The vision thing: Are Rwandans in danger of getting too complacent?

Inaugurating the newly completed City Hall, and M Peace Plaza building, President Paul Kagame had a more personal message for the assembled government officials. Speaking in Kinyarwanda, he interrupted the flow of his speech to acknowledge how demanding he continues to be. However, he assured them that he appreciates the work they do, adding that he knows only too well that building anything worthwhile takes time. The words, and no doubt the sentiment, drew warm applause from the audience. One hopes, the applause was to signify to the Head of State that there is nothing wrong in demanding Rwandans to work harder to reach their goals. Of late there has been a steady stream (although a trickle might be more accurate) of voices suggesting that perhaps the President might express more gratification, and less dissatisfaction with the level of performance across government, whether local or national. These sentiments are instructive in what they tell us about today’s Rwanda. It is also somewhat curious. Rwanda has become a place of many firsts, a place where innovation is the norm. We can now point to a new first, one that is rarely if ever witnessed, arguably right across the world, definitely on the African continent, certainly in modern Rwanda: normally the broad mass of the population complain and grumble, often justifiably, about a bloated, moribund executive, which, surfeited, seeks to stifle any change that would dislodge it from its feathered nest. In Rwanda, things are somewhat different. Some people grumble that the executive is driving change too inexorably, that it is too impatient of complacency and too exacting in its demand for greater efficiency and delivery of service to the people; a turn up for the books indeed. These complainants pose what for them seems a perfectly reasonable question. Surely President Kagame has every reason to be contented with the achievements of the government across the board, they wonder! And surely ministers and other officials deserve a well earned pat on the back, rather than the metaphorical raps on the knuckles they so often get. Hearing the President acknowledging that he never ceases to demand for more efforts, one was hard pressed not to feel a little pained on his behalf, as one would for anyone unjustly accused; hard to suppress an involuntary objection in defence. It is virtually impossible to point to any speech or presentation he has ever given where he has not gone out of his way to credit not only public officials, but, all Rwandans. How, one is moved to wonder, could he be thus accused when he takes every opportunity to express his appreciation for the efforts of public servants. Anyone criticising the President for his critical observations would have an omelette without breaking eggs. They cherish the nation’s achievements yet quibble about a significant element in the delivery of those very achievements. They are like diners in rapture about the gorgeous dishes before them, complaining about the head chef’s exacting standards in his selection of the ingredients that make up those dishes. Why not sit back and relax they chide, why continue to stand guard over the quality of the ingredients? After all, they say, look at the excellence of the dishes before our eyes, forgetting that it is precisely because the head chef will not relent over the quality of the ingredients that the dishes are so exquisite. No, one is compelled to conclude, while they are entitled to express their opinion as they see fit, it is nevertheless unfair and unreasonable of anyone to cause President Kagame to feel the need to ask forgiveness for his critical judgement. Not only this is unfair and unreasonable, it also fails to understand the spirit, and the context in which the President couches his criticisms. President Kagame is undoubtedly a tough man, a hard taskmaster, who, as the saying goes, does not suffer fools gladly. Anyone who has observed him well, however, even from afar, cannot fail to perceive a streak of kindness, and compassion running through everything he does. He feels deeply the condition of the millions affected by the policies of the government he leads. Rwandans are not given to wearing their hearts on their sleeves. Theirs is a culture more at ease with reticence, uncomfortable with sentimentality. We are, therefore, unlikely to hear President Kagame declare his love of country, or his people. Yet, it is exactly such a love that drove him, Gen Fred Gisa Rwigwema of beloved memory, and others of their brothers and sisters in arms to sacrifice their lives in a war of liberation for their people, their country. These reproaches are mild to be sure, but, nevertheless instructive in what they tell us about the extent to which Rwandans understand, or fail to understand the vision of those founders of the Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF), a vision which President Kagame embodies so perfectly. It is a vision of a nation, a people, a state fit for the 21st century. Speaking about the much vaunted Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), President Kagame stated that for his government the MDGs were “a floor, not a ceiling.” So while some would have had him stop and pop a bottle of champagne to mark Rwanda’s reach of the MDGs’ benchmarks, he would keep the champagne on ice until such a day when Rwanda no longer needs to have such low benchmarks set for it. Rwandans do overwhelmingly endorse and embrace the RPF leadership, and much to the chagrin of opponents of the RPF, President Kagame’s personal popularity may as well be composed of helium, seeming as it does to move ever upwards. Rwandans like the government and the leadership they have and want nothing but more of it. But, the question raised by the seemingly harmless complaint of the President’s tough stance, is do they fully understand that leadership’s vision for them, for the nation? In Buddhist teaching, followers are reminded that Buddhism is a path to reality, not the reality. To see the moon, they are told, you have to look beyond the finger pointing at the moon. Many look at the finger and never see the moon. President Kagame, too, asks Rwandans to look beyond his pointed finger and see the vision the RPF has for the nation. Some of them, contented with seeing the finger, wonder why their President keeps insisting they look harder, better, differently. They point to the many world indices which Rwanda either tops or is in the top ten, and ask how, with all these achievements, can he remain so critical? The reason, of course, is that he has higher benchmarks, he sees further along the horizon. When the contented point to the dramatic lowering of infant and maternal mortality, he too is gratified with what has been achieved so far, but, while they would settle at that, he points to the still too high rates of mothers and children dying in childbirth. They point to increased food security, yes, he says, it is encouraging, but, he points to the still high rates of malnutrition in the country. Healthcare and education for all, wonderful, he tells them, but, so much more needs to be accomplished. They point to the millions lifted out of absolute poverty, yes, he warmly concedes, a wonderful step, but, only a step he reminds them, and points to the many more millions still struggling under the crushing weight of poverty, and insists that that must be the focus. And so it goes on, until all of Rwanda understands that much less of what has been achieved would have been, if the government had rested on its laurels, as some would clearly have it. The labour of love that was heaving Rwanda from the depths of the abyss into which it had been plunged, begin the healing process and then set it on its current miraculously promising course was a herculean one to say the least. The leaders of the RPF could never, in their worst nightmares, have imagined that before they could embark on turning their vision of national renewal into action, they would first have to rescue and guide the healing of a nation that had been condemned to an unimaginable hell. It is not surprising that many look at the remarkable recovery, the transformation, and feel that it is more than reason enough to relax and stand in admiration. President Kagame is, of course, gratified with what has been achieved, he knows only too well how arduous it has been, and what it has cost to get the nation where it is. He appreciates the efforts of those he has worked with to do the heavy lifting, and says so often. The difference between him and those who would have him stop to applaud, is that he has never once lost sight of that original vision of what Rwanda can be, of what its people can achieve. As he is fond of remarking, there are small nations, and Rwanda is certainly one, but, there are no small peoples, and he is unyielding in his dedication to bring out that greatness in his nation, his people. Rwandans can best work with him by understanding this vision, by looking at the moon, rather than the moon’s reflection on the finger and taking it for the moon. For the first time in their living memory, Rwandans have a government with a conviction that it exists only to serve them. President Kagame’s trenchant criticism of various sectors of government is more than a demand for efficient delivery and implementation of services to every citizen. It is a clarion call to all Rwandans to awaken to the new political reality. Where once they were ruled by officials high and low, now they are governed, and those who govern them derive their legitimacy to govern from the people, and that legitimacy is earned in the service of the people. Government is now accountable to the people, and taking criticism comes with the territory. Rwandans are lucky, blessed. These are words rarely associated with Rwanda, but, twenty-one years since the RPF began to restore the nation to itself, and pour balm on its deep wounds, it is easy to utter such sentiments. The best way for Rwandans to not only cherish these blessings, but, maintain and increase them, is to be fully cognisant of what it has cost, and what it costs to get them. The murmurs of complaint that the President is too exacting may seem good natured, and light hearted, but, they ought to concern Rwandans. Most Rwandans, if they were to be honest, are every bit as astonished by the achievements of their government as are many none Rwandans. Their government has not just surpassed their expectations – given their history, expectations will necessarily have been low – but, it has actually surpassed their most optimistic hopes. President Kagame, however, clearly remains wary of any tendency of complacency. Are complaints about his demands to reach higher targets a sign that on the march towards the RPF’s vision for national renewal some people are beginning to lag behind? Is it a sign that while the President keeps his eyes on the prize and continues to forge the path ahead, some Rwandans, distracted in the euphoria of what has already been achieved, are beginning to mistake the midpoint for journey’s end. Perhaps this is reading too much into a robust discussion between a people and their leader. Either way, for the sake of the nation, let’s hope the President gives them short thrift, and will never feel that he has to apologise for having highest expectations for his country, his people. There are plenty whose expectations of Rwanda and Rwandans are so low, that they imagine the nation’s achievements are a fluke that might not last. And there are many who resent these achievements, for they come as a rebuke to what they are. Rwandans can listen to their insistent whispers, for they never give up, or they can heed their President’s call, aim to understand and share his vision for the country, and raise their expectations of themselves to match his for them. Then in the words of a Scottish poet, they can confidently assert, “ah, but, a man’s reach should exceed his grasp, or what’s a heaven for.” The writer is a London based broadcast journalist.

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The vision thing: Are Rwandans in danger of getting too complacent?