All is not well at home these days. My Dearest Datiliva says some people are out to support killers hiding in Europe and elsewhere by amplifying what they say at home in Rwanda. The other Sunday when I thought we had had a comparatively bearable weekend, Rwanda Television spoilt it and now my Datiliva has given me an ultimatum; I either do a “Gatusso” by standing in the entrance to Rwanda TV and lower my trousers to reveal my panties or she will do to me what Kenyan women did to their husbands. It all started by a simple article in the News by Rwanda TV and a humble comment by a visiting Don of one University from the US who was leading a delegation that included students and their teachers. The good Don made a comment to the effect that the reconciliation that has taken place in Rwanda should be a lesson to other people as how former enemies could reunite and reconcile. Datiliva ordered me to switch off the TV monitor saying that she could not stand people who insulted the memory of the victims of Hutu killers. I argued that my duty was to watch the News and not edit what the station broadcast. Datiliva shoved me aside and unplugged the monitor from the main source and told me that there would be no TV until the people who man it change what it spews out. “Look at me!” said Datiliva raising her blouse to expose the scars on her back, upper arm and chest, which I have seen a million times, “whose enemy was I when killers did this to me? Whose enemy was my mother before she had her feet and arms chopped off before she was buried alive by the very people she taught? Whose enemy was my baby sister, who was barely two years? Tell me whose enemy was my Father, a simple Catechist in Kibuye. It is the campaign of criminals to portray the death of our parents and children as victims of African intertribal wars who were fighting enemies and were killed first by their enemies. I cannot accept such evil schemes because it is the handwork of evil minds controlled by the devil”. “Honey” I pleaded, “Rwanda TV is all we can watch. Besides the comment was made by a foreigner who may know nothing about Rwanda’s history. If George Bush as presidential candidate believed that “Africa is a country with many problems” what do you expect from a simple everyday American?” “If someone is new to Rwanda someone should educate him/her” said Datiliva, “and if he/she does not know, he should not be given airtime on the national TV to show his ignorance. Which reconciliation was he talking about; the very criminals have refused to show us where they dumped the bodies of our departed ones? They want forgiveness but not the truth. It should be that survivors and those whose loved ones were murdered have decided to forgive and live?” “Honey” I pleaded “you need to rest. It has been a long day”. My dearest took offence at my suggestion and said I was being insensitive. “Can’t you see this is the handwork of evil genocideres scattered in Europe who have an upper hand in information dissemination? They have the liberty to misinform the world that they are victims and running away from tribal persecution in Rwanda so strangers come and when they look at Rwandans they see “enemies” of the miserable “refugees” in Europe and elsewhere yet they are the baby-killers who are running away from justice here? It is unfortunate when such evil schemes are amplified by foreign media houses but it is unacceptable when peddled by the national broadcaster who paid from the taxes I pay. ” I said my dearest and I had no control over what goes on in the media Industry both local and foreign but she said there must be people who paid to do exactly that; counter the misinformation. “Doesn’t Rwanda have Ambassadors, Heads of mission, Charges d’Affair, Consular and Plenipotentiary’s and 1st Secretaries and Press secretaries and all Secretary things? Is it not their duty to represent the truth about Rwanda?” “My Dearest, I said, “African diplomats do not see themselves as people sent on assignment but people given chance to enjoy because of their tribal affiliation, their family’s social position or history. So they do represent Africans in eating and drinking at dinners and cocktails not what concerns their nations. So we shall have to wait for a yet to be born generation of diplomats to see that.” “Fine” said my Dearest “nonetheless I won’t allow that thing to air inside my house. You can go and borrow all the movies you want but no TV.” Well to me the wish of my Dearest is a command and her command remains an order so I have not seen Rwanda TV and I miss their repeatedly repeated programmes. Email: ekaba2002@yahoo.com
