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From: Tsegai Emmanuel (emmanuelt40@gmail.com)
Date: Sun Aug 22 2010 - 20:54:15 EDT
Rwanda's democracy is still the model for Africa
By Paul Kagame
Published: August 19 2010 22:28 | Last updated: August 19 2010 22:28
A listener sent me a text message during a radio show after Rwanda’s recent
elections<http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c89cf35c-a5f0-11df-9cb9-00144feabdc0.html>.
It read: “I didn’t vote for
Kagame<http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ad82d0ba-a70c-11df-90e5-00144feabdc0.html>,
but I still expect him to bring electricity to my village.” In this way it
is now common in Rwanda to hold leaders to account, and to demand they
improve livelihoods. Yet while few doubt my country’s rapid social and
economic progress, too many observers are blind to the successes of our
political evolution.
Those who look in from outside ignore the fact that competitive democracy
requires sustained social cohesion. It is important to look at the
challenges my country has faced, healing the deep-seated wounds of a
shattered society in need of both justice and reconciliation. No country has
moved from genocide to confrontational politics overnight. But *Gacaca*, our
system of community courts, has tried more than 1.2m genocide
suspects<http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/7fdfee40-2629-11df-aff3-00144feabdc0.html>in
the last five years. These reformed perpetrators have been allowed to
resume their lives by acknowledging their crimes and asking for forgiveness.
Today they live peacefully with their victims.
Many also fail to understand that it was precisely a system of pluralistic
politics that played a major role in the genocide, as newly formed parties
with shared extremist ideology outperformed the former one-party state in
mobilising the population to commit mass murder. It was, therefore,
unsurprising that in 2002, during consultations for a new constitution, the
people of Rwanda were wary of endorsing any type of political activity that
could renew sectarian violence. Instead, they accepted political pluralism
on the condition that parties would not operate at local level.
But, we are making progress. Stability and cohesion have since increased, so
in 2007 we amended the law to allow parties to operate at grassroots level.
Other reforms came too: because Rwandans gradually accepted the need to
tolerate even those who killed their families, we also abolished the death
penalty.
Rwandans do have a voice in their own affairs. We have developed an
effective system of decentralised government, in combination with a process
drawn from Rwandan cultural tradition – known as *Imihigo* – where district
mayors commit to targets, and compete to top their counterparts. This has
made institutions more responsive, and has improved public services – for
example, in the building of 3,000 new classrooms last year.
The massive attendance at rallies during the campaign was a loud statement
of confidence in our democracy. Rwandans voted the way Americans, Brazilians
or Germans vote: not along the lines of ethnic division, but by the inherent
unity that has always existed among us. The subsequent high turnout spoke
volumes too – for why would so many vote, if the contest was not important
to them?
Nonetheless, these truths were ignored during our election. Some in the
media and the international community seem uninterested in fact-checking,
and simply invented stories that play to damaging historic prejudices. It is
a shame that some so casually disregard the views of the majority of
Rwandans and prefer to elevate the dangerous opinions of fly-by-night
individuals, which in turn threaten to reverse our hard-earned stability.
But this is part of a wider problem. For decades, one-size-fits-all
development and democratic prescriptions have been imposed on Africa, with
unsatisfactory, sometimes tragic, results. Yet to break from the cycle of
underdevelopment we must seek innovative, home-grown solutions. Rwanda is
one of the countries that have chosen to apply unconventional mechanisms to
solve daunting challenges. And it is working.
African countries that take this stance, and the partners who support them,
are reaping political and economic
benefits<http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/db0a8140-9d53-11de-9f4a-00144feabdc0.html>.
But this is often in the context of misguided criticism that undermines
Africans’ ability to take charge of our destiny by, for example creating
misconceptions which may discourage investors. In the coming seven years
before I pass on the leadership to the next generation, we Rwandans will not
be distracted by such criticism, but will continue along our own path to an
increasingly constructive and competitive political environment that takes
full account of our history, political culture and evolving circumstances.
We have learnt the hardest way that, at the end of the day we, and only we,
bear responsibility for what happens to us.
*The writer is the president of the Republic of Rwanda*