We are also happy to give them the taste of our culture in building our country, but we also still have a lot to learn from many African countries.
I cannot forget to congratulate those who have been awarded prizes for what they achieved in hard times. Those who are still alive have received them, but for those who are not still alive, we thank them.
Before going into details, let me first begin with what was asked about, and I will proceed to the main message I have for you. Regarding belief, worship or religion in different institutions that Monseigneur has asked about, I did not reject his idea nor do I want to prevent people from discussing it and come to a solution. But as he gave the suggestion as a request, I will also tell him my suggestion.
First, usually dividing areas of work help to have a tangible area of convergence. What I would like to say is, for instance, government institutions. That is why in our manner of working as government, in different professions, there are policies, leadership, and complementarity. I remember, it has not been around for long but had been in place even before. I think you know that we also took part in what happened almost across the world whereby they said that the government must not deal with business. That does not mean that business is bad, but the government wishes that it is done to develop the country. But the government does its work which is not business. It does the work that makes businesspeople earn more profits for themselves and for the government. I think you understand that.
That means that we should leave the profession of the religious people in those in charge of it in their respective areas. We should instead give them more freedom but they should not indulge themselves in government institutions.
Another thing, the churches are asked to go out so that those who wish to worship and do other religious activities do them in their respective places. I also do not know if you understand what I would like to say. Soldiers, policemen, and prison guards, all have their worship days. There are those who go to church on Saturday or Sunday. I don’t see any problem resulting from the fact that, in any area of work, there are no people in charge. We have left it in their hands. Sometimes, it is done to avoid confusion.
People believe in different ways. When you mix belief with work, you will not do it as it should. We also used to discuss it with government institutions and the cabinet because we must give people the freedom to affiliate to different religious beliefs. we also told people in government institutions that they should not engage themselves in religious matters when they are at workplaces because that is not their job.
We told them to dedicate time for religious matters because we discussed them at the time when ministries had started to form things like clubs. An official would look for someone in working hours and was told that the person they were looking for was not present for prayer. So, we decided not to let the mess continue in order to prevent other problems.
There are many different religious beliefs, churches: There are Muslims, catholic church Christians, Protestants of different kinds, and many anonymous churches. We allow all of them to perform according to their beliefs whenever they are not doing it contrary to the law regulating the Rwandan society. However, we cannot prohibit them from believing the way they do.
But mixing religion with different institutions of a given profession, means causing confusion. They combine their profession and religious beliefs while they should do each in its respective place. That is where we started from making what you have been asking about different to what people wished for. We tried to simplify work such that a church leader may have followers in the church but also fulfill their professional responsibilities.
So, people first have to fulfill the responsibilities in their professions, but also in their beliefs, take some hours in a day, week, month or year and hold ceremonies according to what they believe.
Another thing is about leaders’ households. Normally, leaders are in charge of their households. I cannot take responsibility for any leader’s household. What I am responsible for is helping them to fulfill their responsibilities for their households. Now, the problem lies in the fact that, never in any government institution have we played a role in separating leaders from their households. Never. Leaders choose the way of managing their households. Sometimes, maybe, with their spouses.
In contrast, where a leader is, there is a house to live in. Whenever a leader has not chosen to carry their household where they live because of different reasons, we cannot take care of their family problems, for instance, if they change place. For instance, if a leader has left students in a given place.
First, we cannot build classrooms for children’s leaders wherever the leaders go. Second, there are so many other things we have to do that dealing with them would exhaust all our capacity to deliver on our responsibilities.
But, Monseigneur, I think that leaders who are present here have understood what you were talking about. Leaders have to deal with both their households and their work. There should be a balance between them. The government will also intervene in case it is necessary but leaders should be mindful of both work and their households.
Let me give you another example: When we send a leader outside Rwanda for a job mission often, we communicate with their family so that they can visit them there. There is no ambassador who lives away from their households. They all live with their households unless they choose it different ways. We cannot even dictate to them how to do it but we understand it the same way as you said it. Let me not take longer on the point.
So, leaders who are present here, unity club members. This club has been in existence for ten years. There are those who started with it, and others who join it. What is important about this club is that it is really a unifying, not a dividing one. Someone who has joined the cub does not leave it, unless they wish to do so. But we keep on building on previous efforts and combine it with both the present and future efforts. That is what is clear among the members who are present here. There those that I have not seen for ten years but I am glad to see them today.
Another thing, Ndi Umunyarwanda which has been talked about a lot and it is essential in the life of Rwandan society, the country includes a lot of things. Let me first find a sentence for what I say. Among men, women, boys, and girls, who chooses what they will be? Does anyone chooses what they will be? I don’t even think parents can choose so let alone children. Similarly, does anyone choose whether they will be born Rwandan or not? Some of us found ourselves Rwandans, others found themselves different. We do not choose our identity as human beings like where we are born and our family background. We just find ourselves so.
However, that is where work starts from. If you didn’t choose to be born male, female, or Rwandan. How can you say that you have chosen to be what you are? If you choose your identity and family of origin, in that case, I would admire you as a miraculous person. What remains is therefore that there are things we couldn’t decide. We were born with a given identity. That is where we start from; how do you live, behave and live with others in what you have become? How does a Rwandan live with their fellow Rwandans?
Keep it in mind that you didn’t decide how you were born. You are not the one who chose to be male, female or Rwandan but you are what you are. So, you are Rwandan. How can you behave to appreciate the fact of who you are and appreciate your fellow Rwandan because they didn’t also choose their identity? We are all equal in this respect. That is why in our relations, we live together thinking about the value we bring and that of our fellow Rwandans. Their combination should give as a common value set of Rwandanhood.
As I said, we should also live so between ourselves and complement one another. That is one example. So, people like the ones we been shown as guardians of the pact, have built their lives such that they were able to do that action from, but not limited to them. They also thought about other people’s value which involves sacrifices too.
Among us, among everybody, we have so much power. How do you use it in your own and others’ interests? No one lives alone. That is what Monseigneur and other people told us. During the hard times, one could fight for their own life and flee. They could maybe be killed along the way or else, deny and surrender other people to be killed.
But there are those who risked their own lives to save others. For instance, how Monseigneur refused to go to bury his siblings and decided not to leave those who were about to be killed. He said, let me, at least try and stay with them so that I may try and save them. That is a choice from the value you want to give yourself or how you value other people’s lives. The different examples of those who risked their lives to be the guardians of the pact, have a lot of lessons for us to think about our value as Rwandese.
What kind of Rwandese are you if you don’t give other people their value? What kind of Rwandese are you if you kill other Rwandans? Or are you a Rwandese who does their best to live well but other people also live well? That value of this identity. You are Rwandan. So what? That is the question. If I am Rwandese, I think, act this way. I give myself value this way and give it to others thus. That is the answer to ‘so what?’. If you say you are a girl, so what? I am a boy, so what? It is okay and fine but what does it benefit you and your country? Yes, you are Rwandese, so what? You must explain it. If you bring nothing to the Rwandan society, you are nothing. So, it is up to everyone to examine themselves and find what you are.
I think what we brought, if I look back to nearly 25 years after all that tried to extinguish Rwanda, that is where we started from. Everyone brought something and it is even what characterizes today. So that we build Rwanda and its value again. That which characterizes us is not empty. Empty barrels make a lot of noise. Let us not be like barrels that make much noise, but contain nothing. Rwanda is not an empty barrel and neither should it be. We are putting something in the country. That something means the value that we, as people, give to ourselves. So, when I look back, I find that we have filled Rwanda with things of value such that you will beat it and hear no noise. And that is a journey. It is not something you wake up in the morning there. That is impossible and has never happened anywhere in the world. That is something you work for.
I don’t disagree with those who were talking about worshipping God, but I have an alternative idea about it. God gave us what he gave us so long ago but we don’t make use of them. So, going back to God to beg Him for what he already gave you, is asking him too much. Maybe, what someone can do is thank Him but going to ask Him to do this or that for you is pointless. He already gave you the tools, so use the tools. If you accept Him, you should also accept what he gave you and thank him for that.
If people do not pay attention and fail to achieve what they wanted to achieve while God gave them the opportunity, they may change their word and say that God has forbidden them from achieving that. When you apply that logic and fail to achieve what you should achieve while you had the opportunity, that becomes your personal issue. Are you going then to say that it is the way God wanted it to be? No, that is not true. We have to assume our responsibilities but more importantly, as a country. There are things we didn’t choose and cannot change but we have them. So, let us use them and not seek other reasons as an excuse to not achieving what we want to achieve.
Back to nearly 25 years ago, we find that people, as we are seated here, starting from the examples I already gave, but it existed even before. If you didn’t choose to be born female or male, how could there be a problem between males and females? It is not only Rwanda that has the problem, but the whole as a whole. Gender equality has become like a song, but how did inequality come about? How come we cannot solve it while we know that it is a problem? How come should a man choose to oppress a woman while neither of them chose their sex?
If you are a man and oppresses a woman, imagine what could happen if they also oppressed you. That is why the logic suggests that we must complement and live at peace with one another to achieve that equality. I think, as a country on our journey, we should move faster but in a positive direction, so we need to double our efforts. The same for being Rwandan. We didn’t choose to be Rwandese, we just found ourselves as such. So, let us become real Rwandans so that everyone fulfills their wishes. Even for other Africans, let us not refer to them as just Africans, but as our fellow Africans.
In our history, there are people who became refugees and went to live in foreign countries, we all know that. There are those who went to Tanzania, Uganda, D.R Congo or Burundi. You left here in a hurry to flee for your life and go to Burundi. However, when you return and meet others who had also who had also fled to different other countries, you start dividing yourselves. One becomes a Burundian. You fellows who went away running and that becomes another identity issue! It is amazing. There are brothers who had fled to Burundi, others to Uganda but when they met again, they felt as if they had taken different identities.
I didn’t go deep in what happened here but that is what it means. By killing their neighbors with whom they shared an identity until the genocide took place, what problem were Rwandans trying to address? What problem did those who committed the genocide or enforced divisionism address?
Is it poverty or disease that have hindered Rwandans and Africans? It should not even happen that someone could kill another person without any reason or because they are different unless they also wanted to kill you. What problem was that person addressing? What problem were we trying to address until we reached the genocide? Or else, who benefitted from it either for those who committed the genocide or those that regret not having committed it? Who among those who were in the country or abroad benefitted? However, it was killing a Rwandan citizen and identity while it is where they belonged.
It is like entering a building like this one and set it on fire. That is similar to what happened to our country. Burning a house, you are in, is like committing suicide. Suicide has nothing to do with identity. It does not benefit anyone.
Let me conclude with one thing. As we continue building ourselves, we welcome ideas that are put forward like the one we build upon, “Ndi Umunyarwanda”. Anyone has the right to give any idea whether in politics or elsewhere like in democracy, provided their wish or opinion can be useful in building themselves, others, or the country as a whole.
However, any idea given by someone must not be followed because there are those who give wrong opinions including the ones who killed innocent people. Someone came and said, let us kill these people because they are different. That is an idea, but it is a negative one. We saw its consequences. So we must first think about that idea and test it first in order to build our country and the Rwandan society.
Let me give an example of the USA. They have a programme called Food and Drug Administration. What does it mean? It means that people invented drugs continue inventing more.
But for your medicine to be approved and used by people, it goes through a process and tested to see if there are no consequences like causing the death of people or cause other complications. The same applies to politics. You cannot come out and impose your political opinions. Anyone has the right to say what they think in politics if what they say can touch people’s lives and benefit them.
However, not any idea put forward should be adopted or followed before it has gone through an examination. It has to be tried and weighed so that people find that it can be a solution for the present problems. We may then decide whether we should build upon them if they include everyone and allow everyone to give their opinion. That is how it should be done elsewhere. That means if someone comes and say that there is something good they want to do for Rwandans but does it selfishly, we first tell them we will first have to hear their idea to avoid that it may have consequences for Rwandans. We then discuss the idea and if people find that it is a good one or that it has some problem we to correct it. But the idea has to be for all of us not just for that selfish individual who wants to make Rwandans swallow his medicines. That it is not right. They complement with the journey of democracy that the whole world says it walks through.
Long ago, when there were kingdoms, a king would say something and that thing become a command. Maybe there were administrative levels, but people would predict what the king wanted to be done and do it before he said it. This was a problem in itself where it was the case. But nowadays, kings are just a symbol. They have other institutions that are in line with contemporary times.
If it has changed today, it is even so impossible to have that situation where someone wakes up and says what they have dreamt including the ones who dream of being at work. Some others dream of being elsewhere other than at work but what they dream is not wrong. Family heritage does not work in politics. In politics, an idea must be tested to see the effect it may have on Rwandans. When Rwandans and other people evaluate and find the idea relevant, they adopt it. So, even the initiatives that people come up with, it would be better if it has an impact for Ndi Umunyarwanda or Rwandan society. That is not something that one person can keep for themselves and apply it for everyone because there are invisible people talking inside them and tell them that certain ideas can save Rwandans.
In the1992, when we were fighting, I would get people advising me from across the world. There were also Rwandans from different parts of the world. I remember one of them who came and told me that we have lost the battle. I answered him that maybe it is because we still had some weaknesses. He told me, instead, if you do like this…. I thought he was going to give a good piece of advice on how battles are fought and won but he referred me to another person who would end the war if he came and put his foot on the ground. I looked at him and asked him if we were dying because that person had not stepped on the ground yet.
It was even funny because people were dying, hungry. If at least he had come and said that we had to pray not a human being like us to put his foot on the ground. We have weaknesses as human beings and it becomes worse when it is one person. At least for something that people have agreed upon and put thoughts and efforts in. They can achieve what they want. But when someone stands alone and starts lying to themselves and lying others, that cannot work out. I have never known of any place in the world where a war ended because someone had stepped there.
Honourables, guests and members of Unity Club, and all of you who are here today. Please bring young people to these discussions so that they listen to them lest we fail to educate the future generation who will carry on what we are building because we are growing old. Even when you want to stay, you will at one point be removed by reality because no one can turn the clock back. But people have to know the truth because no one can end problems by just coming to a place unless we all come together and pare our problems down. That is where Ndi Umunyarwanda and all other things come from and make us be the kind of people we want to be.
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