| http://www.times.co.sz/Letters-to-the-Editor/36107.html |
 SD has nothing to learn from Kagame's Rwanda |
Right to Reply:
Sir,
Under the name of Alpheous M Nxumalo, the Times of Swaziland published on Thursday November 28, 2011 an article entitled 'SD can learn from Rwanda's Kagame'. President Paul Kagame is cited by the author as 'one of my favourite statesmen in the world'. Nxumalo may have been blinded by the hidden agenda of the regime in Kigali as it practices aggressive politics when it comes to media opinions.
Rwanda is a small country situated in Central Africa, with an area of about 26.338 km2 and a population of 11 million inhabitants (more than 400 people per km2). Swaziland is a small country in southern Africa, with an area of 17 000 km2, a population of around 1.2 million. There ends the comparison.
Rwanda is essentially an agricultural country, without important mineral resources. The average Rwandan lives on less than E15 a day (around US$2). The Rwandan capital of Kigali actually counts one million citizens (250 000 in 1994). The country has people from three ethnic groups: one per cent Twa (pygmies), 10 per cent Tutsi (Nilotics) and 89 per cent Hutu (Bantu).
Rwanda is known for the 'Genocide of 1994', in the course of which a population of around 600 000 people were massacred in a period of 100 days. On April 6, a plane transporting President Juvenal Habyarimana and his Burundian counterpart President Cyprien Ntaryamira, their staff and the three members of the French crew was shot out of the sky over Kigali and this set off the Genocide. Everybody agrees that the downing of this plane was a catastrophe for the people of Rwanda and the surrounding region. The RPF quickly declared the plane had been shot down by extremists from the rival FAR who did not want the Arusha Accords applied. The reality is that the plane was most likely shot down on the orders of some people. No enquiry was initiated by the Rwandan authorities after the Genocide into the 'accident' in which two presidents and their staffs perished in a civilian airplane. Last year, under pressure from the families of the French pilots, the French government conducted an inquiry which was supposed to have been published in March 2011. It was reported to have been completed in May 2011, and now we are in December and nothing has been made public, as they don't want to embarrass the French government with a publication that would, without doubt, threaten the relationship between them and Kagame and his clique.
Nine of Kagame's generals are the object of international investigations for war crimes or crimes against humanity. Kagame would also be investigated but he has immunity as Chief of State. Forty of Kagame's officers are being pursued by the Spanish justice system for the same crimes. The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (TPIR) has functioned for 16 years without being able to prove who planned the Genocide.
Today, 40 per cent of the budget is consecrated to an army of more than 200 000 soldiers (the Swazi army counts about 5 000 soldiers and the Rwandan army before 1990 counted 8 000) although most of the budget is supported by foreign aid. Rwanda has not only profited from external finance but also from pillaging the natural resources of their giant neighbour, the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In effect, under the pretext of pursuing the Interahamwe (the militias responsible for most of the killings in the genocide) into the Congo the army of Kagame has made many incursions into the Congo and profited from pillaging the natural resources of the Congo, above all gold and diamonds – to the point that Rwanda has become a premier producer of diamonds without mining a single carat. In the course of this enrichment, Kagame and his clique have created financial empires in both Rwanda and foreign countries. T The Rwandan government has even seen it fit to 'sell' the Genocide to foreigners who visit the Genocide Museum in Gisozi.
The political space in Rwanda is dominated by the RPF. Other parties exist in name only and are obliged to work within what is called the Forum of Parties. A party of opposition does not exist. The Rwandan Constitution gives the measure of Kagame because it says a candidate doesn't have to have finished secondary school – for the sole reason that Kagame allegedly finished only three years after primaryschool! It's not good to oppose Kagame because you'll allegedly end up in prison or disappear mysteriously. Journalists disappear or go into exile. It's a country where demonstrations are forbidden. In Swaziland, where the police also have a tendency to be rigorous, students and lawyers have been allowed to demonstrate lawfully. The elections in Rwanda are allegedly a farce; Kagame has regularly won (twice, for seven-year terms) with the Stalinesque score of 100 per cent. It is a country of apartheid, wherechildren of Tutsi who escaped the Genocide are entitled to study for free from primary school to universitywhile the children of the Hutu live in total poverty.
Related news
SD can learn from Rwanda's KAgame
By Alpheous Nxumalo on November 28,2011
SD can learn from Rwanda's KAgame |
Those tasked with the responsibility of resuscitating our economy should have enough courage in knowing that their task is a possibility. Other countries in the world saw and experienced worse economic conditions than we are currently seeing and experiencing in the kingdom of Swaziland.
I have in mind the case of the dramatic rebuilding of the Republic of Rwanda's economy after the 1994 genocide, in which an estimated one million people were killed.
General Paul Kagame, the President of Rwanda (whom I count as one of my favourite statesmen in the world), has proved beyond doubt that a state near total collapse can be salvaged by a credible, hardworking and tough political leadership.
President Kagame is leading Rwanda from the front. This leader is genuine, original and assertive. Kagame is not leading Rwanda as though he is acting in a movie. Politics is not a movie wherein people can assume different roles and characters. You can't act like them but you must be contextual, real and have a vision of what it should be away from what it is.
The total dysfunction of both the political processes and the states' institutions that were used as 'state machines' to perpetrate and commit acts of genocide were salvaged by President Kagame's administration and were placed at their rightful position where they are now serving national interest.
True to the saying; Kagame came, he saw and he conquered. The man is an embodiment of total intellectualism and of credible leadership.
Given an opportunity, Kagame is sweeping the streets of Kigali every weekend. He is the only street sweeping President that I know of in the world.
Transforming
While some of his critics don't like some of his methods, they however, don't deny his results in transforming both the economic and political landscape of Rwanda. Under his leadership, Rwanda has been cited in many international economic and development reports as 'one of Africa's biggest success stories'.
It has also been reported by United Nations Development Programme that unlike many other African states, Rwanda is due to achieve most of the millennium development goals (MDGs).
This is the legacy that President Kagame will leave behind when he retires from the Presidency of Rwanda—a legacy of a leader who does not postpone decisions when they are to be taken.
The francophone world was left stunned and dismayed when President Kagame took the decision to join the commonwealth—declaring that the 'values of the Commonwealth and of Rwanda are in unison. We take human rights, good governance and democracy seriously, not only because we know it is the right thing to do but because we know from our tragic past the consequences of ignoring them – something that will not be repeated'.
Unimaginable
The case of Rwanda and the immaculate leadership of President Kagame is proof and a living example that a failed or failing state can be re-created with great and unimaginable success.
It all lies in the hands of the political leadership and the entire population. Rwanda's dramatic escape from becoming a failed state sends this message to the whole world: 'It is possible!' President Kagame and the entire people of Rwanda deserve to be saluted for their achievements since 1994. The leader, from rebel to president, is one of the few in Africa who can declare that, 'you ask Rwandans themselves of the progress we have made since the end of the genocide in 1994. Ask them what they think'.
These are words of a confident leader, a leader who knows that he has fulfilled the mandate of the people.
There is man in President Paul Kagame that other men in leadership in Africa can follow as an example. Swaziland is nowhere being worse than other states that have travelled the road of economic decline and recovered. I personally have a lot of confidence that given the opportunity for our political leadership to learn and adapt quickly, the country will soon be up and working again.
Those who are busy preparing the 'night vigil' and 'obituaries' on their perceived burial of the state shall be disappointed. Those who thought that through our economic hardships they have multiplied their fortunes and found their 'Trojan Horse' to power and fame should think again.
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http://fr.groups.yahoo.com/group/Democracy_Human_Rights
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