Regional
African culture bonds President Kagame and Gen. Muhoozi
![image](webadmin/images/blob.jpg-20220318040746000000.jpg)
The
recent visit to Rwanda by Lt. Gen. Muhoozi Keinerugaba, Senior
Presidential Advisor on Special Operations and Commander of Uganda land forces
had a big story that media outlets ignored. The cow giving ceremony by
president Kagame to Lt. Gen. Muhoozi was simply mentioned in passing, yet it
carried much more significance.
In
as much as the events highlighted by the media were important, the untold
big story was the essence and significance of the Rwandan and African culture
where president Kagame gifted cows to Lt, Gen. Muhoozi. It came to my
realization that schools of journalism have taught us to tell
stories from the Western point of view thereby influencing the African
journalist to be alienated from his native culture, hence the failure to
tell the African story ‘brewed in an African pot’.
When
Kagame hosted Lt. Gen. Muhoozi at his private home, they had time to talk about
a number of issues concerning Uganda – Rwanda relations, their personal and
family matters. It goes without saying therefore, that there are qualities that
President Kagame appreciated in the personality and character of Lt, Gen.
Muhoozi that prompted him to offer cows to his special guest.
President
Kagame gave his visitor a shepherd’s stick and both walked to a kraal where
Kagame selected as much as ten of his good looking cows as a gift in accordance
with the Rwandan tradition. Kagame’s sons Ivan and Brian were present as
witnesses of the special bonding of their father and Gen. Muhoozi.
This gesture is symbolic not only in the relationship of the two,
but also in Uganda-Rwanda bilateral relations that have been at all-time low in
the last three years. Uganda-Rwanda relations was the purpose of Gen. Muhoozi’s
1st and 2nd trips to Rwanda.
The
cow gifting by a head of state, is an African cultural diplomacy- establishing
a stronger interpersonal as well as inter-state bond rooted in the African
cultural traditions and values. Other visitors who received cow gift from
president Kagame were President Yoweri Museveni in 2011 and late Tanzanian
president John Pombe Magufuli in 2016. Muhoozi can count himself among the
lucky few that president Kagame considers as special friends.
President
Kagame and Lt, Gen. Muhoozi come from ‘the cow culture people’ and
the significance of the cow giving ceremony has much deeper meaning both to the
giver and the recipient. A cow is the most precious and treasured gift in the
Rwandan culture one can give to a friend, whose intrinsic and cultural value
has no monetary equivalence. A cow is a symbol of love, expressed to a trusted
and reliable friend. Through this cultural gesture Kagame and Lt. Gen. Muhoozi
made a peace pact based on African tradition, symbolizing a new relationship,
that binds Rwanda and Uganda not to involve in any form of plot against each
other, but only to be defined by peaceful relations and comradeship. From
our forefathers, the act of cow giving establishes confidence and mutual trust.
Lt.
Gen. Muhoozi appreciated the gesture by president Kagame through a post on his
twitter account. “In our interlacustrine culture, especially among
pastroralists like the Banyankore, banyarwanda, Karimojong, Dinka and Masai
there is no greater demonstration of friendship than somebody giving you a
cow. Afande Kagame ampeire enyana ikumi zempano omunte ze ze’Inyambo.”
(…Afande Kagame gifted me ten heifers among his Inyambo cows).
President
Kagame did not choose to give his guest the coveted foreign and imported cattle
breeds like Friesian Holstein, Jersey, brown Swiss and the like;
but opted to give him the long horned pure African cattle. In
Rwanda, this breed traditionally known as Inyambo is very
adorable and owned by very few cattle keepers. These pure breeds were
traditionally selected through a process that involved a three-layer
inter-breeding process between high quality cows, a process that was done by
ordinary Rwandan cattle keepers who knew no vocabulary of genetics.
Cows
gifting speaks volumes according to the Rwandan culture. President Kagame gave
away the very best of his cows as that is what his beloved guest deserved. Each
cow had a name implying the attachment the giver had on each of the cows.
According to the Rwandan culture, the recipient in some way recognizes the
great gift offered to him or her. Gen. Muhoozi can always make it known
to his friends by an exclamation- (Kagame wampaye inka / Kagame
who gave me a cow!), hence appreciating the special gift and admiring the
giver. This is how special the cow gift is in the Rwandan culture.
Western
dominance in almost all spheres of life has alienated us from our own culture
to the extent that we do not give it value yet it is more meaningful in
defining who we are and how we relate as the African people. From the time of
colonization there have been deliberate efforts by the west to destruct and
kill our cultural heritage because they know our culture stands for high moral
values and keeps us united to safeguard our interests.
In
1835, One British colonial governor Lord Macaulay, while addressing the British
parliament about their colony of India said, “..I do not think we would ever
conquer this country unless we break the very backbone of this nation, which is
her spiritual and cultural heritage”. This colonial philosophy was
applied even in Africa and indeed it was successful.
Lord
Macaulay further went on with his address to give a proposal to the British
house, to replace the education system and culture in order to
change the thinking of the colonized to hate their own and like what is
foreign. “For if the Indians think that all that is foreign and English is good
and greater than their own they will lose their self-esteem, their native
culture and they will become what we want them, a truly dominated nation”, Lord
Macaulay concluded. This deliberate strategy used by colonialists of poisoning
and killing African education and culture is what makes us lose appreciation of
what makes a big story in the African cultural set up.
Diplomatic
practice requires all concepts of diplomacy to be integrated including cultural
ones. The cultural practice signifies a renewed chapter with an
unwritten peace pact reached during talks between president Kagame and Gen.
Muhoozi. Rwandans and Ugandans have much assurance that their countries are on
the right track to recover their lost glory as allies and ready to give support
to each other in case of need. This was the practice in our cultural relations
in the African society.
Giving
value to our culture as expressed by president Kagame can be a great
opportunity to cement friendship that translates into good relations with a
common understanding, for peace, security and development not only for Rwanda
and Uganda but the East African region, Africa, and the world.
Source:
www.newtimes.co.rw