Diane Shima Rwigara: How long are we going to remain silent?

Review of Diane Shima Rwigara press conference on February 23rd 2017 in Kigali, Rwanda. She talked about issues such as poverty, injustice and insecurity in the country. She asked for the right to freedom of expression for Rwandans.

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How President Kagame Sacrificed women during the 1990-1994 war?

In summary: Rwanda’s fallacious women empowerment and how the RPA sacrificed women combatants in the struggle:

There is no country that divides the world opinion as Rwanda; A success model of post-conflict recovery yet a renowned repressive police state at the same time. Prime of what makes Rwanda a global star is a facade of women emancipation, but as Lieutenant Jeanne Umulisa; in a personal testimony; portrays; Rwanda’s women empowerment is simply a PR stunt.

As a lady who lost her youth in order to bring peace in my country despite the fact that our efforts and hard work were hijacked by the opportunists in the RPF /RPA and later the Rwandan Government, I feel duty bound to dispute the lies peddled by the government of Rwanda that she respects the values of women and considers them the foundation of national development.
To understand the pose and posit of a woman in Rwanda’s contemporary political dispensation, it is prudent to reflect on the value the RPA/F attached to women during the 1990-1994 war that later brought the RPA/F war to power. It is this value attachment that the RPA/F would later re-concretize while in power.
During the war, women in RPA were treated as commodities not human beings. For instance we were called ‘dry ration’- a term describing the tins of beans and dry food that soldiers ate while on mobile. So women were regarded as those tins of goodies. Women in RPA ceased to be human beings but rather seen as war equipment such as 120 mm mortar, 107mm Katyusha, 75mm recoilless and many more What does this mean?

In clearer terms, for example, young women soldiers who were based in the sick bays as nurse, doctors, assistants were named all sorts of abusive names to the extent of naming their bases as ‘Sodoma and Gomora’. In essence, the RPA commanders took us as sexual objects despite the fact that we were the ones who helped wounded soldiers. Constantly harassed and abused, women soldiers during the war faced both physical and psychological and mental degradation. At the climax of it all was that senior women soldiers started harassing their fellow junior women soldiers because of competition for men.

As early as 1991, I witnessed one of my colleagues spending a whole night tied up on a banana trunk in a Candoyi style, simply because she refused to sleep with a senior male officer Afande Kizza. Disturbed and helpless, I went to see the then Chief Political Commissar Afande Frank Mugambage. I explained to him the problems we were suffering and asked him what he thinks of the plight and future of us in our struggle. To my dismay, Mugambage only told me that he will answer my question in three years to come.
In early 1992 I was posted as welfare officer in one of our Sick Bay On arriving, I was called to go and see the Commanding officer Afande Charles Nzaramba. I was impressed by his disdain of the commanding officer he had just taken over, having characterised him as a “reckless, womaniser”, and that “all the nurses were carrying their knickers on their head”. But to my shock, when I later got up and saluted him in preparing to take my leave, he said to me that he thought I was going to spend a night with him.

Rose Kabuye, pictured in 1994 when she was a major in the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF). Once the RPF took power, she was appointed mayor of Kigali and later served as a member of parliament and a government official. She was arrested in 2008 having been charged by a French court for alleged involvement in the incident that sparked the genocide in 1994.

To say I was dumbfounded is an understatement. To say I was shocked would be an injustice. No words can explain how I felt of a man who, in front of me, had castigated his predecessor of being sexually reckless. Having out rightly declined his advances, he ordered his escorts to take me to Mabuso (code word for a prison in a military jargon). When I got there, I asked an intelligence officer to give me a paper and pen to write my statement. In my statement, I requested him to forward it to the high command, but before I handed over to the intelligence officer Afande Byarugaba, a political officer called Afande Nyagatoma (RIP) came in and read through the statement. He promised me that he was going to handle the case himself not Intelligence Officer because the Commanding Officer would be in trouble. Afande Nyagatoma left and came back after an hour, immediately asking me to return to my base. Since that time my relationship with the commanding officer Charles Nzaramba only graduated from bad to worse, and yes, to worst.

A Month later, we were invited by civilians to attend international women’s day The CO, Admin, doctors, nurses and myself went there. On arrival, the CO introduced all other people and did not introduce me. Later we were joined by Afande Muzungu Munyaneza. After the women chairperson had made her speech, she asked us if we have anything to say on that special day. Others silent, a nurse colleague named Candari one of the senior nurses sent me note asking me to be their ambassador.

Not unfamiliar to challenges, I stood up to the embarrassment of the CO who had not introduced me; and intentionally so. My short speech that day focussed on the role of women in the development of their societies and nations and how women in unison should raise the bar and do more; especially in hostile patriarchal-dominated African societies. In a rare display of admiration, on our way going home and in reference to my speech, Afande Muzungu Munyaneza told me he didn’t know that out there they are girls who are smart and intelligent. He then told me that I should get up and fight for our rights because our image as in women in the struggle was tarnishing.

Towards end of 1992, I got a chance to visit Umutara region and interact with my fellow women combatants.
As they narrated the horror they were going through, not from the enemy fire but from their fellow men combatants, a sense of hopelessness and helplessness took the part of me. One of them names withheld due to security reasons told me that she is no longer a human being but rather a “120 mm mortar”. Another one names withheld due to security reasons said that she is 75 recoilless and went on to say that she only wishes to meet her old Dad and Mom and apologise for having left them alone.

“I thought I am a human being, a Rwandan, with a right to fight for my country but now I regret,” she told me, with tears rolling down her cheeks. This sense of betrayal of a cause we had sacrificed so dearly for reignited my resilience to follow up on this issue of women harassment to its logical conclusion.

When I arrived at my base, I sent a message to CPC Frank Mugambage and reminded him of my pending question. I also sent another message Afande Rose Kabuye who was regarded as head of women in RPA, requesting for an audience, such that we could discuss women’s abuse- a cancer that was almost tearing up the struggle into pieces.
When she gave me that audience (dates please and place of meeting), I raised my concerns about women’s abuse and what i think should be done to avert the situation. Her reaction was not for the weak-hearted. She told me that we have failed her so she has nothing to do. I asked her that whom she is leaving us with then but a reply never came forth. To quote her in Swahili, which is actually the military’s lingua franca, Rose said: “Wamesikyana wa menishinda, sina cya kufanya’ then I responded ‘ sasa Afande umetuwaca, umetuwaciya nani?” With no response in sight, i got up, saluted her, and left not in peace but in bewilderment.

Meanwhile, the abused girls who got pregnant were sent back to Uganda and some of them were harassed by the commanders wives back home.
I remember one woman by the names of Joyce came to where the Girls who had had babies were based before there were sent home. On arrival, she sarcastically said: “We sent you to fight not to have babies.” I looked at her and didn’t say a word but in my mind, I had literally “killed” her seven times.

By mid-1993, I had literally run out options. I had approached some of the senior officers to help but they didn’t. Although some of them promised, others said that they didn’t want to get involved. Young soldier were concerned but had no way out to help, then I asked one of my colleagues if she knew Afande Kabarebe. In response, she said that he is a good man but she can’t predict his reaction on the issue. I told her that it is worthy to try. The next trial was writing to Afande James.

In the strongly worded letter, I raised my concern about how we were treated in the struggle and for that matter, I needed his audience. Without mincing words, I explained that if nothing is done to check the rampant abuse of women, a volcano would erupt anytime.

Afande James Kabarebe sent for me and my colleague withheld names to go and meet him the following day. On arrival, he received us and went away, came back later and asked us to talk to him. I asked him if we were not Rwandese that has all the rights to fight for our country. Without pausing, i asked further: “Why have you sacrificed our lives? Why are you abusing us? You have abused us psychologically, mentally, physically and you have abandoned us.”
He then agreed that it was true that they sacrificed our lives at the expanse of the war. He went on to say that when they tried to withdraw the women from the front line; and all the commanders threatened to put their guns down and asked Afande Paul Kagame to go and fight the war alone. James apologised and promised to forward our grievances to the high command.

Fast forward, i was after one week called to go and meet Afande Mugambage. We discussed women’s abuse in detail and I suggested that elsewhere in other struggles, women went through the same problems but had a good way of handling the problem. I gave him the example of Nicaragua, Eritrea and other places. When women got pregnant, they were pulled out of the front line and put behind with other responsibilities such as administration and production while looking after their babies. Because of that, women in the above mentioned struggles never felt abandoned as we were. I also explained to him that women who stayed on the frontline formed their own units and they exercised their own command and administration.
In those guerrilla movements, women that were promoted were never seen as favours from one of the commanders who were her boyfriend but rather seen as recognition of their abilities; contrary to our own struggle.

After few weeks around January 1993, we had a meeting with senior officers sent by Afande Paul Kagame. The delegation, led by Afande Stephen Nduguteye, had come to explain to us the new arrangements and also listen to our concerns, but, unfortunately, things hit a dead end.
Nduguteye explained to us that the reason they have come to meet us was that they have formed a women combatant unit which would serve as our base such that we don’t spread AIDS to our male commanders. Whether Ndugute hadn’t understood why he was sent remains unclear to-date but the rest of the commanders, who were present, like all of us women, were exasperated to the bone marrow.

My reaction was to look at other senior commanders like Afande Musitu Charles, Afande Karemera Joseph, Afande Rusagara Frank, Afande Shaban Rutayisire and Afande James Kabarebe, who all looked empty and embarrassed. Screaming in anger, which was interpreted as resent, we stood up and left.
After a week January 1993 we all women combatants and women cadres were called for a meeting with Afande Paul Kagame. We received him with chanting and dancing very happy saying finally we can see “mwenyewe”, literally meaning “himself”. Every woman felt that this was the time we had waited for, for a long time.

Another shock! Paul Kagame, in a satiated fury, started blasting us saying that we rebelled against their decision. He said that we have abused our role. He went on to say: “I heard that some of you said you will crawl and find men where they are in the units. I can shoot your asses.”
No words can explain how I felt. I convinced myself that there was no need of saying anything since it was going to fall into deaf ears. After that, he calmed down and started explaining the reason of forming women unit. When he finished talking, he invited questions. I looked around and all the girls were quiet and even women cadres looked very cold. I then gathered my guts and put up my hand. I was determined to tell him what I felt about them (officers and senior officers and was ready for any repercussion). I started by thanking him for coming to meet us and also for blasting us. I said that when children mess up, the parents tell them off or even punish them but it is too late, the damage is done already. I told him you blamed us that we as women in the struggle have abused our role, but to me it is the other way round. Leaders you have abused your role. I started reminding him how it feels like joining the army and going through the training; how all the ideology you come with is brain washed; and after that training, how you start picking up something else. I also reminded him the beginning of our struggle.
The struggle started with unexpected death of the leader of our struggle Afande Fred Rwigema with other top commanders. It was a blow to all the soldiers and this situation created disorganisation in the struggle.
There was no defined administration and everyone was using own initiative. I asked them who made the girls pregnant. I explained that it was the senior officers (viongozi). Who named all sorts of abusive names to women combatants? Senior officers (viongozi). Who named sick bay as Sodoma and Gomora? Senior officers (viongozi). Who failed to solve our problems even when we asked them to help us and stop such abuses towards women combatants? Senior officers (viongozi).

Not done and with intent to maximise such a God-given opportunity, I told them that leaders have abused us psychologically, mentally and physically. Such psychological and mental abuse has a big impact on us women combatants. To the extent that women senior officers have started fighting junior women combatants because of men as if that was what brought us. I told them that women combatants have not abused their role; we tried to the best of our ability to look for help but never succeeded simply because we were abused by our leaders. I narrated all I did to fight for women’ rights in struggle but failed. I then turned and looked at them and told them: “by the look of most of you, you qualify to be our fathers, if one of us was your own daughter, how would you feel?” They all looked down. I went on to tell them that the damage is done but let us forget the past and focus on our common cause for the sake of our struggle and its objectives. Concluding, i asked the senior officers never to take advantage of war situation and abuse us again; I saluted him and sat down.
I was waiting for a blast of a slap but to my surprise, Afande Paul Kagame looked calm and composed. He agreed that were sacrificed and explained again that all commanders threatened to stop fighting if he was to withdraw us so he had no option other than sacrificing our lives. He promised to support us and said to the commanders that if it happened again, he would imprison them and throw away the keys.
The creation of unit had good outcome. One, we were able to connect and support each other. We were able to exercise our administration and we had a chance to acquire some skills during cease fire. Women promotion was based on capabilities rather than one’s boyfriend.

But it was not going to be rosy anyway. Sooner than later, a downward spiral ensued again. A commander Lt Emmanuel impregnated a young girl of 15 who we had recruited in Byumba after capturing the town. I fought so hard for this officer to be punished but was in vain.

In the Promised Land
It was neither a bed of roses even after capturing state power in 1994. Women abuse persisted- graduating from a curse to be endured not a problem to be solved.
After the war, in 1994, most of the female combatant had a base in camp Kanombe. Some of them were mothers with their little ones. One day can’t recall the date Afande Rwahama Jackson evicted them with no warning and they were thrown outside the barracks with no accommodation at all. How they survived? Don’t ask. That no one cared in the face of such an inhumane act is beyond human comprehension.

Like I said, not all commanders were inhumane but at least 80% were inhuman. On the other side, women cadres faced the same problems but not as women combatants. These cadres- most of whom were graduates and professionals from different institutions- contributed a lot to our struggle, such as Anna Gahogayire, Inyumba Aloisea, Christine Nyinawumwami, Mary Baine, Francine from Burundi to mention a few. But all these ladies were abandoned and harassed by RPF and the government.
All these brilliant, brave, intelligent women are not seen in the parliament neither are they seen in the government. After the war, they all suddenly became incompetent. Obviously, the RPF and the government knew they can never manipulate them so easily and the only option was to harass them and frustrate them (some of these women were in the government and they fall out of favour, right?). How about women combatant who survived the war? Where are they and how are they surviving? I understand some of them suffered the post war trauma, they are often asked if they really fought in the struggle. It is so disheartening, but may be not to some.

This brings me to the crux of this testimony- that the RPA/F has never had any philosophy of emancipating women as a goal but rather using them for their own selfish interests. The same happened, and is still happening in the way the Rwandan government markets “women emancipation rhetoric” as a public relations strategy.

It is not in dispute that Rwanda has one of the highest rates of women representation in the parliament. However, beneath the surface lies intriguing facts that rewind us far back during the struggle. These women parliamentarians are katyushas and recoilless like we were then. 90% of these MPs are incompetent lots who are simply nominated; not elected. Some of them were primary teachers, nurses with no administration skills, not even on local level. How do you expect these women to participate in government affairs? They are simply there for numbers; for PR purposes, and if you allow me throw my modesty away; for caving in on the sexual advances of RPF big men who own power in Rwanda.

This is not to say that all women leaders in Rwanda are an incompetent lot. Some of them are bright but they are not allowed to make any decision. They are all there as flowers decorating Rwanda as the premier government to respect women participation. Others are used and abused like foreign affairs minister Louise Mushikiwabo who, at some point, will find it hard to answer all the propaganda she said on behalf of the government of Rwanda. Take a glance at any demonstration of any kind and discern. It is women you will see most- a large majority of whom have no idea of why they are demonstrating.
And if you are wondering about the crux of the matter, it is seeing old women demonstrating at the parliamentary building in support of President Paul Kagame’s third term. One elderly woman from Gatsibo, in an interview USA’s premier news channel- the VOA- said bluntly that “My local leader signed for me and they packed us in a bus to here to support amending the constitution.” If this is not abuse, then what is it?
My personal appeal to all Rwandan women, both inside and abroad and also other women in the whole world, to stand up and fight for peace and their dignity. Look at the wars around the world and ask yourself who the causers are and who suffers most when men mess up the world. We should chose to keep quiet and suffer for ever or get up and fight with the help of few men who have a heart to bring peace in the world.

Jeanne Umulisa is a former RPA officer.
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Inyenyeri News

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Give Kagame A Hollywood Medal - This Man Is A Great Actor

Give Kagame A Hollywood Medal

Kagame on the world stage giving a lecture at Yale on September 20, 2016, was spectacular. The man appears sophisticated, and argues passionately about Rwanda, which, according to him, is a model nation being frustrated by the West. Because of its arrogance, the West dictates that every country must follow same political norms dictated by the powerful - says Kagame.

During his Yale lecture, Kagame dished out his standard line that the West makes unfair "assumptions" and has prejudices against not only Rwandans but Africans. Kagame defines this Western "moral superiority."

When questioned about his human rights record, Kagame would have none of it - he instead reminded the audience of the economic gains he has made since genocide. In other words Kagame's "Singapore of Africa."

This is great acting. Kagame deserves an Oscar Award from Hollywood. To his naive Yale University hosts, Kagame is convincing in his role and accurately portrays elements of an African statesman who has singlehandedly rebuilt the nation of Rwanda. In front of Yale cameras and a largely unsuspecting audience, Kagame demonstrates masterly acting skills.

As I look at this first rate performance at Yale University, I can't help wonder what would happen, if the same audience listened to a Kagame speech in Kigali, delivered in the same month on September 12, 2016. Addressing university students, Kagame made his infamous "I Will Kill You" remarks. These were his words:

"Those noise-makers you hear all the time, those people who want to mess with us and undermine what we have built. I will kill you. I am not one of those people who are shy about killing. Not me. I will finish you. Those who make noise. I let them do so. But should they cross a line in the sand, you won't know what hit you."

The man speaking in Kigali was the real Kagame - using the thuggish language with which he has terrorized Rwandans into total submission. The Kagame speaking at Yale University was a make believe.

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David Himbara

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Clarisse tells why she Campaigns for Freedom in Rwanda

The dictatorial regime in Rwanda has denied the people of Rwanda their right to choose the future of the their governance, by engineering a referendum in 2015 that was announced one week before the vote and where Rwandans were intimidated and some forced to voting yes to the constitutional amendment giving way for current president Paul Kagame to govern for a further 17 years potentially. This is not the will of a people that for over 20 years have been under an authoritarian regime that is characterised by brutality, disregard for their rights, false imprisonments, disappearances and assassinations of Rwandans both in Rwanda and abroad, as well as terrorising the region namely the DRC and Burundi causing years of instability and according to a UN report, millions of deaths in the DRC.


Amahoriwacu2017 is a Campaign focused on advocating for change in Rwanda by mobilising Rwandans abroad and in Rwanda, as well as friends of Rwanda, to get the message out to the international community and the regime in Rwanda that the people of Rwanda deserve and demand to be given their right to freely make a choice about their future in the scheduled elections of 2017.

For more info about the campaign or how to be part of the campaign, please contact us through:
www.amahoriwacu.org
Twitter @amahoriwacu2017
Facebook.com/peaceathome

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An Open Letter To Fred Rwigema By Rama Isibo

Dear Fred,

It’s been 22 years since you’ve been gone, your memory lives long, the more they try to extinguish it, the more it rises. You will always represent lost hope, what could have been and what we aspire to. You died too soon, a true hero of Africa, celebrated in many nations, your picture is like Che Guevara, handsome youth that belies an eternal optimism. I was too young to ever seriously talk to you, I never knew what your ideology was, but every ideology begins with an attitude that nurtures a belief. Your attitude is what formed our belief, that look in your eye that said “We can do it!” in that way you can never die, we had waited 30 years from 59-87 for that one sign. That belief died momentarily when you died, but a legend was reborn, and from this legend people got the strength to believe again. Today you would be amazed how far we have come, there are modern shining skyscrapers in Kigali, roads are perfect, it is peaceful, we are home, just like you dreamed.

We almost take this dream for granted, you would hardly recognise any of the people at the top, but of course you cannot expect the same guys to be on top. RPF is so many things now, it is a monolithic party that dominates the political landscape, it is also a multinational corporation, it is also an army, and a state of mind. To be truthful Fred, I don’t know what I believe anymore, I feel like such a hypocrite, I idly stand by while people destroy everything to gain so little. The RPF has gained the world but lost its soul, it believes in objectives, not ideology, it takes, it is not given, it is the embodiment of sheer naked power. We do not have politicians, we have people with sheer naked power, and people with access to sheer naked power. Some have turned into greedy hogs and are just stripping it bare, paying themselves a “Liberation bonus” when the real fighters we never acknowledged. All our families have fallen soldiers and injured brethren, they, like you, are rarely mentioned. We can mention your name on two days, July 4th and October 1st so we will honour you today.

State of play

Rwanda is at a crossroads, it has been living beyond its means for quite some time, going full steam ahead, without question, without discussion, like a battering ram pounding down the walls of poverty. All debate was crushed, the inryaryas took over, hypocrites and sycophants “Nje ndabona nta kibazo boss!” It was fine as long as the buildings kept going up, human rights could be forsaken for clean government, press freedom could be forsaken for because of the threat of Genocide, justice could be forsaken because we could not afford it. How did we get to this position, we are as weak economically as ever, we are as weak diplomatically as ever, and we have lost allies over a period of negative headlines. From just before the election, the Kayumba saga, death of opposition figures, arrests and jailing of journalists, Ingabire saga, Congo saga, on and on. If this was Benin or Honduras you would think it was a pariah nation, but Rwanda wants to live in its own moral universe, it wants its unique history to afford it leeway in basic human rights development, but it is the derogation of these rights that will bring the next cycle of violence to bear.

“Just not in Rwanda”

In that sense, Rwanda is like Israel, lives by its own rules, it wants to fit in but be different. I tired of defending arrests of journalists, of jailing opposition leader because you disagree with them. I tired of defending our right to attack Congo, knowing the millions who suffer as a result. I tired of explaining to my western expat friends why no independent opinions were allowed on public media. I tired of explaining that fear that is unspoken, the looking over your shoulder when you speak. A person who has lived in a democracy, knows a democracy, and if you have to look over your shoulder then chances are that you aren’t. So all my generation are hypocrites and liar, they believe in freedom of speech “Just not in Rwanda”, they are Western liberals, some believe in gay rights “Just not in Rwanda.” Most have passionate views on US politics, on taxation, on abortion “Just not in Rwanda” and many advocate for people in far-off countries who are detained without trial when we have people detained without trial here “Just not in Rwanda.”

Grand Fear/Bargain

Every nation has a FEAR and in Rwanda it is the Genocide happening again, it is what keeps the peace. It is the automatic excuse for any arrest of a journalist, or justification for lack of democracy but it is also allowing corrupt people to get away. It is the mutual fear between a master and servant, the master fears revolt, the servant fears the master’s power. That is the relationship between a ruler and the ruled in Rwanda, and will always be if we never change it. The Ruler is given unlimited power and from this the Ruled expect everything to change, it is fine until it goes sour. This is how we got here, we found a tattered and torn country after 94, the RPA was the only functioning institution. The genocide was ended by force, not voluntarily, but the seeds of doubt were already being sown. When you see the Free Syrian Army which is supported by the West and by all means is the next government of Syria, you see the FSA being accused of war-crimes before they even come to power, there is a pattern. The RPF were similarly accused during the Liberation war, even though they were the “good guys” it was to serve as leverage in the future against the RPF. So two prime fears dominate the power psyche, an internal revolt and external justice.

Death of reason

“When people feel inadequate they feel any criticism is an insult.”
The death of reason is so gradual, you hardly notice, you just slide into a stupor. It starts with the “Koolaid” that is the name of the super-sugary drink that refers to the mental brainwashing you get when you first get here. Rwanda is a victim of the West, they hate us for nothing, they were never there for us during the genocide, if we don’t rule this way then “They will kill us again.” I consider myself a hereditary RPF member, I got it from both sides of my family, you could never criticise the RPF, but every believer must have a crisis of confidence. It was worse for me, I left as a teen, saw the war from afar, felt even guilty because I could have even served the last few months. When you look at the rewards soldiers got, they were scant, many left with rancour, the ones who won the spoils were the ones closest to the top leaders but did little fighting. It is impossible to write a history of the RPF because it cannot agree on its own history, history has been rewritten to airbrush out people who fell out like Kayumba, and other current favourites have been inserted into history when they were mere schoolboys at the time. In Rwanda our history always serves the current regime and is contorted to suit the current picture.

Reason dies slowly, first it is frowned upon, then shouted down, then banned, and then you cease to think it, until you cease to think altogether. I learnt to watch my mouth for a while but younger people grew up in a world where you just don’t say, think or write anything controversial or political until it kills their imagination altogether. How will they innovate? You are brought up in a society where independent thought is punishable by jail, speaking out is punishable, writing is punishable. Will my children be born into this world of no imagination; will they grow up watching their tongue? All this talk of cyber-futuristic techno-savvy hub and we cannot allow contrary opinions. Last year I was threatened by government officials for tweeting our president about our need to reduce imports and move towards productions. I apologised, the fuss died down, then aid is cut, then its agaciro, agaciro, we need to reduce imports and move towards production. People still say to me “Watutse Affande” when I did no such thing, that showed me the other face of the situation. Every supporter has that moment when your childish innocence was broken, when you ask “If they can do this to their own, then what of ordinary baturagye?”

The big payback/ingaruka yi ngaruka

Every action has a reaction, in Rwanda there is going to be a payback for all our foolhardiness over 10 years. We lived off aid, didn’t bother with commerce, thought the aid would last forever and Western guilt could be milked forever. Now they are cutting, people are looking cautious, the global slowdown is going to grip. People have lived off loans, accumulated debt, spent on consumer goods, set up NGO’s aimed at “Empowering” some poor victim somewhere. Instead of moving towards production, and generating cash, the government, for all their words, was hugely complicit in this Aid-debt bubble. Its workers and leaders were eating first in this economy, most diaspora people think this economy is not safe to do business in, your property can be taken at anytime and sudden whims are the norm. Tigo invested some $300m and their CEO was given 1hr to leave the country simply because he angered the president. How can a multinational invest in a country that makes less than $300m and be expelled in minutes without due procedure? For all the reforms, the attitude of those in power is the biggest obstacle to investment. The idea that “This country is my personal property and you people are alive because of me, I can kill you, crush you, anytime I want because I have the power.” Investors see that straight away at the airport, a delicate house of cards waiting to fall.

You never truly feel at ease, all my friends will say this, there is an undercurrent, we all know things are not well, that this method of government is unsustainable but maybe we are weak, maybe we just settle for what we can get out of it. Maybe one can get a Rav-4, a nice house, and expensive schools for your kids, a plush lifestyle by any standards but there is always the ticking clock, you know the alarm is going to ring but you don’t know when. So we trade our principles for privilege, enjoy the lifestyle, but at the back of your mind, you know one day the party will be over, or maybe the music stopped and we didn’t notice. Every one of us has that moment when we look in the mirror and ask, “Do I really stand up for what I believe?” The privilege comes with a downside, that look, the look that the downtrodden give you when you walk past, as if you are responsible for their misery. Then they call me boss when I’m a socialist at heart, I’m the oppressor, I am the hated. The unspoken part of the bargain is that “If he goes, we all go” that has been the way in Rwanda since time immemorial, power is concentrated not just in one’s hand but in a single finger, so when that leader goes, most of Rwanda goes with it. Critics are ostracised, their families too, passports and identities taken away from them. Little children pay for the price of their parents, brothers for their siblings, sisters for their brothers.

A prophecy

God cannot abandon Rwanda, we have prayed too much. Rwanda is not well with God, despite all our righteous indignation, we cannot say we have clean hands. The chickens will come home to roost, the result of many years of dumbstruck silence when we saw minor things going wrong but we never commented. For all our mistakes we shall pay, hopefully we will learn to debate matters and not decide things behind doors. My prophecy for Rwanda is growth and success, but one based on solid ground, that uses the hard-work ethic of the Rwandans to make goods for export. I worked once at the Roll-Royce plant in Derby, I watched semi-illiterate Pakistanis make Jet engines, so a Ruhengeri villager can make a car. My prophecy for Rwanda is that the leaders will see the need to open up, to learn that criticism is not hatred. We will open up politically and then have the biggest boom Africa has ever seen but a boom based on solid ground not indicators. These industries the RPF commandeered will now be the millstone around its neck, most are loss-making and will file for bankruptcy in the coming year, they are uncompetitive and will not make it.

There is a whole underground economy in Rwanda, the Abacuruzi of Mateus have so much money stashed away, plus property, stock, and credit lines. These businessmen have been neglected and pay only nominal taxes, getting them to release the money is the problem. This deficit we have accumulated had to be somewhere, outside yes but also inside, all this money we spent on consumer goods is somewhere, billions of dollars in cheap Chinese goods, it is still here. The diaspora is ready to invest, they just need an attitude change from those in power, we have to build the private sector at all costs. What is 30% of Nothing? That is what we are fighting over now, we need to see liberalisation, or all the assets RPF has will just flop to be worth nothing. What of the credit bubble? Overinflated houses at 18%Apr, that is criminal, but the bubble kept getting bigger and bigger and houses worth $100,000 were the norm, people were lent 10 times their salary. Amazingly, it can be fine if all owners hold on to their houses.

Too many people have prayed for Rwanda to go down, we can’t let it happen again, if it does happen then we all deserve to die, let them say “Abanyarwanda bananiwe kubana.” It cannot happen, or there is no God, Rwandans believed God returned to sleep in Rwanda, it is the only reason why we recovered from the Genocide. Every nation goes through growing pains, Rwanda thinks it can be in a political coma forever and that is not possible. We will learn that we can get along, that every man must pay for his sins, that God turns all things to good. People should look to history, all things change, a nation goes through growing pain, matures, and prospers. The good RPF is doing is so great, on child mortality, women’s rights, social reconciliation, and so many things. It deserves its credit, but one aspect of our life is stunted, we are being kept from politically maturing. Maybe they do it out of trying to protect us, like if you lock your child away so no one can hurt it, but the first moment it encounters pain it was break down. Every generation has that defining moment where a society breaks along generational lines, when the younger generation agrees with the objectives but not the methods. Can RPF move towards exercising more soft power, other than the sledgehammer approach? My friends say “You don’t know how these people think, they don’t care.”

No more Fear, no more silence, no more, no more, no more. I am a Rwandan, I always was always will be, I was never given my country by any man, I will never give up on my country.

Long live Rwanda

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To the dead we owe justice, not propaganda. The victims of the 1994 massacres in Rwanda deserve justice.

All the armed groups in Rwanda, including Kagame's RPA/F, butchered people in what Kagame's partners-in-crime and propagandists now force down the throat as Tutsi genocide.

The 1994 Rwandan massacres official narrative is a pack of lies that the world should redress with an objective international inquiry. The RPF Tutsi genocide narrative is pretty much the proverbial tale of the hunter!!!

The shameful stage-managed Arusha ICTR trials were " victor's justice". Like Galileo stood for the principle he knew to be true, I stand for what I know to be true; RPF/A/Kagame's then rebels, like other armed groups that existed in Rwanda, perpetrated the 1994 massacres.

The current Tutsi genocide hoax was constructed and " promoted" to cover up Kagame and his then rebels' horrific crimes. I hope and pray that, like time vindicated Galileo, I SHALL be vindicated when political interests change and there is an objective /neutral group to investigate what really happened in Rwanda that time. In the meantime, I SHALL never buy into the 1994 genocide propaganda.



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Charles Kambanda

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How Did Crystal Ventures and the Thieving Prime Holdings Become Kigali Convention Centre's Investors?

Kagame’s Economic Mirage By David Himbara

How Did Crystal Ventures and the Thieving Prime Holdings Become Kigali Convention Centre's Investors?

How could Kagame revive Prime Holdings after promising the IMF in 2006 that the thieving company was to be terminated? How long will this regime continue to pose as clean while thoroughly corrupt?

For more details on Kagame's Prime Holdings and how the IMF got involved by confronting the regime about it, read the book

KAGAME’S ECONOMIC MIRAGE
http://kagameseconomicmirage.com/

AMAZON
https://www.amazon.com/Kagames-Economic-Mirage-David-Himbara/dp/1519411219

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