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A Personal Reflection
Not surprisingly, General Kagame has formally retired or dismissed several Tutsi military officers today. Some of these now disgraced and retrenched officers were once principal cogs in the killing machine that the general-turned-lifelong monarch built and publicly boasts about. They were, however, not the first nor the last.
First, by dismissing or killing all his peers, namely the senior political cadres who were his peers in the RPF struggle, he effectively disbanded the political organization that was supposed to give direction and guidance to the military.
Second, by turning military and intelligence officers in the notorious Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI) into his hangmen, he purged both RPF and RPA. Over three decades, the whole RPF experiment in liberating Rwanda from oppression and dictatorship has turned out to be a hoax, one of the most violent and short-lived political experiments in modern history.
This morning, my former comrade-in-arms and I were reminiscing about General Kagame’s capacity to humiliate, disappoint, hurt, and deceive those he considers his subjects and the world.
To one of my friends, I commented that there goes the final chapter of RPF/RPA. To which the response was poignant and profound:
The sad part is not that the people who played a critical role in that incredible journey have been erased from the organization—the sad part is that they have almost always been thrown out in disgrace.
Why is it always necessary to humiliate comrades with whom you have spent four decades?
Intrigued, I thought aloud and asked:
It tells more about his character. Were we wrong or naïve to imagine that we were comrades? All along, he thought about all of us—and indeed all Rwandans—as expendables.
My other friend crudely captured the mood of the moment:
Yabagize chewing gum. RPF and RPA, as we knew them at the beginning, are dead and buried in a marked grave alongside those of many unmarked graves of Rwandan martyrs and ordinary citizens whose sacrifices General Kagame considers the just price of his throne.
The epitaph on the RPF/RPA tombstone reads:
HERE LIE THE REMAINS OF RPF AND RPA. THE REVOLUTION THAT NEVER WAS IS NOT AND NEVER SHALL BE.
Human wisdom knows no boundaries of time and space. Nuggets of wisdom can be found in the prophetic words of those who have gone before us. Thus, a French journalist, a British historian, an American politician, and a Rwandan proverb have something in common. A French Journalist,
Jacques Mallet du Pan, wrote, “Like Saturn, the Revolution devours its children.” U.S. President John F. Kennedy said, ‘ Those who foolishly sought power by riding the back of the tiger ended up inside.’ British historian Lord Acton wrote, “Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely.” In their wisdom, Rwandans have a proverb, “Inshigukira kumira yasize akanwa karangaye.” How true!
Violence begets violence. The architects and perpetrators of violence against those perceived to be enemies ultimately turn on those who were once friends. The insatiable hunger and thirst for corrupt power has neither friend nor foe. Absolute power feeds itself.
Kagame, ntabwo inshigukira kumira yasize akanwa karangaye gusa. Ahubwo inshigukira kumira amaraso yasize ishizemo amaraso!
By: Dr. Theogene Rudasingwa,
Washington D.C.
USA
August 30, 2024,
E-mail: ngombwa@gmail.com
