Change with stability and continuity: A political homework. Part XIII

As pointed out in the previous article, the many readers of these series have raised legitimate concerns over the change homework facing our country, and to them time is of essence. Essence in that, the longer this debate lags on, the more anxiety and uncertainty it creates not only among Rwandan compatriots, but also foreign investors as well as friends of Rwanda. I did highlight my own experience of the exemplary leadership of President Kagame, and one that has enabled our country to register the highest rate of growth and development our country has ever recorded in our history as a country, as well as un-paralleled social transformation our country has attained in the shortest time in transformational records. The benefits of this exemplary leadership, or loss thereof, is the centerpiece of our current debate. That our country has attained this feat without basic natural endowments be they in form of natural resource, capital, or even our human capital (in its developmental stages itself) our country is seriously short of attests to the unusual causation process, and one all agree is simply unusual visionary leadership, and governance structures that have been put in place to manage our transformational process. If it weren’t for these rare leadership attributes which are of envy to many, both on our continent and beyond, this debate would not have arisen in the first place, and my series irrelevant by extension. But for what is at stake, the debate should be given its due weight, and for my part I will advance a strand of argument I have held consistent, that, the best change with continuity and sustainability formula: IS NO CHANGE AT ALL… my position, is informed by my hands-on experience (like of many other compatriots in the governments now, or in the past) with the exemplary leadership at stake in the change before us. Alternatives that are no alternativesThere are some very rare leadership qualities that, no change will capture in another potential leader among us. Some readers of these series did put a cross names of potential leaders among us who can take the baton come 2017. My answer to their propositions is based on my real experience of the potential candidates they suggested. For starters, I don’t intend to demean nor under-rate any one’s potential, or right to leadership of our country, for everyone of us can compete and has a constitutional right to be the leader of our country. But in my opinion, not every one of us has the skills, capacity, extra drive, verve, and indeed extra tenacity required of this national job. A tough and rough job, given that our country Rwanda is not another ‘normal country’.For the propositions made however, my answer has been simple, but based on my own experience of their competence and thus performance in the cabinet. For me, if one of us fails to manage a sector (Ministry) how can he/she manage a country? Management of country such as ours (which is really complicated) requires skills of highest level of coordination, supervision, patience, moderation and unusual balancing of intentions/actions, unlike in other environments/countries, short of which one fails totally, with attendant consequence to the whole country. That the names of ‘potential candidates’ mentioned (it is imprudent for me to divulge the names here) were not able to manage sectors (Ministries, and a number are humble enough to accept this fact) makes them lesser candidates for this very demanding job of Presidency. I say, ours is not a normal country (which I will articulate in the next series) for its past was the most abnormal past recorded in the history of independent African states, and save for our recent transformation and rebirth as country, the change at stake, may in fact perpetuate the abnormal Rwanda, most of us know. This is why the change debate cannot fail to capture and put in context the abnormality of our past, and the normalcy of our present Rwanda, which we honestly owe, to the iconic leadership of President Paul Kagame.In-born leadership qualitiesAs pointed out in earlier series, President Kagame’s visionary leadership has enabled our country to turn around in a record time unmatched in the history of post-conflict recovery countries, and register the highest transformation of any country in recent times. This is a fact that has been empirically proven by both bilateral and multilateral institutions, foreign friends, and people of goodwill, even the extremist critics of what is happening in our country (which they failed to do while in power except to leave us with indelible genocidal legacy…no one expects these to be positive anyway, they are eternal condemned by the sacrilegious sin on their conscious if they have any) and indeed visible across our country. His integrity and high level of objectivity in the management of state affairs, has earned him a CV that no other Rwandan CV can ever match. That any other would-be contender will lack his clout, as well as moral integrity not only among his own, but also among our international friends and development partners alike, makes the change home work highly questionable. More importantly, the fact that, the would be replacement will certainly lack his overwhelming legitimacy, and thus respects he commands both among his own as well as international friends of Rwanda, is a huge litmus test, every would be contender will certainly fail. His decisiveness and conviction to our cause as a people and country (qualities some have confused for dictatorship/authoritarian, and yet cardinal leadership qualities) has given us results none of us had ever imagined in this short period of time. But these are the same leadership qualities that have distinguished our country from most other African countries which are characterized by such vices of corruption, nepotism, clanism, cronyism, entitlement, and above all ‘big man mentality’. But as pointed earlier, these values are still work-in-progress and unless they become cultural norms/virtues of our national identity (which requires time) they remain as vulnerable as the country’s progress itself, if one factors in change. Collegial consensusNonetheless, a number colleagues of mine, both in cabinet then in 2003 and a few in the current cabinet did concur with my previous assessment by email, of the rare attributes of leadership President Kagame possesses, one that distinguishes him from the rest of most current crop of leadership, qualities we can’t sideline for any expediency, not matter which in our current debate, for they form its essence. These colleagues have argued that, he is born a leader, and rare even among African leadership spectrum, which is why many neighbours wish he was their president. If these are wishes of most neighbours, we can’t wish less for one of our own, whose contribution to our turnaround as a country is his trademark, full of substance beyond style typical of other African leadership. Thus, in the words of exemplary Singaporean Prime Minister Park Chung Hee “ I think you are born a leader, or you are not leader… you can teach a person to be a manager, but not a leader…70 per cent of what I am, I was born with it. Twenty to 30 percent was what I learnt to be what I am”. If this hypothesis is valid, (and I personally subscribe to the same, like most of my colleagues in leadership, former and present), which makes the change debate becomes, a homework. Dark horizonExcept for a few of our Y-generation brothers and sisters, who will find it difficult to conceptualise our past Rwanda, and as such fall prey to deceptive politics, and emotive rhetoric from all sorts of dubious characters as well as all sorts of media (print, electronic, and more so social media) of questionable integrity and creed, ours has been a very treacherous journey, and still is. Treacherous past because, it is now that we can call Rwanda, our country. One could have called it any name, before 1994 and indeed up until early 2000. Our Y-generation’s horizon is rather short possibly dates back no more than 10 years, a too short a time to conceptualise our country’s dark past trend, upon which we can then define its future, for we cannot manage our future, unless we firmly tame our abnormal past. It is simple to tell a tale our past if one has not lived it. It is heart breaking to tell it if you lived it. And although this (1994) date marked the maxima of inhumanity of our own, it also defined our dark past Rwanda, characterised by the extreme hatred of a people by a people hitherto known for brotherhood and sisterhood whichever one calls it. It is, therefore, a cut-off point in the life of our country, and a point of reference for generations to come. Much as it climaxed our dark past, our change homework has the highest probability, of trending another dark future, one we can’t afford, at least not in this century of global civility. To our compatriots attending Rwanda Day in London; I say, check it out: which Rwanda Day do we attend come 2018?To be continued… The writer is an economist and financial expert.