“Ndi Umunyarwanda” A symbol of pride and success

Rwandans have all the justification to be proud and celebrate the regain of their lost glory of identity and success today.

Before 1994 genocide in Rwanda, post- independence leadership denied Rwandans a valid claim of “I am a Rwandan”.  The leadership then made Rwandans to succumb to identities of their host communities while in exile different from their homeland traditions.

 They succumbed to change of their identity as a survival mechanism in accessing opportunities in their host communities. Those who remained in Rwanda, were practically “refugees and foreign” to the affairs of their own country through varied movement restrictions, inclusivity and human rights.

The post-independence bad leadership shamelessly sacrificed the Rwandan identity and dignity at the altar of colonialism and imperialism. This historical encounter is still our unfinished challenge today though our charismatic leadership is committed to liberate us from this historical bondage.

Today, it is worth to claim proudly and loudly that “I am a Rwandan” and Rwanda is my homelandbecause Rwanda’s visionary leadership actions present a culture of identity, dignity and destiny.

The leadership is committed to make Rwandans proud and to celebrate the success of their revolution, liberation and to say never again!  If we do not discover who we are, we will never get what we want and the difficult concern is within our reach to design our destiny.

Rwanda heroes and heroines made us to be in our land of thousand hills from their resilience and endurance. Our heroes and heroines efforts made us to be identified as normal human beings and the most admired prosperous country.

Today many Rwandans are proud to let the World know that they come from H.E. Paul Kagame’s land for his admired principled and visionary leadership characterised by clean governance, clean accountability and clean surroundings uncommon in Rwanda for decades.

Ndi Umunyarwanda is a symbol of pride and success and the only way to sustain it is for   Rwandans to come together for actions, victory and sustained development of our homeland. I know that Ndi Umunyarwanda anchors well many forces and interests that conspire to keep us in subjection and exploitation but we must be prepared to pay any price for our identity and dignity.

We must stand up to those disabilities in foreign relations intending to degrade this dignity. One worst failure for Africa is that ‘it has a lot of data but with little or no information at all’. Why is Africa failing to determine their own destiny many decades after their independence? Ndi Umunyarwanda spirit addresses this question that has remained abstract to many. It has removed the ceiling above our dreams and there are no more impossible dreams.

Geoffrey MUSHAIJA is PhD (Economics) Land Policy Research Scholar University of Kerala-India.