The outgoing African Development Bank (AfDB) Dr. Donald Kaberuka is bidding farewell to the African Financial Institution he has led for the last 10 Years.

He has been praised by all the World leaders except his own Rwanda as an exemplary leader who has put the African Financial Institution at its highest peak.

The Ivorian President Allasane Ouattara said Kaberuka’s successor will have an uphill task trying to match the Rwandan’s legacy at the bank.

“You made AfDB a beacon of excellence, you tirelessly defended the interests of Africa and, as a result, earned the respect of everyone, we will never forget you and your successor has a lot to do to match your achievements,” said Ouattara.

Kaberuka is now needed in Rwanda more than ever before at the time when RPF is struggling with the constitutional amendment so that Kagame stands again after his mandate expires in 2017. The reason fronted by even the elite class of RPF is that Kagame is the only person they have to lead Rwanda until he dies because the rest are incompetent or ibigararasha as the president calls them.

Dr. Kaberuka was put this question by Sophie Ekenye of BBC Focus on Africa whether he would like to replace Kagame after his mandate, the soft but firm Kaberuka said that he doesn’t have any ambition to lead the tiny Central African country that has seen one man (Kagame) show since genocide in 1994.

However, in politics, never does not exist, in Uganda when the former Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi was ambushed in the NRM Kyankwanzi retreat, he seemed confused and he was one the NRM delegates who signed for the Museveni endorsement as a sole candidate in the next year’s presidential election, but he is slowly but surely reorganizing for the presidential race next year.

Kaberuka on the other hands knows Kagame as a none joker when it comes to his thrown, he can sacrifice anybody regardless of the common interest they share, for example in the last annual Rwanda government retreat president Kagame called all the leaders incompetent, failures and warned some who are praised by outsiders that he knows them better than anybody.

In Idi Amin style who once said that all leaders must love their superiors, Kagame cautioned the leaders against being full of themselves, according to him, some of them had become bigger than the institutions they serve.

“Learn from those who criticise you. Listen more to those who criticise you and less to the one who praises you,” the President said.

In fact the President chose Rwanda Defence Forces Combat Training Centre in Gabiro, as the venue for this retreat as a means of psychological torture for his officials, as is evidenced in one of his officials the Minister of Internal Affairs who said that whenever the President came near him he wanted to be swallowed by the floor.

This fear and intimidation in the Rwandan leaders is real and is spread by the RPF cadres under the command of Kagame from the Top to the grassroots. That’s why now in public all the people are saying Third Term or changing the Constitution as is commonly know in Rwanda but in private people think differently.

Indeed, Kagame is playing his canny political cards as always, he pretends he doesn’t want the constitution changed and publicly is on the side of the no one or few who stand against the Constitutional amendment. However, for us who know Kagame, he is playing the same cards he played after 1994 genocide, he was asked to take up presidency and he said that he will lead from behind, but tactically he made life very difficult for Pasteur Bizimungu who was later forced to resign.

Therefore, the hope for Rwanda not to degenerate into another Burundi or Uganda of the 1980s, where President Museveni went to the Bush to oppose election results or Kagame who in 1990 knows very well  why RPF under the command of Gen. Fred Rwigyema went to the Bush. We hope that Kaberuka will bring hope to Rwandans and reverse this trend that might be considered as an alternative, he quoted Nelson Mandela, that

“After climbing a great hill, one finds that there are many more hills to climb”. We need Dr. Kaberuka to climb the Rwandan hill, be looked at as a great leader who can transform Rwanda and sustain what RPF has achieved without necessarily relying on one person and this falls in line of President Kagame said once said that it will be a personal failure if he does not leave power, indeed, the success of RPF depends on building institutions rather than individuals.

If President Kagame wants to have a positive legacy for his country, RPF and Africa as a whole, he could step down gracefully when his term ends, unlike other leaders in the region who have overstayed their welcome. Leaders should leave when they are still loved, it will be a disservice for RPF, Kagame, and Rwanda if Kagame leaves power with stones and destruction we are seeing in Burundi.

Jacqueline Umurungi

Brussels