Print this page	Send this page to someone	Close

My political convictions

My deepest conviction, my sincerest truth, is that the Rwandans must live together.

One can no longer talk about Hutus and Tutsis as one did during colonial times and before, that is the societal Hutus and Tutsis, making reference to the origins of their social class or clan. Today there are political Hutus and Tutsis, 2 national groups, often of the same appearance, who want to use their morphology, their respective identities and not their political and patriotic ideas to justify their claims.

We should not use what we are to become what otherwise we would not be able to become. We should instead become that which we want to become, through our own efforts, through work and merit and all this despite the obstacles, which will encounter.

If, before the social revolution of 1959-62, it was easy to define Huts and Tutsis by precise parameters and by clear and well-recognised indicators, today it is difficult to define them other than by clichés of historic majority and minority. This is often unfortunately confused with political majority and minority.

One must admit that if Hutus and Tutsis have the same constructive political ideas, nothing stops them from coexisting peacefully in our country. In these conditions I cannot see that they differ, and this seems to be the current situation. Let us help them emancipate themselves.

The Hutu-Tutsi phenomenon stems from racism pure and simple, racism without basis for a people who have everything in common (language, religious rites, customs, culture). My truth is to fight this racism because, literally, there is neither tribe nor ethnicity in Rwanda; there are only different groups of population making up one single Rwandan people.

There are Rwandans who hold onto this differentiation and who believe themselves to be privileged by this outdated identification as Hutu and Tutsi. I respect their opinion without sharing it. They have to be faithful to themselves in support of the idea of a racial majority and majority, as in South Africa.

It can be no other way if we are to be guided by these clichés, supported by ghosts, by, above all, colonial history, nostalgia, pride, ignorance and often hatred. One must be precise when discussing this topic to avoid any confusion or political amalgams.

I wonder whether after this revolution, after this historic change in institutions from 1959-1062, the situation of the Hutus has really changed. If for some this revolution seems not to have achieved the objectives as they would have wished, it is perhaps that they have not understood. No other revolution of this kind could take place because the political environment is no longer the same and will never be the same. The political fight is definitely no longer the same; we need a change in method. We need another political vision.

Also it must be recognised that, despite its errors, this revolution took place and that it was far from being a ‘genocide’ but was a true fight for the liberation of the Hutus from humiliation and slavery. This revolution leaves us with an appreciable achievement: the Rwandan republic. It is time to fight the sickness which only sees the negative side and recognise that the tragedy is now of our past. Is it necessary, once again, for the Hutus to get rid of the ‘Tutsi’ power by anther revolution? Must the Tutsis fight the Hutus so that they cannot regain power? It is a nonsense for conservative Tutsis to believe that the Hutus are always misguided in their claims or for hard core Hutus to believe that the Tutsis have no just demands to make of Rwanda, their own country. This mind set has to change and the change is long overdue.

I will fight for the ideas and not to defend a national group just because it is Hutu or Tutsi. I will fight for equal opportunities, so that the best man wins. I will fight for a cause; that is against injustice and humiliation of one man by another.

In my opinion, only a will to bring together can overcome the risk of useless divisions and eventual explosion which builds up whilst the current regime imposes itself through the force of its army, that is through violence, in order to rebuild an oligarchic power from one national group of Tutsis drawn from the former diaspora. I will fight the exclusion of other Rwandans by those in power, whatever their national or social group.

Rwandans want to be governed differently. They want to be governed without fearing those in power. They want to be governed by women and men who believe in their mission and who are resolved to restore the State of law, to give back hope and confidence to take on the difficulties that they must face. The Rwandans want to feel a real political will for reconciliation at the head of the State, strict morals at all levels of public life, competence and capability throughout the spectrum of national activity.

We should value competence, honesty, integrity, patriotism and the respect of others before thinking of political cronyism, clans, ‘ethnicities’ and regions. One must be mentally and politically advance to govern the Rwandans who simply aspire to unity, peace and a prosperous nation.