“I understood firshand the problems of being a refugee. Secondly, it occurred to me that nobody needed to experience that kind of things. Three, I thought that whatever I would be doing, whatever my responsibilities were, I would always try and find a way of addressing that problem” Kagame will be remembered like Nelson Mandela of South Africa, Nkrumah of Ghana, Julius Nyereye of Tanzania, and other model history of leaders in Africa if he continues on the path of keeping Rwanda one and leaving power at the right time.
-November 22, 2021, News/Comments
COMMENTARY-While it became pertinent to focus on Rwanda’s sustained peace, reconciliation and development, my attention went straight to the recent interview conducted by the Al-Jazeera with the Country’s president, Paul Kagame whom I cherished his resourceful and well articulated leadership and economic style, who discussed his country’s evolution since the 1994 genocide, which he fought and became one of the peace promoter and later took over power six years after the bloody genocide, in which 800,000 people were slaughtered in an ethnic conflict and millions were displaced. But today, the story has changed with vision driven leadership encompassing.
Kagame
According to several new reports , the Rwandan genocide was a methodical movement by the Hutu ethnic majority aimed at putting out each and every member of the minority Tutsi group in extinction. The Hutu-controlled government and allied militias massacred over 800,000 and one million Tutsis before a dangerous Tutsi rebel group overthrew them in a disastrous manner . However, history had recorded that more than 100,000 Hutus were also killed, including both moderate Hutus killed by Hutu extremists and those killed by Tutsis in so-called “revenge killings.” Then came the heat of the assassination of the president, Juvenal Habyarimana on April 6, 1994, whose plane was brought down by a missile of unidentified fighters strongly believed to be Tutsi rebels. This prompted government allied Forces (Hutu), the President’s kinsmen to regrouped and launched a revenge over his assassination. It became a campaign of killings precisely on April 7, which lasted for 100 days with tears of the sun, hunger and starvation, rape, and total breakdown of law and order. It was a gory war fought against itself.
The Divison and hatred
Also, researchers and news reports had noted that the split between Hutus and Tutsis arose not as a result of religious or cultural differences, but economic one. “Hutus” were people who farmed crops, while “Tutsis” were people who tended livestock. Most Rwandans were Hutus. Gradually, these class divisions became seen as ethnic designations”. Today, the story is different, as Paul Kagame, a born Southern Rwandan of the Tutsi ethnic group with his cabinet have taken the path of ruling the destiny of Rwanda, leading the country into Africa’s tech hub and economic prosperity, where no Jew or gentile is superior to others, where equal right and justice prevail, where both the Hutu majority and Tutsi minority compete equally as they see themselves as brothers and sisters.
Reconciliation and peace they unianimously agreed, sharing ideas and projecting what will benefit all, thereby leaving the wounds to heal by itself-the past as history, and the present as “ never would it happen again”. Indeed, Kagame has always believed that African leaders can solve her problems, and need not to run to the western power for solution. Kagame had once said that: “I understood firshand the problems of being a refugee. Secondly, it occurred to me that nobody needed to experience that kind of things. Three, I thought that whatever I would be doing, whatever my responsibilities were, I would always try and find a way of addressing that problem” Kagame will be remembered like Nelson Mandela of South Africa, Nkrumah of Ghana, Julius Nyereye of Tanzania, and other model history of leaders in Africa if he continues on the path of keeping Rwanda one and leaving power at the right time.
Couarge is what any visionary leader needs, and that was what Al-Jazeera described Kagame of, turning his country into a rapid economic growth with an expanded Gross domestic product, (GDP) of 20.9% from a year earlier in the second quarter of 2021. This follows a 3.5% rise in the previous three-month period as captured by Google. “It was the quickest economic expansion on record, reflecting a strong rebound from the pandemic-induced” Meanwhile, According to the United Nations population data,2020, Rwanda’s population was put at 12,952,218 people ( twelve million, nine hundred and fifty two, two hundred and eighteen) . Rwanda’s population is equivalent at 0.17% of the total world population.
But the questions concerned African will ask, which is very crucial to the posterity of Kagame’s reign may be, that after he won a third term in 2017 with nearly 99 percent of the votes, how much longer is Kagame planning to hold on to power? The president of Rwanda, Paul Kagame, which Al Jazeera didn’t pretend to also asked because there is something cynical about attempting to stay long in power in Africa. Most times, it ends disastrously either by coup or major uprising, in which in most cases result into causalities. I hope, such will not happen as Rwanda have vowed never to stage fruitless battles of no return. Paul Kagame must therefore remain resolute and committed to democratic process, rule of law, and never to be power drunk like most of his colleagues in Africa. He must relegate power when the time comes. He must judiciously continue to preserve the country’s resources, tin ore, gold, methane and tungsten ore, columbite- tantalite and tungsten and have a fair share across the country and become the true face and role model of Africa.
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