{{President Paul Kagame has said that only Rwandans can have the right
\nto define who they want to be and work towards that and only them have
\nthat freedom to make such choices but not foreigners, intruders, the
\npress or rights groups.}}<\/p>\n
Speaking at the opening of the 9th National Dialogue (Umushyikirano)
\nat the Parliamentary buildings today, President Kagame called on
\nRwandans to stand up and defend themselves against intruders who
\nassume the responsibility of defining who they should be and what
\nshould define their country.<\/p>\n
In a powerful speech, President Kagame came out strongly against the
\ncritics who usually say that despite economic progress, there are no
\nrights and freedoms of expressions and democracy in Rwanda, observing
\nthat it is a responsibility of Rwandans to say whether such rights
\nexist or not.<\/p>\n
Addressing a full house of central government leaders, local
\ngovernment leaders, private sector and civil society representatives,
\nreligious leaders and diplomatic corps, President Kagame said that it
\nis disturbing when foreigners, who sometimes dont fulfill the lessons
\nthey teach others, ignore the progress made and instead start pointing
\naccusing fingers, calling upon Rwandans to reject this patronizing
\nattitude.<\/p>\n
Amidst applause, the Head of State pointed out that Rwandans should
\nfind it offensive for such critics to undermine the home grown
\nsolutions such as the National Dialogue to instead accuse countries of
\nstamping on freedoms.<\/p>\n
He said that the objective of initiatives such as the Dialogue is to
\nensure that all Rwandans have a platform to participate and play a
\ncentral role in the development and decision making processes of their
\ncountry but such are never recognised.<\/p>\n
“This meeting is a symbol of nation building through a process where
\nall Rwandans have a right to contribute to the process and play an
\nactive role in deciding the path of their country,”<\/p>\n
“They will talk about the many things Rwandans have achieved but then
\nthey say ‘but’….why the but?They say Rwandans dont have freedoms of
\nexpressions. I see three things involved, we are either dumb, even if
\nwe have what we want to say, we cant because we are dumb. Secondly,
\nmaybe Rwandans cant say anything because there is someone silencing
\nthem,”<\/p>\n
“Thirdly, probably you might not be dumb or no one is silencing you
\nbut you have nothing to say. Today, I want us to find an answer to
\nthis question, to assess what other people think we are and then come
\nup with a stand of who we want to be, regardless of what other people
\nthink of us. Whoever considers us to be whatever, that’s there burden,”
\nPresident Kagame said<\/p>\n
The Head of State wondered why people talk of the economy growing but
\ncannot put in perspective other aspects such as democratic processes,
\nfreedoms of speech and other rights which Rwandans have defined and
\nput in place themselves along with the economic development that is
\nvisible but continue to complain about space.<\/p>\n
“Which space is bigger than this one?” President Kagame said in
\nreference to the dialogue itself.<\/p>\n
“Infact the space that is lacking is that space which is constantly
\nbeing occupied by those intruders. This nonsense from outsiders is the
\none occupying our freedom. These so called teachers of freedom, space,
\nthe same people getting stuck with genocidaires murderers and
\ncriminals,” he said, pointing out the case of Theoneste Bagosora, the
\ngenocide mastermind whose sentence was on Wednesday reduce from life
\nto 35 years by the International Criminal Tribunal of Rwanda (ICTR).<\/p>\n
“It has taken them 17 years to try him and try him so badly and they
\nare the same people coming here to give us press freedoms? You are a
\njoker. Some of us you come to teach about freedoms have been freedom
\nfighters for their and other peoples rights since childhood. We have
\ninterest in our own freedoms and rights than anyone else has. We have
\nhave that responsibility more that anyone else,” President Kagame
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
President Kagame said such people can do it, just because they can but
\nnot becuase they are right.<\/p>\n
“They can do it to Africans, they want to do it to Rwandans but I want
\nto assure you that we are different people. You Rwandans sitting here
\nshould not accept this nonsense. Accepting it is un thinkable, but
\naccepting it is worse off for you, stand up and defend that right,
\nthey should not speak for you,” he said.<\/p>\n
The Head of State took a swipe at rights groups and the media, saying
\nthat the two should not be the ones to be seen to have the right to
\ndefine or choose what Rwandans want and also make freedoms appear like
\na myth where only a few have the power and previlege to define them
\nand know what suits others.<\/p>\n
“My question is, who are you?Who are you speaking for?Are these
\nmillions of Rwandans here waiting for you to come and tell them what
\ntheir interests should be and what their rights are?You Rwandans
\nshould reject that. We cannot make this progress and then at the same
\ntime fail in other areas, it doesn’t just add up,” he said.<\/p>\n
The Head of State said that he was recently reading a foreign
\nnewspaper where a certain person wrote that they cannot be governed by
\na minority several years after the country failed to form a
\ngovernment, observing that such a statement comes out wishful thinking
\nbecause Rwanda is not governed by a minority but rather Rwandans.<\/p>\n
“They wish to be governed like Rwanda, these are people who havent
\nbeen governed for two years, they failed to put in place a government.
\nWho is minority?am not from a minority,I am from these Rwandans you
\nsee here. We cannot be a minority in our own country. These are people
\nwho need lessons about Rwanda, lessons in freedoms, you cannot teach
\nus about our own freedom,” he said<\/p>\n
“The main problem is just one and thats what brings us here, they can
\nafford to call us all sorts of names, they can do whatever they
\nwant—and they can do anything,ask where Mutara Rudahigwa went, they
\nwill do that because you depend on them, they give you remains, when
\nyou depend on them, anything will happen. Even passersby will poke at
\nyou, thats the position we are in, thats the position we want to live
\nfar behind us and thats why we are here,” he added.<\/p>\n
He called on Rwandans to more determined than ever to be in the
\nposition they want to be and end being in the position of being
\nbeggars and that will be the only way Rwandans will be independent of
\nsuch negative references.<\/p>\n
He called on Rwandans to bear that in mind that the dignity of
\nRwandans is not defined in newspapers or wherever. The Head of State
\nalso spoke about how on many occasions whether he will leave office
\ncome 2017, saying that despite coming out clearly, journalists
\ncontinue to ask him the same, well knowing that he still has 6 more
\nyears on his mandate.<\/p>\n
“They are not patient enough for me to serve my term in office. I can
\nserve Rwandans in a different capacity, not in this office. I have
\ndone that before and I can still do it,”<\/p>\n
The Head of State then sent the house into bouts of laughter when he
\npointed out that he paying for an offense committed by the Ministers
\nof Internal Security Musa Fazil Harelimana who in the first place
\nstarted the 3rd Term talk.<\/p>\n
“Fazil should carry his own cross, not me. This is not serious, some
\nof us have some serious business to attend to,” he said.<\/p>\n
He noted that alot has been achieved over the last 17 years and there
\nis need for Rwandans to maintain that process without any kind of
\ndistraction.<\/p>\n
“We have achieved alot and I urge you to continue on this path. Us
\nmeeting here is an answer to the challenges we face but most
\nimportantly we answer the question usually coming from outside Rwanda,
\nto those who question us,I dont understand why some people would feel
\nmore concerned with the country’s processes than the Rwandans
\nthemselves,” he observed.<\/p>\n
The Prime Minister Pierre Damien Habumuremyi presented a report on the
\nimplementation of the recommendations of the 8th National Dialogue,
\nobserving that progress in all areas was at 90%. A joint report on the
\nachievements of some of the home grown solutions Rwanda started a few
\nyears ago to address its challenges was presented by Prof. Anastase
\nShyaka from Rwanda Governance Board.<\/p>\n
Millions of Rwandans were able to follow the proceedings live on TV,
\non radio and online. Hundreds participated using Twitter, Facebook,
\ncalls and SMS messages. The discussions continue in the afternoon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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