Refugees: Are Rwandans cursed to always have one foot out the door?

When shall this ever end? Rwandans fleeing into DR Congo in 1994

Uganda’s Daily Monitor newspaper reported  that last week that a group of disgruntled Rwandans had arrived at the United Nation High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) office in the Kololo suburb seeking protection. The 16-strong group made up of fourteen men and two women were directed to the Old Kampala Police Station to start processing their asylum papers.

According to the Daily Monitor, they were forced to seek asylum when they started getting harassed by officials from the Rwanda Examination Board (REB). When The New Times visited them on Monday at the Prime Minister’s Office, where the reporter found them processing refugee application documents.  “I got 66 points out of 70, but the following day my results had been erased from REB web site,” the group’s leader, who refused to divulge his name, claimed. “There are students who skipped classes which is understandable but our case is different and should be investigated properly.”

The 16 students in Kampala are among the 574 private candidates whose senior six results were cancelled by REB because of alleged examination malpractices.

To say that the government did not see the funny side to this hilarity would be an understatement. The statements made by the students were “utter falsehoods”, said Rwanda’s High Commissioner to Uganda, Frank Mugambage. 
“Their results were withheld due to exam malpractices and they never followed the established procedures while registering for exams”, he told The New Times.

Now I will not pretend to know whether or not the students actually cheated or not (that will be for the REB and other relevant authorities to figure out). What I have to question is why their first instinct was to flee the country instead of figuring out their problem. The penchant to flee the country and beg for asylum in another country is something that I’ve never seen in another people.

It was in Uganda, where I lived for a few years, that I learnt the term ‘Nkuba Kyeyo’ (a colloquial Ugandan term for economic migrants).

Nkuba Kyeyo: Picking strawberries in Spain. Menial but proud

Nkuba kyeyo’s were people, usually young men, who did all they could to get visas (usually tourist or student visas) to foreign countries. When they finally arrived in the US, Canada, Japan or the UK they would then melt into the immigrant community and get menial jobs, becoming illegal aliens and risking deportation and abuse. However, if they stayed out of trouble they’d make enough money to go back home with enough money to buy land, build a house, start a business and marry a wife. They were men (and women) with a mission. They did not expect to be coddled by a nanny state; they wanted to work hard and reap the rewards of their toil. And after that, they’d go home. They were migrant workers, not refugees. While illegal, it was something that they could be proud of. Not so refugees.

Rwandans have had long history with the concept of ‘asylum’ and ‘refugee status’. From 1959 all the way to 1994, millions of Rwandans fled the country, escaping the clutches of death. Since then, millions have returned into the country (I am among that number). Rwandans are now working hard, trying to build a country that they deserve. It’s not a perfect nation-not by a long shot. However, it is not the hellhole it used to be. Which brings me to the issue of people leaving the country.

I’m honestly sick and tired of people leaving on their own volition, flying out of Kigali International Airport on Rwandair, and then turning around and saying that they “fled for their lives”. Disgruntled politicians, civil servants and now students have been doing this for years.  Enough is enough. If you want to leave, go. But don’t pretend that it is about ‘persecution’. It’s about the ‘pursuit of happiness’. You want to live a ‘better life’ full of washing machines, 24-hour malls and sleek highways. And that’s okay.

Personally, I remember how humiliating it was to be addressed as ‘refugee’ and I would never trade my citizenship for anything in the world. You would

Nakivale Refugee Camp, Uganda. I used to live here and I won’t ever go back

have to pry my citizenship from my cold, dead hands. Under no circumstances would I leave this country unless it was my choice. Would l fly out if I felt that I had better opportunities abroad? Absolutely. Would I seek refugee status? No. I would be too proud.

To the students I say, return and solve the issue. To the other Rwandans around the world, despite their political and ideological leanings, come home and be a part of a better Rwanda. Together we can build this into a country that we’ll be proud to leave our children. For too long being Rwandan was synonymous with being a refugee. Enough already.

 

Third time lucky? Thoughts on Kagame in post-2017 Rwanda

Kagame’s last ride? I certainly hope so

Personally, I feel confident President Kagame will step down in 2017. This, despite his having gone from saying that he would unreservedly move aside, to seemingly leaving himself some wiggle room for a constitutional amendment. In fact, lately he has been trying to diffuse questions about whether he will leave office when the Constitution, as it presently reads, mandates he must.

When pressed about it by CNN journalist Christiane Amanpour in January, Kagame said, “Don’t worry about that. We have the Constitution in place. We have always tried to do our best to satisfy the needs of our people and expectations of our people.” When Amanpour asked if that meant that yes, he would step down, he replied, “No. It is a broad answer to say you don’t need to worry about anything.”

During a press conference last month, when asked about 2017, Kagame impatiently answered, “I don’t need a third term. Just look at me, I don’t need it. I don’t do this job I am doing as a job for being paid, or as something that benefits me.”

No big man 
The Rwandan Constitution states the president can only hold a two-term post, with each term lasting seven years. Kagame’s first term begun in 2003. He himself has said very often that failing to find a successor would be an indictment of his own rule.

Furthermore, the Rwandan President has prided himself on how different he is from traditional African big men, whose governance styles resemble French Bourbon monarch Louis XIV: L’état, c’est moi(‘The state, it is I’). Changing the Constitution would group Kagame in with Zaire’s Mobuto Sese Seko, Kenya’s Daniel Arap Moi and Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe. That’s a fate worse than death, in his estimation.

Then again, those less confident need only look to Rwanda’s neighbour to the north, Uganda. In 2006, Yoweri Museveni, president of Uganda and political mentor to Kagame, used the National Resistance Movement’s overwhelming party majority in parliament, to remove term limits. This, despite the fact that Museveni had, on countless occasions said that he’d respect term limits. The 69 year old has ruled Uganda since 1986.

Rwanda, post-2017
On 8 February, while chairing a National Executive Committee meeting of the ruling Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) party, Kagame tasked the 2,000 delegates to find a solution that would ensure change, stability and continuity post-2017. Some delegates, however, refused to countenance political change. As English paper The New Times reported, the delegates argued, “Why change a winning team? It is the Rwandan people who voted for the term limits in the constitution, based on Rwanda’s needs at the time, they can vote to lift them.”

So, on one side is a largely rural citizenry who cannot fathom a future without Kagame. On the other, a certain unease emanates from the urban elite who wonder whether Rwanda’s political progress will stagnate if and when the Constitution is amended.

With but a few hiccups here and there, Kagame’s presidency has so far been wildly successful. This success would most probably continue if he ruled beyond 2017. The worry, though, is that Rwandans might lose an opportunity to witness the first smooth transition of power in its 51-year post-colonial history.

The issue right now concerns a future where the whims of the mob could supersede the powers of the Constitution. And one man has the power to steer Rwanda towards a future where constitutionalism – not one individual – is king. Mr. President, over to you.

I visited Fort Portal, Uganda’s jewel in the West, and fell in love

An aerial view of the town

Known as the only town with an ‘English’ name in East Africa, Fort Portal is probably the most ‘Rwanda-like’ town in Uganda. In Fort Portal, you can forget the smoke, dust, buveera (plastic bags) banned in Rwanda, piles of rotting rubbish and disgusting Marabou Storks that plague Kampala, Jinja, Mbarara and other major Ugandan towns. Here, a sweet air and cooling breeze welcomes the visitor.

I travelled to this town, which is about five hours away from

The blushing bride and I

Kampala, to attend a ‘Rutooro’ traditional introduction ceremony. By the time I left, three days later, I’d fallen in love with the town. Surrounded by tea plantations, the town, home to about 50,000, was named after the British Special Commissioner to Uganda, Sir Gerald Portal. His statue, which takes pride of the place in the central business district, is one of the distinct attractions there.

The other is the  ‘Karuziika Place’, the official residence of the king of Toro, Omukama Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV, once known as the youngest monarch in the world when he ascended to the throne when he was just three. Reining over a kingdom, that was founded in 1822 by Olimi I, his kingdom had the eyes of the world trained on it when his older sister, Princess Ruth

In front of the royal palace

Komuntale married her African-American beau, Christopher Thomas, last month.

Curious to see where the nuptials took place, I jumped on a boda-boda (as Ugandans call their motos) operated by one the chattiest riders I had the good fortune to meet. I call to good fortune because, as I found in the ensuring hours he drove me around, Mr. Assimwe Christopher, was extremely knowledgeable about the history of his town.

The palace, which sits atop at hill overlooking ‘Forti’ (as the locals call their town), is easily accessible all the days of the week. That is, of course, until the king is in residence. I was lucky to find that he was still in Britain, where he is in university.  I was shown around the palace grounds by a friendly guide (who I later found out was in fact a chief!) who explained to me the history of Toro. In fact, I found out that the old Kingdom of Rwanda had close ties with Toro.  The chief was excited when I told him I was, in fact, from Rwanda.

After shooting a bunch of photos, I was taken around town, getting to see the famous Mountain of the

The famous Gerald Portal statue

Moon hotel, the Toro Club (a gold course that is one of the prettiest I’d ever seen) and the local market.

All the riding was making me hungry, so I stopped for lunch at Gardens Bar and Restaurant. The food was simple but delicious and the bill was friendly on the pockets. If you tire of the ubiquitous mashed plantains (matooke) and want something a bit more ‘exotic’, I suggest that you try the local delicacy, uburo (millet bread) and firindi (mashed fresh, beans, infused with a generous amount of cow ghee). I tried it and could barely keep it down. But to each their own I guess.

A dance troupe at my uncle’s Introduction ceremony

Attending the introduction ceremony, which was about thirty minutes out of town along the Fort Portal-Kasese road, gave me the chance to see rural Kabarore District and what a sight it was. The world famous ‘Mountains of the Moon’, the Rwenzori’s, loomed around me, providing a sight that haunts me to this day. If you think that our very own Virungas are impressive, then you need to see these peaks. Absolutely stunning.

Where are the storytellers in the RPF?

I honestly cannot believe that we will be celebrating RPF-Inkotanyi’s Silver Jubilee tomorrow. I mean, I feel like it was only yesterday that I joined other members of the Rwandan refugee community in Toronto on October 1,to eat African food, dance and throw in a few measly dollars for the war effort; an effort I really didn’t understand.  I only knew that my uncles were fighting a war and they needed some money for clothing and medicine. I remember telling my father that I wanted the few dollars I donated to be used to buy bullets and guns, instead of medicine.

Thousand of us, young and old, made our nation’s liberation possible. At the forefront of this liberation, and the nations subsequent development, are the people I called the ‘Refugee Generation’. These men and women were at the vanguard of the movement in 1987, and they are still leading the way even today. But what was it about their shared experiences that made them such a powerful generation? Was it the poverty? The deprivation? The shame?

I know that all the offspring of the Refugee Generation have heard tales of their parents having to walk miles to school barefoot and having to work in the farms of the natives to feed their families back in the camps. A relative of mine, whenever he meets me, jokes that the only reason he isn’t taller is because of the heavy loads he had to carry on head stunted his growth. However, while the ‘loads’ stunted their physical growth, it also have them a steely resolve to improve their lots in life. They excelled in school, joined the work force, and when things became tough in the wintery conditions of the mountains, their earlier experiences instilled in them the ability to persevere.

I can only imagine that our leaders experiences in the camps, mountains, in the jungles of Congo formed their character, and their outlook on life. It is my belief that only people who’d suffered as much as they suffered could make the hard choices they’d made. Choices that are being validated by Rwanda’s and Rwandans place in the world. Which brings me to the crux of the issue I’d like to discuss.

An RPA solidier about to fire a 82mm motar infront of Chez Lando in Remera in 1994

The RPF of the last 25 years was borne out of the harsh realities of refugee life. The RPF of the next 25 years will be composed of Rwandans who’ve, hopefully, not seen the harshness of the Nyakivale and Kyaka II refugee camps.

The question I’ve been pondering the last couple of days is, will Rwanda be able to continue to move forward at such a breakneck speed with a new generation at the helm? Have we (I add myself to this generation) ‘suffered’ enough? Do we have the fire in our bellies? And if we don’t, will our parents and mentors pass on their own passion, and their life lessons, to us?

Young Americans can, with either a library card or Google, get thousands of books, images, film and other documents recounting the Civil Rights movement. They watch movies like Born on the Fourth of July and Apocalypse Now to see just how the Vietnam War affected the soldiers that fought in it.

Gen Sam Kaka of Alpha Mobile, Col Twahirwa Dodo of Bravo Mobile, Col Gashumba of Charlie Mobile and Col Musitu of the 21st Mobile getting decorated for their role in the war of National Liberation

Do we have such resources here? Nope.  In fact, I’ve found out that attempting to prying any kind of detailed information from my ‘Afande’ uncles about what they saw in Rwanda and their other theatres of combat, was an exercise in futility. And that is very unfortunate.

What I suggest is something that is ‘un-Rwandan’ in some peoples eyes. I urge everyone who can share their experiences to do so. It isn’t about ‘showing off’ or attempting to ‘take credit where it’s not due’. It’s about giving the next generation of leaders the historical context and foundation needed to make the right decisions, even when you are gone.

In my opinion, the RPF story did not start in 1994. Nor did it begin in 1987. It began in 1959 in the camps.  That story must be told to the next generation of RPF. For if we cannot remember our past, we will not be able to navigate the waters of our future.

Who is still having unprotected sex in this day and age?

“Sometimes I end up having sex without protection. Sometimes, some of the clients with a lot of money prefer sex without protection”- Chantal, sex worker. 

Those are the words I read yesterday morning, recoiling in horror. ‘HIV infection at 51 percent among sex workers’, an article in The New Times stated. This statistic, put forward by the Rwanda Biomedical Centre, is extremely scary especially when compared to the countrywide HIV rate of three percent, according to the 2010 Demographic Health Survey.  Someone is obviously infecting and getting infected by these sex workers. So, two questions must be asked; why are sex workers risking their lives by discarding condom use and why are the clients choosing to risk their lives just so they can go in ‘live’?

While I totally understand why sex workers, plagued by poverty and destitution, play Russian roulette with their lives, I can’t, for the life of me, understand why their clients do the same. Are all these men (and women) already HIV positive, and therefore uncaring of what happens to them as a result? I doubt that. Therefore, we have a significant number of Rwandans, simply throwing away their lives for a few minutes pleasure.

Which then makes me wonder, are these people all crazy OR is the anti-HIV message somehow being lost in translation? If it’s the former, then there is nothing that we can do, after all, they are adults. However, if it is the latter, we all have a responsibility to educate and influence a behavioral change.

For one to prove just how precarious our anti-HIV drive is, all you have to do is look north, to Uganda. Along with Chad, Uganda is the only country in Africa where HIV prevalence is increasing. This, despite the fact that Uganda was at the forefront of the HIV fight less than a decade ago. While there is more than one explanation for this, a major cause of this is the prevailing blasé attitude towards this pandemic.

Frank Matsiko, a counsellor with the Ugandan NGO Integrated Community Based Initiatives, told Think Africa Press that “some people – especially those who are not well sensitised – have relaxed and taken it for granted that one can have HIV and go on treatment and stay as long as he  (or she) wants.”

The ‘relaxed attitude’ issue is extremely pertinent here in this country, more so   because Anti-Retroviral Treatment (ART) is free. While our HIV rates are low, we must not take our eyes off the ball.  In just seven years, Uganda’s HIV rate has increased from 6.4 % in 2005 to 7.3% today.

Must our leaders be angels?

I’ve watched the General David Patraeus imbroglio with a lot of amusement, and a bit of bewilderment as well. The former head of the CIA and decorated army man, had an affair with Paula Broadwell, cheating on his wife of 38 years. Throw in the fact that it seems that the good general was also seeing someone else on the side as well, and we have a good ol’ scandal on our hands.  While I cannot condone marital infidelity, I really cannot be bothered about what an official does in his spare time. Oh course the media jumped on the story, and why not? It is juicy and has attractive protagonists. However, should a man have lost his job? Not in my opinion.  There has to be a clear divide on what is private and what is public.

In this case, the infidelity was a matter between his wife and himself and I’m of the opinion that the US President shouldn’t have accepted his resignation.  After all, as a wise man once said, “he without sin, cast the first stone”.

Gen Petraeus, his wife and the mistress lurking about

Uganda has every right to pullout of Somalia

Will Somalia see the backs of these UPDF troops? Somali’s are probably hoping not.

The Prime Minister of Uganda, Amama Mbabazi (a high school alumni of mine…but that’s a story for another day) last week read the United Nations the Riot Act,  asking why “should we (the Ugandan Government) continue involving Uganda where the only reward we get is malignment? Why should the children of Ugandans die and we get malignment as a reward? Why should we invite retaliation by the al-Shabaab by standing with the people of Somalia, only to get malignment by the UN system?”

This reaction came in the wake of the leak of the final report by Steve Hege and the rest of the ‘experts’ comprising the UN Group of Experts on DRC. The report accuses Uganda (and Rwanda, of course) of supporting M23 in the form of direct troop reinforcement in DRC territory, weapon deliveries, technical assistance, joint planning, political advice and facilitation of external relations. The team also claim that units of the UPDF and the Rwanda Defence Forces jointly supported M23 in a series of attacks in July, 2012 to take over major towns in Rutshuru.

The Ugandans were particularly aggrieved by the fact that the Group of Experts (GoE) choose not to

Steve Hege: Probably the most hated man in Central Africa

speak to them and get their side of the story, a discourtesy that Rwanda only knew too well. While Rwanda’s hands were effectively tied by the UN Security Council nomination, and therefore couldn’t counter the charges as robustly as it probably wished, Uganda had no such qualms. Taking a page from Rwanda’s playbook (Rwanda threatened to recall its troops from Darfur, Haiti and Sierra Leone unless the UN Mapping Report, which effectively accused Rwanda of committing genocide in the DRC in the 90’s), it played its trump card. It’s vowed to withdraw its 5,700 troops presently stationed in Mogadishu and its environs.

This decisive action caught the UN napping (nothing new there). Backpedaling furiously, the UN official who received Uganda’s official letter of protest, India’s Ambassador Hardeep Singh Puri, threw Hege and his team under the bus, saying that the “views expressed by the independent experts do not necessarily reflect those of the United Nations”.

Instead of understanding the very real frustrations that Uganda (and Rwanda) feels, especially since it’s the head mediator in the ongoing ICGLR diplomatic initatives, certain observers have sought to downplay the hurtfulness of the GoE report and the seriousness of the situation.

Simon Allison, a journalist with the South Africa based magazine Daily Maverick, calls the threat a piece of political theatre. He theorises that, “Uganda is asking the international community to choose between exposing the roots of the conflict in the eastern DRC and maintaining Somalia’s tenuous hold on stability. There’s no doubt that Somalia will win this particular trade-off, especially given America’s heavy investment in a successful outcome there. It seems less likely, however, that Uganda’s involvement in the DRC will be forgotten. If anything, the heavy-handedness of its response – coupled with the evidence in the controversial UN report – suggests that there is some truth to the accusations”.

Somali Militia of Al-Shabab seen during exercises at their military training camp outside Mogadishu Tuesday Nov. 4, 2008.

First of all, anyone who thinks Uganda (or Rwanda for that matter) is at the root of the conflict in the DRC needs to read a few history books. Secondly, to call Uganda’s response ‘heavy-handed’ is a misread of the situation. The Ugandan army, the UPDF, has lost between 83- 2,700+ soldiers in the line of battle depending on your news source, while similar numbers have been injured.  Their five-year commitment to Somalia is not to be trifled with. Instead of attempting to blackmail Uganda (it’s a sovereign nation with its own foreign policy) through guilt, perhaps we would be better served to ask ourselves, ‘Why is Uganda so aggrieved by the GoE report that it is willing to leave the guiltless Somali people high and dry?

I doubt that it is because there is truth to the GoE report. If the Report was so wrong about Rwanda, I cannot believe that the Ugandan section is miraculously accurate.  I believe that Uganda is tired of being treated like a second-class country. For too long, the international community treated developing nations with arrogance and unfairness. How can they, on one hand, call us peace-builders and essential members of the international community, and then on the other hand, use unaccountable mechanisms to keep us in their pocket. We are left with no choice to push back, in any way we can. Uganda has no need to explain itself; it did what any self-respecting country would do. Just because it’s poor, doesn’t mean it is without any recourse.