International
Oblivious to Rwanda’s governance’s effectiveness? Kneel to its steel will
We
all remember how in 1994 Rwanda was in the deep of multiple existential
threats. She hardly had any population. She had no institution or company,
money, cultivated land, no economy at all. To outsiders, she had no hope of
survival.
She’d
been written off as a place capable of accommodating a viable state. She was
host to only a triumphant small group of liberators who’d plucked her out of
the fangs of obliteration and now had their hands full, nursing a few
survivors.
Besides,
the liberators were calming a few Rwandans who’d escaped the dragnet of ex-FAR
and Interahamwe forcing everybody to create a void. Another dragnet was a UN
peacekeepers’ (UNAMIR) operation ring-fencing pockets of internally displaced
persons (IDPs) camps that also lodged ex-FAR and Interahamwe. The peacekeepers
seemed intent on scuttling any likely peace.
While
the UNAMIR protected those pockets, there were hordes of foreign “Without
Borders” charity organisations to cater to the IDPs’ wellbeing. Rescuers
Without Borders, Feeders Without Borders, Doctors Without Borders, Reporters
Without Borders, the ‘borderless’ lot.
Meanwhile,
refugees long denied citizenship were coming in droves, uncertain of what
awaited them; they’d so avidly longed for the preciousness of being ‘stateful’
again. Yet even with those full hands, the liberators settled them as
comfortably as possible.
Just
across the border, in Zaïre (DRC today), camped a large garrison of heavily
armed ex-FAR and Interahamwe, training recruits as they received more heavy
weaponry from a superpower. These, in turn, ring-fenced an even bigger number
of refugees, holding them hostage, to use as a human shield but also prevent
them from returning home.
Charity
organisations were at hand in even bigger numbers to ensure the fugitives
lacked for nothing: food, clothing, tent shelter, all. In fact, manna from
heaven (cargo planes) fell in such large quantities that it inadvertently
crushed heads of those it was destined for.
As
this went on, the génocidaire-forces mounted incursions into Rwanda, as well as
areas around the IDPs camps for those inside them, to resume their annihilation
campaign.
What
they hadn’t counted for was that the liberators were not ones for winking.
First,
they cut through IDP-camps ring-fences, scattering the belligerents and freeing
the IDPs to return home and resume their occupations. The charity organisations
trooped to their counterparts in Zaïre.
But
before all the organisations could say “Zaïre”, the liberators had dismantled
the garrison there, scattering all génocidaires to liberate the refugees and
set them on a homebound journey.
All
Rwandans were now home. Not the hardliner génocidaires, though, who went
roaming the earth, unlike their partners-in-crime who’d accepted responsibility
and awaited courts’ judgement.
And
now started the true process of liberation.
It’s
a gamut of a process that’s still ongoing. To serve the vision of those
liberators, now infused into all Rwandans, will take a long time and a pooling
of all energies.
But
let’s not jump the gun. By the time of the IDPs camps' dismantling, a state and
its governance had been put in place, working with partners and genuinely
development-focused organisations to kick-start the economy. Institutions and
companies were astir and citizens worked the land.
The
Gacaca community court system was clearing thousands of genocide cases and
re-establishing unity and reconciliation among victims and perpetrators. From
unhygienic Nyakatsi habitation to hard roofs and walls, then to today’s
expanding model villages that mean modern housing for the poor. From malnutrition
to the Girinka programme that has meant a balanced diet for poor
families.
Today
we are talking good governance and quality institutions; social reforms that
have meant improved equity; gender balance that turns the world’s heads.
Competitive and effective banking sector; macro-economic stability; openness to
domestic and foreign firms; a good business environment that has led to trade
and investment opportunities; good transport and telecommunication
infrastructure. Dedicated management of the environment.
Now
we are talking sense, a far cry from the extermination nonsense evil forces
willed on us then. It has all come about thanks to the steel will of our
liberators who dared force the moment in 1994.
But
no, says Ingabire Victoire in The Elephant, a little-known but respected
Kenyan online magazine. It’s a platform that produces quality investigations
and analyses. Beats me how Ingabire manages to side-blind it with her abusive
outbursts there, shooting down all these good efforts by Rwanda with the usual
western-media recycled conjectures.
Rwanda
is poor, says she, yet the government is ready to accommodate asylum seekers
from the UK. She forgets those already here from Libya and Afghanistan. She
forgets, too, that the country goes out to liberate those facing terrorism in
other countries, without soliciting a dime.
“I
should recommend that charity start at home,” says she. Ingabire, this
liberation drive whose head you’ve failed to cut with all your
terrorist-formations’ attempts all this time is charity in its best form.
Did
we mention the spread of health facilities countrywide? Recently she failed to
contain herself and showered praises after prompt service for her sick kin!
Rwandans’
steel will to liberate those in distress will not go away, lady. So, to quote a
sportsman, you’d better “kneel to the steel” of this governance’s will.
Source: www.newtimes.co.rw