Kagame opens the Umushikirano. BELOW UN Economic Commission for Africa Executive Secretary Carlos Lopes speaks at the National Dialogue, Rwanda female UN peacekeepers.
ON December 18 and 19, Rwanda held its 12th annual National Dialogue, or more popularly "Umushyikirano" as it's called in the Kinyarwanda language.
Perhaps the best way to explain Umushyikirano is that it's a strange cross between a political beauty parade, and a public flogging – the government reports to the country how it has performed on the things it promised to do; and the people write in during the dialogue (mostly via Twitter and Facebook), or call in through a videoconference link from satellite stations around the country, to complain, praise, and denounce - in trademark African plain-speak - what they see as failures.
President Paul Kagame chairs the proceedings. There is free lunch, a cocktail for the Rwandans who return from the Diaspora to attend, music and dance, and fervent chants hailing the president.
Anger over "genocide trivialisation"
The Umushyikirano 2014 had its emotional moments, especially on the last day. This was partly because this one came on the 20th anniversary year of the 1994 genocide in which nearly one million people, most of them Tutsi, were killed. But perhaps what most made the emotions raw, was the October BBC documentary "Rwanda: The Untold Story".
It is nearly two months since it aired, and the rage against it for "genocide denial" and "genocide trivialisation" is still running high. The BBC Kinyarwanda Service was suspended in the furore that followed. At the close of the Umushikyrano,Kagame tore into it, denouncing those he said felt superior and therefore trampled the history and pain of other peoples without a care.
As the proceedings ended, there was a small celebratory jig. Some of the leaders formed a circle, and did the shuffle. Kagame joined in to much applause, but he didn't get down, remaining straight-backed, putting in only a suppressed twitch of the shoulders.
Then, finally, a photo book, "Rwanda: A remarkable turnaround of a nation" was formally published and distributed at the end of the event, with a preface by Kagame and a foreword by former British prime minister Tony Blair. Some of the photographs are quite striking.
The Umushyikirano is open to diplomats and the local and international media, but on Saturday, the ruling Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) gathered in congress behind closed doors, locking out foreigners and non-members of their political clan. It is said that here is where the gloves come off and Kagame hands out tough love, and members let it all hang out.
Beyond the disagreements
For various reasons, Rwanda is probably the African country that divides opinion on the continent and internationally most. Few can remain neutral when it is discussed. To some, the post-genocide turnaround it has achieved, the "effectiveness" of its leaders, and its order in a chaotic continent is a "miracle". To its critics, it is a repressive rule that hides its undemocratic ways behind the façade of rosy statistics and the international acclaims of its fanatic supporters.
However, if Umushyikirano does anything, it provides telling insights into how Rwandan leaders and society see themselves; the things they are proud of; and, in an anecdotal sense, the kind of future they dream of.
These following 7 facts that were offered at various points during the dialogue, in different ways, summed up the challenges the country still faces, and the things where it feels it has won bragging rights:
1. Ten years ago the poverty level in Rwanda was 60%. That has now reduced to 45%. An improvement, but still not good enough.
2. Over 6 million land titles have been distributed/collected in Rwanda. But the more striking number is that 8.7 million titles have been prepared, and over 90% of the land in the country has been surveyed and titled and the records can be accessed in a digital registry. With a population of 11 million, more land titles have been issued than there are adult Rwandans. In this regard Rwanda is by far the African record holder, and one of the leading countries in the world in this regard.
3. Post-genocide issues dominated the last day of Umushyikirano. There were questions about the UN's International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) that finally wound up this month after 20 years.
Between 1994-2014 the ICTR tried 95 individuals for their role in the genocide, and handed out 61 convictions at a cost of $2 billion.
On the other hand traditional genocide courts in Rwanda (called Gacaca) between 2001 and 2012 (about half the time) tried 1.95 million genocide suspects and convicted 65% of them – at a cost of less than 1% of the ICTR.
It was reported at the Umushyikirano that the Gacaca courts produced 60 million pages of documents!
4. Nearly 98% of all Rwandans have health insurance, the highest in Africa.
5. Rwanda contributes the highest percentage of troops per national capita to UN peacekeeping missions. It is the third highest contributor of female police officers to UN peacekeeing in the world, and the second highest African contributor of female police officers.
6. "Rwanda: A remarkable turnaround of a country" says that after the 1994 genocide there were only 2 lawyers left in the country. Today the Judiciary employs over 600 judicial officers. The number of qualified lawyers rose from 2 in 1994, to 2,500 in 2012.
7. It also says that more than 200,000 laptops have been distributed under Rwanda's One Laptop Per Child Project (OLPC) to over 407 schools, and 10,000 teachers have been trained. This, it notes, makes Rwanda the third largest deployment of school laptops in the world after Peru and Uruguay.
-Later in the week, "PERFECT IMPERFECTIONS: REVISITING RWANDA AND 'THE KIGALI CONSENSUS'" by Charles Onyango-Obbo
Posted by: Nzinink <nzinink@yahoo.com>
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