Admirers and detractors of Rwanda agree on one thing – that this country seems to attract very strong and contradictory reactions.Rarely is the reaction moderate.I think I now understand why. Part of the reason is that Rwandans want to do things affecting them their own way and in their own time. Sometimes this means politely declining offers from elsewhere or firmly rejecting external directives.The latest example of a typically Rwandan choice about the management of their social and political relations is the Ndi Umunyarwanda initiative. This is a home-grown programme about truth and openness built on an age-old practice of communities sitting together to discuss differences in an open, truthful and amicable environment in order to maintain social harmony and stability, and ensure the survival of the community.In some places a similar initiative would be called a truth commission.While the purpose of a formal truth commission and the Ndi Umunyarwanda initiative may be similar, there are essential differences.It should be recalled that immediately after the Genocide against the Tutsi in 1994, the international community prescribed, and even offered to fund, a truth commission for Rwanda. Rwandans wisely refused to be stampeded into something whose outcome at the time they were not certain would help to rebuild society.In the first place, a truth commission is a formal arrangement with a set of officials receiving and sifting through various testimonies and determining which is truthful or not, and what is actionable or not. In this sense it is less participatory or voluntary.Besides, those who appear before it are only a small group of people thought to have had the greatest responsibility, not the whole people.For the commission to work to the satisfaction of donors, an army of young men and women straight out of school from those countries will invade the country to conduct seminars and workshops on how to tell the truth and what is acceptable truth.Then the army of youths return home and write dissertations and become authorities on Rwanda and experts on conflict resolution.At the end of its sittings, the commission produces a report. Whether or not it is acted upon is a different matter, and whether any reconciliation occurs is questionable.And coming so soon after the Genocide when grief was fresh, wounds still open and emotions raw, it is doubtful such a commission would have achieved much beyond exciting recrimination and apportioning blame.Which is why Rwanda chose to ignore standard procedure (as recommended by the conflict resolution experts) and go about reconciliation and healing through stages.First, the National Unity and Reconciliation Commission was set up to provide a policy framework and follow up of activities.Then the Gacaca courts were established to dispense justice, provide a platform for admission of responsibility as a step towards seeking pardon and the granting of forgiveness, and finally reconciliation. The courts were the first forums where victims, perpetrators and the community came together, face to face to talk openly about the Genocide. The present initiative takes up from there and goes beyond suspected perpetrators and victims to embrace all Rwandans, including those whose responsibility may not yet be known. The rationale is that every Rwandan was affected by the Genocide and the history that led up to it in a variety of ways.Ordinarily the passage of time should make the telling of truth easier because the burden of living with lies or guilt is greater.Time makes it possible for dispassionate reflection of the past and to make a clean break with unsavoury moments of that time.Much has since been done. There is a degree of Rwandanness, especially among ordinary citizens, that has not been known in the recent past. But clearly more needs to be done, particularly among the leaders and elite generally.Twenty years after the Genocide and fifty-one years after independence, there are many issues that are not out in the open. There are uncomfortable truths still untold, testimonies unheard and repentance to be made. The future of this country cannot be built on such hollowness.All these must come out if remaining cracks are to be sealed and Rwandans move ahead as truly one nation. Their telling is a necessary foundation for a stronger Rwanda. That is why the Ndi Umunyarwanda initiative is so important. Actually, it has a paradoxical significance. It is at once a break with the past but also a bridge with the present and with the future.It will achieve its purpose because it is initiated by Rwandans to address their specific social and historical circumstances.josephrwagatare.wordpress.com
