Rwanda is a new, old country, but more modern than ancient

This story on Rwanda might have escaped your attention. Perhaps understandably. It was not the sort that makes bold headlines and demands attention. Nor terribly exciting to make the heart race and blood boil, raise your temper or revulsion.The story was not about war and death and destruction on a massive scale, and somehow Rwanda being involved.Nor about politics, elections for instance, and accusations of closed political space, longevity in power of the incumbent, or not abiding by the prescriptions of the self-declared custodians of universal principles in political and moral conduct. Never mind their severe deficiencies in the area.It was not some horrible disaster such as a massive earthquake that reduces a whole town to rubble, or floods and landslides that bury entire villages under water and mud.None of these earth-shattering happenings, both real or in the imagination.The story was ordinary, normal news. The sort you could applaud and celebrate, well, because it was good news, about real achievement. Or that you could miss, despite its import, because it was about such an uninteresting subject as the law and courts.The story was told two weeks ago. Rwanda’s ministry of justice won the Commonwealth Access to Justice and Innovation Award. That was the news. The award was given in Zanzibar on March 7 on the margins of the Commonwealth Ministers of Justice meeting.There were actually two awards. One was in recognition of the Abunzi (Mediators) Committee, a dispute resolution mechanism that was set up in 2004. As the report on the awards said, Abunzi “draw upon traditional methods of conflict resolution to settle disputes at grassroots level to foster community cohesion”.The other was for the Integrated Electronic Case Management System (IECMS) that was launched in 2016. According to the story, the IECMS is meant to “streamline judicial processes through automation and facilitate seamless information sharing among institutions, ultimately fast-tracking justice delivery”.Another award. Not a big deal any more, some might say. Rwanda receives them regularly. It has become a habit. Of course, it matters, others will say. It means something. You get recognised for doing something right, special or unusual, or of great significance.In this case, the justice award was for a special kind of innovation that blends tradition and modern information and communications technology to address contemporary issues. That was the story – recognition of a fact, of achievement. But it is much bigger than that.To be able to source from both means you have a strong grounding in tradition without being held by it and a firm grasp of the workings and benefits of the latest technological developments, and a readiness to adopt and apply them. Rwanda has been able to do that.In many ways, however, the story of the justice awards is the story of Rwanda today.This is an ancient country, although in its present incarnation, only thirty years old. It is therefore both youthful and old, and has been able to combine its traditional heritage with a modern outlook to leverage both and in a way that avoids conflict between them.This country has been able to escape being held back by tradition and getting stuck in the past and not being able to innovate or move in a new direction. In fact, the opposite has happened.Rwanda has used tradition to free itself without breaking the connection and propel itself forward and upward. The key thing has been the ability to choose which aspects of tradition can illuminate the present and fashion a path into the future.Choice is one of several very important words in the country’s political and development vocabulary.Embracing modern technology, including artificial intelligence, and even making some of it, is another feature of Rwanda today. The country’s leaders recognised very early the power of technology in moving the country forward and fast.The IECMS is just one such application designed to improve the livelihood of Rwandans. There are other, more sophisticated ones.Marriage of tradition and technology actually works very well and produces excellent results. Some of the most advanced countries in technology are in fact those that have been able to do this.Japan, Korea, India and China are deeply traditional but also have developed and use some of the world’s most advanced technology.If Rwanda stays on the current path and maintains the momentum, it will not be long before it joins the ranks of those making the most use of technology while remaining true to who they are.

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Rwanda is a new, old country, but more modern than ancient