On the day of the so called liberation after the hopelessness and disappear, Rwandans were like George Orwell’s characters in the Animal Farm on the morning when they liberated themselves from the tyranny of Mr. Jones:

“remembering the glorious thing that happened they all raced out in the pasture together………. The animals rushed to the top of it and gazed around them in the clear morning light. Yes it was theirs- everything they could see was theirs! In the ecstasy of that thought they gambled   round and round, they hurled themselves in the air in the great leaps of excitement.”

After genocide in 1994, there was every reason for most Rwandans to believe that the bad times are gone forever. Everyone’s aspirations were right there, well articulated in the new government’s 8-point programme. Now almost two decades later, the near unanimity euphoria with which Rwandans celebrated the arrival of Rwanda Patriotic Front/Army has turned into disillusionment.   This article will explore and tell stories of some Rwandans whose experience over the last 18 years contrast sharply with what was expected in that New Rwanda.

Indeed, if you go on the streets of Kigali or in the upcountry in the whole of Rwanda you will encounter the different people living out in the circumstances radically different from those depicted from the regime’s enthusiasts. It is therefore imperative to note that despite the boasted economic growth by the government, the stories told by these fellow Rwandans are real and to deny them would be denying part of what Rwanda is today

For some liberators it must be quite confusing to transition from the mode from where you kill your enemies to one where you respect your opponents and treat them with dignity. Plotting the best way to kill your enemies (the essence of war) is not perhaps good preparation to govern a country in which some people will disagree with you on political policies.

It is therefore ironic that the RPF regime chose the path of physical extermination of its political opponents; politics is a game where fair play should be encouraged and accept to honorable lose the game if at all you lose it.  Cheating and all other bad play should be discouraged, the cycle of violence on the Africa continent is not natural, it is rather man made. When Cain killed his brother Abel, God was not pleased by the actions of Cain, killing his own brother, despite Cain’s actions, God sent his own begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have an everlasting life.

It is indeed, tragic after all the blood that was shed by Rwandans being killed by fellow Rwandans, and all over a sudden we see accusations and counter accusations where a government sends killers to hunt some Rwandans who take courage to go to exile to breath air of peace, and unfortunately, the death that they run from finds them where they sought sanctuary.

With the idealism of some of us at the time RPF/A took power we saw everything as black or white, right or wrong, true or false. We supported those we believed to be honest and we rejected those we perceived to be liars. Unfortunately we have been disappointed, experienced situations where there is no any grain of truth in all the actions of the regime. We have now chosen causes that will not necessarily save Rwanda from this mess but rather those who promise that they will improve it just a little. We do not value honesty and integrity any less than we did then. We accept imperfection in others because we have been humbled by our own faults. Despite all this, we should be willing to acknowledge when we have been systematically and consistently cheated, lied to, and exploited.  Therefore if we lose the ability to confront these unpleasant truths, the future for our children and grand – children will be lost.

 

Jacqueline Umurungi

Brussels.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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