There is a western tale about an emperor who liked showing off during ceremonies he organised at his palace, pretending how great and intelligent he was. Two weavers proposed to make for him an invisible cloth that would only be appreciated by clever people, but stupid ones, because of their ignorance, would be incapable since they wouldn’t be able to see it.
The weavers extorted a lot of money from the emperor to process the cloth. Once finished they made him wear it. While totally naked but with the invisible cloth on, he walked among his subjects in the hall of the banquet. None of his terrorized people could say a thing for fear of being considered as stupid. It was only a child who in the audience told her parents she was with – and speaking quite in a noticeable way – that the emperor was naked.
This is the tale that the piece initially written on 08.05.15 in Kinyarwanda by the editor of theRwandan, Marc Matabaro, reminds me of. He asked me to translate it for English speakers. First and foremost he will forgive me if I don’t, in his views or those who will have read the other version, manage to reproduce fully what he meant in his original text. He should be however assured that I will have done my best. Please find below the translation.
Burundi-Rwanda: as president Kagame climbs to the top, he is more and more showing his true picture (of nakedness) exposing himself
While the situation in Burundi is worsening by the day, and people are more preoccupied by what is going on in that country, in Rwanda instead those supporting president Kagame are busy fabricating necessary citizens’ signatures and being ready for the change of the constitution.
It was reported that the Rwandan parliament had so far received 2 million signatures requesting change of the constitution to allow president Kagame to participate in the next presidential elections. Let me remind you that two million is the same number as the one of those sentenced by Gacaca courts which judged one side and one ethnic group only.
While the Rwandan regime is fuelling chaos in Burundi and even trying to tarnish president Nkurunziza’s image internationally, President Kagame has this time expressed where he stood on the Burundian case. It’s true his views were normally known, but what was missing was the platform for their public announcement.
On the opposite of his colleague, in order to show that he is liked by his citizens, president Kagame confirmed that president Nkurunziza’s compatriots don’t want him; it is questionable if president Kagame organised any surveys to measure the likelihood of his assertion! “If your own citizens tell you we don’t want you to lead us, how do you say I am staying whether you want me or not,” said Kagame.
What president Kagame forgets is that president Nkurunziza, accepts at least that those who don’t want him to voice their grievances publicly, while in the case of Rwanda there is no respect of human rights, and for that reason president Kagame is not entitled to be teaching democracy to Burundians.
While president Kagame accuses president Nkurunziza of bad governance and consequently claims that his citizens are requesting his removal, president Kagame forgets deliberately what he said publicly when he announced when he won’t have someone to replace him at the end of his term in office, he will have failed.
President Kagame made the accusation far away from Rwanda at a conference organised by St Gallen University in Switzerland during its annual symposium; it is well documented when Rwanda is planning to get involved in regional suspicious operations, president Kagame makes sure he is outside of his country.
From tangible evidence president Kagame is more and more showing who he is and how he is involved in the Burundian crisis. Rwandan security services searched for Burundians on their payroll in Burundi and linked them with Belgian lawyer Me Bernard Maingain who normally represents RPF’s interests in the case of the shooting down president Habyarimana’s plane. The plan was to fabricate factual elements that might show that there were plans for a genocide in Burundi then send them to UN. This Maingain confirms that Burundi is on the verge of using Interahamwe and FDLR to execute the genocidal plan.
This strategy goes hand in hand with the recruitment of some Burundian politicians. There is evidence that even foreign organisations appear to be implicated. Furthermore, there is the Burundian class of politicians who want to get into power without passing through elections and therefore oppose the holding of planned elections.
The observed vivid discreditation of president Nkurunziza is accompanied with the ongoing crazy hype in Rwanda where on every inch of the territory almost all citizens and associations, except the Catholic Church, are being asked to write letters requesting change to the constitution. There are even those apparently reported saying that if president Kagame was not allowed to be elected again, they were ready to die!
The way things are evolving is that every effort is being put into the forced signing of testimonies of support so that the operation is completed by the end of the month. Speculators confirm that president Kagame wants to change the constitution while people are preoccupied and distracted by the Burundian crisis, given the fact that the Rwandan regime is actively supporting those opposed to President Nkurunziza by giving them channels of expression.
A fast track referendum appears to be very plausible because the international community is more seriously preoccupied by the Burundi crisis (than anything else), in the sense that if that Rwandan referendum on its constitution could be done without major incident that “would oppose that will of the people,” given that there is already 2 million testimonies of support to show whoever would be doubtful. There is not much to say about such referendum since we know well how Rwandan elections are run and rigged.
In addition to changing the constitution, by so doing allowing president Kagame to rule indefinitely or become a king, in the coming days Rwandans will be soon asked to be praying a god called Kagame!
Even though the RPF regime carries on intimidating and oppressing Rwandans, there are however some among them who have overcome their fear, so much so that Kagame and his government cannot hope 100% that there won’t be any huddles given that there are anonymous tracks in Rwanda, particularly in university circles, calling the youth to rise against president Kagame.
Translated from Kinyarwanda by:
Ambrose Nzeyimana
Political Analyst/ Activist
Organising for Africa, Coordinator
The Rising Continent, Blog editor
London, UK
Email: [email protected]
