Rwanda is certainly a new nation

PRESIDENT Paul Kagame humbles me. His strength is in love, humility and decency. Those who think Rwanda isn’t changing for the better are dead wrong, I don’t know which script they read from. Look at our milestones since independence, first, from a society torn apart by the misrule of yesteryears, and then a new era of a united and ambitious people. Before liberation, Rwanda was characterised by repression and discrimination, mass illiteracy and animosity; one party dictatorship; narrowing of the economy; biting poverty; division and sub-division of the population; corruption, nepotism and “building the akazu”; recruitment, training and arming of Interahamwe militia; genocide; mass exodus of the population; among other social ills.With liberation came mass repatriation of the population; dismantling of the interahamwe militia and their genocidal ideology; zero tolerance to corruption, zero space for nepotism; forging unity in our diversity; encouraging foreign direct investment; building infrastructure; reducing extreme poverty via unconventional means; expansion of quantity and quality of education to all without discrimination; eradicating nyakatsi (thatched houses, which largely remain a pipe dream in Africa), rural electrification (unparalleled in Africa), regaining country’s respect, keeping peace beyond our borders and beyond Africa; mature, decent, responsible and non-destructive democratic and media discourse; reigning in the coercive forces (army, police, intelligence etc) contrary to the African template’ a generally clean and decent government contrary to the African template; achieving food security and mass medical insurance; and, last but not least, investing in and literally being in constant love with the young people. A picture like this humbles even the meanest of critics. Clearly our dignity was built piecemeal, from 1994, but for some of us nothing clicked, we just thought good things were happening, period. A new Rwandan citizen is slowly but inevitably evolving from the two decades of building our dignity. For this new Munyarwanda, the tags of Hutu, Tutsi or Twa are receding into their subconscious the same way being Umucyaba, Umuyenzi, umwega has done. Instead, the young Banyarwanda are being increasingly defined by interests, the exchange rate, the price of crude oil, whether labour is rewarded adequately, whether justice is available and in good time, what the capital markets are saying each morning, whether bright students will access scholarships and soft loans, religious tolerance (in a sea of intolerance), which agricultural products have a good price and where, whether the city’s by-laws need a review, whether services rendered to the public are adequate, which ICT products can accelerate service delivery, whether domestic workers have a good deal and so on and so forth. Listen to the discussion on the local FM stations and you’ll agree with me. I know President Kagame doesn’t enjoy heaps of praise, he says it is us who have done it and we should praise ourselves, but let me say this; from the many fellow Banyarwanda I talk to, Bwana President you have been our guiding spirit and the energy. You have been our bread when we are hungry, your have been our shelter from troubled winds, you have been our anchor in life’s ocean but, most of all, you have been the defender of our dignity and an honest friend. You are the best symbol of dignity Rwandans could have ever hoped for. God bless you. (Online reaction to the story, ‘Young Professionals raise over Rwf670m towards Agaciro’, The New Times, October 6).Hope

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Rwanda is certainly a new nation