President Paul Kagame has said that only Rwandans can have the right
to define who they want to be and work towards that and only them have
that freedom to make such choices but not foreigners, intruders, the
press or rights groups.
Speaking at the opening of the 9th National Dialogue (Umushyikirano)
at the Parliamentary buildings today, President Kagame called on
Rwandans to stand up and defend themselves against intruders who
assume the responsibility of defining who they should be and what
should define their country.
In a powerful speech, President Kagame came out strongly against the
critics who usually say that despite economic progress, there are no
rights and freedoms of expressions and democracy in Rwanda, observing
that it is a responsibility of Rwandans to say whether such rights
exist or not.
Addressing a full house of central government leaders, local
government leaders, private sector and civil society representatives,
religious leaders and diplomatic corps, President Kagame said that it
is disturbing when foreigners, who sometimes dont fulfill the lessons
they teach others, ignore the progress made and instead start pointing
accusing fingers, calling upon Rwandans to reject this patronizing
attitude.
Amidst applause, the Head of State pointed out that Rwandans should
find it offensive for such critics to undermine the home grown
solutions such as the National Dialogue to instead accuse countries of
stamping on freedoms.
He said that the objective of initiatives such as the Dialogue is to
ensure that all Rwandans have a platform to participate and play a
central role in the development and decision making processes of their
country but such are never recognised.
“This meeting is a symbol of nation building through a process where
all Rwandans have a right to contribute to the process and play an
active role in deciding the path of their country,”
“They will talk about the many things Rwandans have achieved but then
they say ‘but’….why the but?They say Rwandans dont have freedoms of
expressions. I see three things involved, we are either dumb, even if
we have what we want to say, we cant because we are dumb. Secondly,
maybe Rwandans cant say anything because there is someone silencing
them,”
“Thirdly, probably you might not be dumb or no one is silencing you
but you have nothing to say. Today, I want us to find an answer to
this question, to assess what other people think we are and then come
up with a stand of who we want to be, regardless of what other people
think of us. Whoever considers us to be whatever, that’s there burden,”
President Kagame said
The Head of State wondered why people talk of the economy growing but
cannot put in perspective other aspects such as democratic processes,
freedoms of speech and other rights which Rwandans have defined and
put in place themselves along with the economic development that is
visible but continue to complain about space.
“Which space is bigger than this one?” President Kagame said in
reference to the dialogue itself.
“Infact the space that is lacking is that space which is constantly
being occupied by those intruders. This nonsense from outsiders is the
one occupying our freedom. These so called teachers of freedom, space,
the same people getting stuck with genocidaires murderers and
criminals,” he said, pointing out the case of Theoneste Bagosora, the
genocide mastermind whose sentence was on Wednesday reduce from life
to 35 years by the International Criminal Tribunal of Rwanda (ICTR).
“It has taken them 17 years to try him and try him so badly and they
are the same people coming here to give us press freedoms? You are a
joker. Some of us you come to teach about freedoms have been freedom
fighters for their and other peoples rights since childhood. We have
interest in our own freedoms and rights than anyone else has. We have
have that responsibility more that anyone else,” President Kagame
said.
President Kagame said such people can do it, just because they can but
not becuase they are right.
“They can do it to Africans, they want to do it to Rwandans but I want
to assure you that we are different people. You Rwandans sitting here
should not accept this nonsense. Accepting it is un thinkable, but
accepting it is worse off for you, stand up and defend that right,
they should not speak for you,” he said.
The Head of State took a swipe at rights groups and the media, saying
that the two should not be the ones to be seen to have the right to
define or choose what Rwandans want and also make freedoms appear like
a myth where only a few have the power and previlege to define them
and know what suits others.
“My question is, who are you?Who are you speaking for?Are these
millions of Rwandans here waiting for you to come and tell them what
their interests should be and what their rights are?You Rwandans
should reject that. We cannot make this progress and then at the same
time fail in other areas, it doesn’t just add up,” he said.
The Head of State said that he was recently reading a foreign
newspaper where a certain person wrote that they cannot be governed by
a minority several years after the country failed to form a
government, observing that such a statement comes out wishful thinking
because Rwanda is not governed by a minority but rather Rwandans.
“They wish to be governed like Rwanda, these are people who havent
been governed for two years, they failed to put in place a government.
Who is minority?am not from a minority,I am from these Rwandans you
see here. We cannot be a minority in our own country. These are people
who need lessons about Rwanda, lessons in freedoms, you cannot teach
us about our own freedom,” he said
“The main problem is just one and thats what brings us here, they can
afford to call us all sorts of names, they can do whatever they
want—and they can do anything,ask where Mutara Rudahigwa went, they
will do that because you depend on them, they give you remains, when
you depend on them, anything will happen. Even passersby will poke at
you, thats the position we are in, thats the position we want to live
far behind us and thats why we are here,” he added.
He called on Rwandans to more determined than ever to be in the
position they want to be and end being in the position of being
beggars and that will be the only way Rwandans will be independent of
such negative references.
He called on Rwandans to bear that in mind that the dignity of
Rwandans is not defined in newspapers or wherever. The Head of State
also spoke about how on many occasions whether he will leave office
come 2017, saying that despite coming out clearly, journalists
continue to ask him the same, well knowing that he still has 6 more
years on his mandate.
“They are not patient enough for me to serve my term in office. I can
serve Rwandans in a different capacity, not in this office. I have
done that before and I can still do it,”
The Head of State then sent the house into bouts of laughter when he
pointed out that he paying for an offense committed by the Ministers
of Internal Security Musa Fazil Harelimana who in the first place
started the 3rd Term talk.
“Fazil should carry his own cross, not me. This is not serious, some
of us have some serious business to attend to,” he said.
He noted that alot has been achieved over the last 17 years and there
is need for Rwandans to maintain that process without any kind of
distraction.
“We have achieved alot and I urge you to continue on this path. Us
meeting here is an answer to the challenges we face but most
importantly we answer the question usually coming from outside Rwanda,
to those who question us,I dont understand why some people would feel
more concerned with the country’s processes than the Rwandans
themselves,” he observed.
The Prime Minister Pierre Damien Habumuremyi presented a report on the
implementation of the recommendations of the 8th National Dialogue,
observing that progress in all areas was at 90%. A joint report on the
achievements of some of the home grown solutions Rwanda started a few
years ago to address its challenges was presented by Prof. Anastase
Shyaka from Rwanda Governance Board.
Millions of Rwandans were able to follow the proceedings live on TV,
on radio and online. Hundreds participated using Twitter, Facebook,
calls and SMS messages. The discussions continue in the afternoon.
