What if Rwanda’s indigenous publishing grew…?

“In Africa, concerns loom large about how local books are to be published in an environment in which the economic and political interests of multinational firms dominate. Multinationals enter a market to earn profits. They are basically unconcerned with ensuring that particular kinds of books are published, and they care little about local booksellers or authors”, (Altbach & Teferra, 1998).Publishing should be a dedicated organ of any nation or people because it acts as a voice and custodian of knowledge. It is therefore sensitive in terms of national value systems and national pride. The UN affirms the role of books in modern cultural diplomacy when it concludes that wars originate in the minds of men and that it is in the minds of men that defences for peace must be built.This pronouncement becomes valid against the back-drop of the fact that books published by every nation become the voice and the heritage of that very nation. Countries have used publishing industry and books for that matter to disseminate and inculcate their cultural values and heritage heard, loud and clear and most importantly to preserve their values and cultural mores for the posterity. Although by and large the publishing industry remains opaque and obscure in most African countries, in Rwanda the situation is alarming. Local publishing and book industry has remained stagnant and in oblivion, no wonder majority of Rwandans can hardly tell the difference between a library and a bookshop or printing and publishing! To be fair to compatriots, this unfortunate phenomenon is not their fault because in post colonial Rwanda, no efforts by the successive governments were made to build this knowledge rich sector. Until 1990s all books were directly imported from colonial powers! Rwanda colonial masters had everything to gain in this sort of arrangement especially in terms of cultural imperialism and knowledge control- through curriculum design and development they knew how much Rwandans needed to learn based on what interested them. The national printing press (Imprimerie Nationale) existed only to produce a handful of teacher’s manuals-cum-pamphlets. Because of this setting, the population never connected and mingled with books, the situation which has continued to haunt us up to date. Publishing industry is the backbone of any nation’s literacy, educational and literary programmes and it plays a central role in the development of a nation without a solid foundation in book sector, knowledge base and construction remains superficial.For the past two decades, Rwanda has witnessed tremendous transformation in all other sectors of the economy, apart from publishing industry. Up to now we are still struggling with constructing the indigenous and local publishing houses. Although the textbook liberalization policy of 2007 did bring new life to the book sector in the country by opening doors to the international and regional publishers a lot still needs to be done to go beyond this stage. For the sake of ownership and sustainability there is a need to build indigenous publishing houses and sensitize Rwandans on benefits of having a vibrant and strong publishing industry. To give an example of some of the challenges of having a docile book industry incapable of producing and publishing your own history I will use the case scenario of the latest published book on Rwanda- Rwanda Inc. When this book was launched in mid January, 2013 I was one of the people who were immensely excited. Since I was not invited for the launch, I never got a chance to get the autographed copy by the authors. However, I was assured that I would grab a copy from one of the bookstores in town and read this masterpiece that describes President Kagame’s leadership style as company CEO. I made futile attempts looking for this book until I became frustrated. To most Rwandans, the only encounter with this book must have been on RTV or in the newspapers during the launch. Until I visited Ikirezi Bookshop looking for the same book, this is when I was told that this book published by Palgrave Macmillan US is restricted to African markets including Rwanda! Ironically this is a book written on Rwanda, but Rwandans are restricted and can hardly access the book? If we are to realize one of the pillars of vision 2020(transforming Rwanda into knowledge based economy), there is an urgent need to invigorate and nurture the indigenous publishing. Government should adopt more progressive policies that promote and encourage the establishment and development of indigenous publishing so that dependence on foreign and importation of foreign educational and reading materials is curtailed. Publishing and printing industries and the book trade should be accorded priority status and given the necessary facilities if these industries are to blossom and grow. Printing costs are very high in Rwanda compared to other countries in the region. For example can government consider tax waiver on papers which are primary raw material for book production? Incentives like writers’ awards, training of local authors and illustrators should be put in place. Guaranteed purchase for locally and relevant materials should be introduced. This would mean buying a quantity of any indigenously published book, provided it is assessed and approved by the concerned institutions especially Rwanda Education Board such books would be donated to schools and libraries.Government should take stringent steps to eliminate the reproduction and photocopying of published materials in violation of copyright and patent laws as well as misappropriation of intellectual property. A lot still needs to be done for the indigenous publishing to grow, but there is light at the end of the tunnel given where we were a few years back!The writer is an educationist, author and publisher.