As is his habit, Ali Yusufu Mugenzi used his chance as host of the BBC Imvo n’Imvano programme to push what could be called a rationalisation effort of the genocide ideology, last Saturday. And he must have congratulated himself because, in Anastase Gasana, Emmanuel Habyarimana, some obscure pastor and Kayumba Nyamwasa, he got a quartet “full of passionate intensity” (W. B. Keats). The topic was the now infamous “aberrant advice” from a leader in our region for Rwanda to engage FDLR in talks.
It was laughable even if it was sad. I don’t know about the pastor, but the others are men who, when they were in the leadership of this country, were in the vanguard of the fight against the FDLR. Chocking on their words as if it was the last chance they had of capturing Rwandans’ hearts, the men went at it with frightening force. When at the end the anarchical torrent was over, however, it all amounted to one thing: passionate hatred of one man. For the hatred against President Paul Kagame that they share, they are ready to join forces driven by the single objective of concluding the Genocide of 1994.
Of course, they clothed this hatred in mumblings of exclusion, lack of democracy, one-man rule, FDLR being formed by youths who were not there in 1994 and others.
These men, why don’t they do the only sensible thing that any other sensible man would do? Why don’t they leave the noise at BBC to Mugenzi and join forces with FDLR in the jungles of our neighbouring country, D.R. Congo? But even before that, why don’t they join forces wherever they are so that they can speak with one voice?
Each one of them belongs to an “opposition political party”. But the only party that has any following to speak of is maybe Kayumba’s, with a paltry three members. The rest are the founders and sole members of their own parties. There are maybe a dozen other parties that have their founders as their sole members. No one can tell the exact number of their parties, as their death and birth rates are in stiff competition. But when they can, they should join forces so that with the FDLR militia, they can be a considerable force of about 2016. That way, when they are at the border threatening to do Rwandans in, then maybe we can take them seriously and listen.
At that number, Rwandans know that their RDF army can scatter them with a few rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs), all right, but Rwanda will have lost something over them at least. Otherwise, they seem to come off as a scattering of clowns, who cannot coordinate their efforts and come up with a credible opposition. Only in D.R. Congo do they have a chance, because if they are scattered they’ll take the example of their FDLR comrades and indulge the pleasures of murdering, raping and looting properties of innocents who cannot defend themselves.
Otherwise, I don’t see how filling airwaves with verbal bravado can convince Rwandans that they are a serious group with a practicable agenda for them or gain them anything.
There is no way you can convince anybody that you are going to create inclusiveness when you have failed to rally a single person behind you, or if the highest number you can gather is three individuals.
Democracy is about people enjoying their rights. But merely shouting about lack of it without showing the policies you can put in place to deliver it cannot get you support. And, in a country where eleven million citizens are united behind their leadership, no sane person can call that a one-man rule.
We know that FDLR still holds many innocent Rwandans hostage. But we also know that, to this day, our government spares no effort in trying to free and repatriate them. After all, it’s for that exact reason that it has repeatedly called upon all countries to cease any support they are offering and disarm and repatriate them, so that the innocent can be integrated in our society and those guilty of abuses can face the laws of the land.
Its leadership, a majority of who are in jails in different capitals of the world, are known génocidaires, a reason for their imprisonment. But those of them who are at liberty continue to inculcate the cause of genocide ideology into the minds of young ones. That’s how you can have a fourteen-year old make a pronouncement like: “We have to kill Tutsis wherever they are!” as a reporter, Chris McGail, was shocked to hear in May, 2008.
So, our brothers and sisters in self-imposed exile, do the only sensible thing that’s available to you: leave your sick clowning and own up to your sins. Rwandans have boundless capacity to forgive and they will receive you with open arms. Of course that will be after you’ve had your day in court as you had your day in the sun on BBC last Saturday, but what’s a little punishment between family members? We’ve all come a long way and have seen worse.
