Nor do you cry over them forever. Better to forget a past you cannot alter and move on to a future you can shape.The mood was less celebratory, but more reflective. The word reflection was on the lips of everyone who spoke. But if the nation was meditative about missed opportunities, it was also expectant and hopeful about the future. President Paul Kagame used the word future more times than any other in his address to the nation on Sunday.Tomorrow, July 4th, Rwanda will mark the 18th anniversary of liberation. We will be reminded that this became necessary because independence failed us, or more precisely, we failed ourselves. And although there have been remarkable achievements, many of which exceeded expectation, there won’t be mention of them. We will simply carry on as if nothing has happened, do other great things, and go on like everything was just falling in place as it was ordained to.This attitude is typical of Rwanda today. No one says much about it because it is not exceptional as it falls neatly into the national character. The modern Rwandan is self-effacing, not a braggart. The new way in Rwanda is to downplay success and stress more the hard work ahead, in other words, the future. This attitude is perfectly understandable because we are playing catch up and won’t do that if we sit on if we sit on our laurels.President Kagame’s message on Independence Day carried this urgency. He told his audience to stop looking backwards, pitying themselves and blaming others for their failures. He urged them to get on with it.His message was primarily directed to Rwandans, but it was obvious it had relevance beyond our borders.The low key celebration in Rwanda in a sense gives independence new meaning – actually restores its meaning. Independence Day is not an annual excuse for lavish spending and other extravagant gestures, or for chest-thumping and lambasting others. It is more a time to take stock about the direction we are moving and the pace at which we are going.At fifty we should have no need to justify ourselves to anybody, including our citizens. Unfortunately, in many countries the occasion seems to provide a perfect opportunity for self-justification. At such an age, the blame game should have stopped and answers to new challenges should have been found. As President Kagame said, Independence Day should serve as a reminder to Africans to assume responsibility for the advancement of our countries. After all, that was the reason for agitating for independence in the first place – to have the right to manage our own affairs. But surely that did not mean the right to manage them badly or irresponsibly.The occasion of Rwanda’s 50th independence anniversary brought to mind the unchanged circumstances in parts of Africa. Internal division is rife and conflict remains. Control of our countries has returned, this time by other means (not that it has ever ended really). In some cases there are some governments that do not have complete control over their territory and will not accept their responsibility.It is all an uncomfortable reminder about how Africa lost its independence in the first place – through internal weaknesses, divisions, failure of states to unite resulting from suspicions about each others’ intentions, and collaboration (out of greed or ignorance) with colonisers. There are fears of re-enactment of the events of the late 19th century.The guarantee to independence, now and at the time, was the collective strength that can only come from unity, cooperation and viable political and economic entities. Hopefully current attempts at creating such entities through increased Intra-African trade and integration will mean that history does not repeat itself.This should be the lesson from the loss of independence during colonialism and the loss of opportunity in the years that followed the end of formal colonial control. It should also be the answer to the new methods of control. That’s the way to ensure a future free of external control and one of prosperity freedom. Rwandans, by refusing to be held by the past and wasting valuable time and resources on ceremony, but focussing more on what lies ahead, want to create that future.

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Rwanda’s eyes on the future