But Africans turned out and observed elections. We had the African Union observers; we had COMESA the EAC observers etc. PERFECT! African elections observed by African institutions. in less than two months today, the world superpower – the USA, will be having presidential elections. No external monitors or observers, despite the allegations of one the presidential candidates claiming that the last elections were stolen. Why don’t we have observers in the USA, despite these allegations? Show me any outside observer on planet earth.
As already indicated, in the case of Rwanda; it was the Africans themselves who observed their electoral processes. All of them passed a positive verdict. Years back, African leaders came up with what was called' Africa peer review mechanism' we don’t need the endorsement of the West for our decision to be legitimate. The loosing political party and the independent candidate all accepted the results and even turned up for the swearing in of our newly elected president. The west and their neo colonial agents were gnashing their teeth. 'how can Africans do something like this without our support'?
A number of African countries often claim that they cannot hold elections because the logistics involved need so much budget beyond what their countries can afford! And Europe and North America are very willing to provide such supportâ¦â¦.. guess what?. And as the saying goes 'he who pays the piper plays the tune'.
On the contrary, the 2024 Rwandan elections were purely financed by Rwandans, beside party members contributing for their respective parties; political parties and independent candidates were allocated a budget from taxpayers’ pockets to run their campaign. A new down!.
President Paul Kagame was inaugurated on August 11, 2024.
As Rwandans say, 'Ak’imuhana kaza imvura ihise'â”if you rely on an outsider, you should know that no one will be rained on to bring you support; they will always wait for the rain to stop. By the way, Kinyarwanda is so rich in parables and riddles that it is very difficult to translate it into Western languages. I had to use 18 English words to translate a 4-word Kinyarwanda proverb! Impressive ceremony and Africans turn up at Kagame’s inauguration not just for partying.
A Burundian human rights activist based in Nairobi, a former employee of the COMESA court of justice Chris Harahagazwe whose relationship between me and him are like the one between the kids cartoon 'Tom and Jerry'( apology to Chris he didn’t give me a go ahead to go public about our private conversation, but I also don’t want anyone claiming I invented the massage) and I quote verbatim: 'Congratulations for the amazing inaugural ceremony. Few would believe such a mastery show of precision and beauty can be staged in Africa. Let alone the impressive prestige of 22 heads of state and government attending from West Africa, to Eastern Africa, Southern and Central, even Seychelles for God’s sake! I am not sure the AU summits can gather as many.'
Thank you Chris. Of course Chris looked at heads of states and governments, several other African countries sent other heads of delegations, foreign affairs ministers and other ministers to attend the inauguration. Besides Uganda’s sending the vice president, they also sent the Army chief of General staff. All in all at least 30 African countries were represented. If my math serves me right, that would be about 56% of African countries represented, not to mention their continental and regional representatives like the African Union, COMESA , EAC etc.
Few would believe such a mastery show of precision and beauty can be staged in Africa
Coming back to Mr Karahagazwe’s description of the event as 'Few would believe such a mastery show of precision and beauty can be staged in Africa'; watching it brought in me pride, but also scaring memories.
When I watched our young men and women in uniform marching elegantly, when I looked at helicopter gunships flying on top I couldn’t help thinking how far we have come. I could remember the year 1991, in Gahinga volcanic mountains, when the then Major Paul Kagame had just reassembled and was trying to rebuild the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA).
How poorly equipped and ill armed the RPA soldiers were! I couldn’t help but remember how many soldiers suffered frostbite because they had no shoes, and how many of our colleagues suffered from pneumonia. I could remember the most scary moments, when there were attacks and several combatants had no rifle, commanders were ordering withdrawal, and several soldiers, myself included, had no guns! And that was not the worst; those who had come before us in October 1990, had suffered a worse scary situation.
Yet this rag tag determined men and women and by the way boys and girls had survived to win the war against génocidaires supported by powerful African and western allies. I looked at the show and felt confidence that my children and grandchildren were safe in the new Rwanda. It was not just a show. It was an assurance to all of us!
Presence, absence, realistic interpretations and far fetched wishful thinking
During the 2024 presidential campaign, a young peasant mother, Beatha Musengamana, in her early 20s, composed a song that came to be popularly known as 'Byari Byabananiye' ('They had failed to achieve it'). 'Byari Byabananiye' was the chorus of the song. Her song became a hit and the most popular song of the season.
I have seen white women who live in Rwanda trying to sing it on YouTube and TikTok. Some even came to think it was Rwanda’s national anthem. The peasant mother was every night on YouTube and TikTok shows; name it. She was not the one posting the song, it was Rwandan admirers! even the army band included it on the swearing national parade!
The song is available to whoever would like to access it on the platforms mentioned above, however I would like to single out a major message of the song ' Azabatsinda Kagame yarukuye kumuheto naho ababunza amagambo byaribyabananiye' ( Kagame will come out victorious over all of you, for he removed Rwanda from the bows of death as for those who peddling empty words ; they had all failed yo achieve it'. Again a thousand apologies! English, as rich a language as it may be, cannot fully translate Kinyarwanda.
But as indicated early two very important messages stand out. Where President Kagame has led Rwanda from, and those 'who go peddling empty words when they had failed to produce any results'.
Those who wanted to demean or portrait the entire Rwandan victory celebration as a failed event; were quick to point out the absence of two neighbours, the southern neighbour president of Burundi, NEVA as he is called and the western neighbour, DRC president Tshisekedi, leaders of the two poorest countries in the world according to the world poverty index 2023!
The failure of the above two leaders to turn up, albeit noted by some peddlers of 'amagambo,' as Beata would put it, was not significant to me. Indeed, their presence would not only have shocked me but also disappointed me! Rwandans have a saying: 'Umuntu aguhisha ko akwanga, ukamuhisha ko ubizi.' Let me struggle with the translation: 'If someone hates you but hides the hatred from you, you also hide from them that you know it.' (Here we go againâ”a seven-word proverb, translated into 19 words!) What, then, would be the reaction if someone hates you and tells you openly?
Do you have anything to hide? Indeed, to me, the presence of Burundi or the DRC would have made a mockery of the values of Rwanda’s real friends who came to attend. After all, as my daughter pointed out while I was trying to analyze the absence of Burundi and the DRC, 'How do you know they were invited in the first place?'
The same prophets of doom were quick to point out that the west did not send ' high calibres' representations. Let me ask a rhetorical question. If humans were like currencies, insults aside ' how many African presidents , vice presidents; prime ministers are worth Anton Bliken? Or is Ursula von der Leyen more important than the presence of Moussa Faki Mahamat ?’
More than 20 heads of state attended President Kagame’s inauguration.
Come on, get out of your mental slavery. Do we have to have a white former colonial master or neo colonialist to legitimize our leaders? Why did so many African leaders turn up? Each head of state and government who came to Rwanda, made their own judgment. I would be elevating myself too high to understand their wisdom. But this is my understanding. President Kagame as a products of years of struggle, abandonment of the so called international community, The RPF that he leads is a strong believer on the Rwandan proverb quoted above ' Ak’imuhana kaza imvura ihise'
As a result, because of his and Rwandans and by extension Africans, Kagame does not hesitate to put it bluntly as is to the paternalistic west. And here I quote from his inauguration speech: 'There is no longer room for the powerful to impose their vision about how others ought to live, or to create narratives that falsify the truth. This must always be resisted, even when under pressure.
'But there is also no possible excuse for injustice, wherever it occurs, whether committed against us as Africans, or inflicted by ourselves. Indeed, we Africans are people who have consistently fought injustice. We don’t need any lessons about how best to do so. And we must all humbly acknowledge the necessity to adapt our political and governance systems to our specific conditions, and the expectations of our citizens'.
I honestly believe that these thoughts that Paul Kagame dares express are indeed the thoughts of the many African leaders and that is why they came to Kigali in large numbers.
Africa that believes we are tired of empty lectures that we must have our vision not visions imposed upon us. Thank God Kagame is not a 1960 president for he would have been assassinated by the CIA just like Nkrumah , Lumumba, Nasser etc. Indeed there is a new dawn that has come to Africa. A new dawn of Africans are for Africans and where we can have of dream, vision and carry it out no matter what the global north thinks or does
The writer, Mweusi Karake is a seasoned socio-political commentator based in Kigali. Previously, he served as the first president of Rwanda Association of Journalists (ARJ).
