Rwanda: Should development justify oppression?

On Tuesday 22 April Rwandan President Paul Kagame, a perpetrator of gross human rights violations visited Tufts University to give a speech to students and guests on Rwanda’s economic recovery. Tufts University chose development over respect for human rights. The question is: Should Rwandan people accept to be oppressed for the sake of development? Is economic development enough to justify the repressive and criminal nature of the current Rwandan regime?

A few people in the business community and the very few Rwandans who are benefiting from the current regime want the rest of us to be silenced, be submitted, be divided and be oppressed in order for the regime to continue to fill their pockets. A few Rwandans have been made to believe that development is more important than freedom, democracy and wellbeing of the people.

Those who are blinded by glassy shiny tall buildings in the city of Kigali should take a look at Johannesburg, South Africa of the 1980s to see how the city was vibrant. Rwandans should take this example of South Africa where a very remarkable development was taking place from 1940s to 1990s under the Apartheid regime of Pieter W. Botha and Frederik W. de Klerk. During this period of prosperity and economic development, the National Party’s apartheid regime oppressed, segregated and relegated its black people into lower class citizens. Despite this, the people of South Africa were not seduced and lured into giving up their fight for freedom by the level of development the country had achieved.

Similarly to Rwanda today, with the use of violent police and justice system, all struggles for freedom and democracy in South Africa were met with brutality, killings and arrests while many people such as Nelson Mandela were sent to jail and others into exile for many years.

Despite the international community support the apartheid regime was enjoying, development was not enough to justify oppression and racial segregation. Eventually, the regime ended up with the imposition of international sanctions. Just like any oppressive regime, the Apartheid regime was economically unsustainable in the long term.

Today, Rwanda relies on external funding, including aid, for about 40 percent of its budget. The level of development achieved today is not sufficient to justify oppression and warmongering. Several international donors last year cut or held back aid to Rwanda over its alleged backing of rebels in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo.

Rwanda still has a long way to go and lack of stability can have dire consequences on the current economic achievement that American universities are too quick to praise Kagame for.