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ROAD MAP FOR A PROMISING
FUTURE OF RWANDA
A proposal on how to reform current governance, so it responds to today’s reality in
Rwanda.
Jointly written by Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza & Maître Ntaganda Bernard
June 2021.
 URU, Alm.del - 2020-21 - Bilag 260: Henvendelse af 24/6-21 fra Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza om situationen i Rwanda
A ROAD MAP FOR A PROMISING FUTURE OF RWANDA
I.
Introduction
Since mid 1950’s the people of Rwanda have experienced repeated hardship due to
leadership that wanted to access and stay on power by all means.
One of the worst consequences, is that ordinary civilians have suffered from abhorrent
massacres, grave violations of human rights, war crimes and, in 1994, a genocide that
targeted the Tutsi population. Countless political elites have been assassinated.
At every violent episode of political struggle, innumerable Rwandans fled their country
such as in 1959 after the “social” revolution, as well as in 1994, after the “liberation” war.
Every political transition in Rwanda has been characterised by violent removal from power
of a group of Rwandans by another group of Rwandans. The involvement of the
international community into these repeated political turmoil in Rwanda is irrefutable and
in most of cases it has intervened when the worse has already taken place.
We would like to draw the attention of the Rwandan government and the international
community that existential group grievances and systemic failures to address them could
lead to another implosion in Rwanda and send in smoke the achievements made in
Rwanda in the last 26 years with substantial financial support from abroad.
We believe that Rwandans should learn to accept their history, learn from their mistakes
and build on the achievements of past regimes. We can build on what we did well and
learn from what we failed on. Thereafter, we can chart a way forward on how we can
safeguard accomplished developments and build on them to attain even greater
achievements. In this way we would have transformed our tragic past into a better history
which will inspire the younger generation of Rwandans.
The war that was started by the RPF was due to frustrations of a section of the Rwandan
people who felt marginalised, denied their inalienable right of having a country they call
home, and those who felt that their political and civil rights were not respected. This led
to a four-year war and ended up in genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity
being committed.
It is critical that we start to prepare a promising future for the next generation of Rwandans
from today. This is what the Road Map for a promising future of Rwanda proposes.
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II.
Motivations of the Road Map
After the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) took power it held, from 1998 to 1999, national
consultations – referred to as Urugwiro Village meetings – to discuss how Rwanda could
solve its issues of national unity, democracy, justice, economy and security. The
outcomes of these consultations are the guiding philosophies of the governance
implemented by the RPF over the two decades it has been ruling Rwanda.
Among the RFP’s achievements are the maintenance of security across Rwanda, the
establishment of governing structures and the reformation of the legislation directing the
state’s activities.
Nonetheless, The consensual democracy enforced by RPF supposedly shaped on the
basis of the context and norm of Rwanda with intent to overcome ethnic violence, has –
with time- changed into a political system that suppresses political dissents, restricts
political pluralism and civil liberty as well as abuses human rights and infringes rule of
law.
The mechanisms to promote unity and reconciliation among Rwandans adopted by the
consultation meetings were commendable. However, there is still conflicting views among
Rwandans particularly when it comes to the memorial of victims of war crimes committed
before, during and after the genocide against Tutsi.
From the national consultations of 1999 merged a great idea of a development
programme that aimed to transform Rwanda into middle income state by 2020 driven by
a knowledge economy – referred as Vision 2020. In spite of the financial support the
Government of Rwanda received from development partners, it has not delivered Vision
2020 objectives. The COVID-19 has exacerbated the existing economic distress of
Rwanda. This implies that in order to achieve sustainable development we all need to
work together and even more harder than before.
Lastly, in the 20 years since the first series of Urugwiro Village meetings took place, the
political scenery in Rwanda has transformed along the way. It is no longer made up of
only the opposition that is affiliated to the ruling party, but also includes growing dissenting
voices that are heard across Rwanda and beyond.
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III.
Road Map proposed solution
Against the aforementioned backdrop, we propose that another inter-Rwandan dialogue
be convened – one that draws from the aforementioned challenges to discuss how to
reform current governance, so it responds to today’s reality in Rwanda. The ultimate
objective of the proposed dialogue must be to safeguard what has been achieved and
build on it to bring about sustainable development in Rwanda.
Our proposed dialogue is in line with the United Nations Strategy for Peace Consolidation,
Conflict Prevention and Conflict Resolution in the Great Lakes Region (UN
S/2020/1168
1
). The strategy points out that effective and sustained dialogue among
citizens is crucial to fostering trust, addressing underlying grievances and facilitating
collective action towards the common objective of peace, stability and prosperity. That is
what the Road Map Project proposes we achieve in Rwanda through inter-Rwandan
dialogue
The proposed inter Rwandan dialogue entails to engage Government and dissenting
voices both within and outside the country in cooperative, constructive and positive
discussions to define measures and how these can be implemented to reform our country
governance so it is in line with today realities. These discussions should cover four main
topics that are considered to be the root causes of instability in our country but if managed
efficiently could restore good governance in Rwanda.
•
•
•
•
Inclusive political processes.
Reconciliation
Rule of law and human rights.
Sustainable development and shared prosperity.
1. Inclusive political processes
The consensual democracy enforced by RPF supposedly shaped on the basis of the
context and norm of Rwanda with intent to overcome ethnic violence, has – with time-
changed into a political system that suppresses political dissents, restricts political
pluralism and civil liberty.
We believe that a democracy in which the rule of law does not discriminate against
anyone and that offers equal opportunity to all, removes all conditions that can be
exploited by extremists in their endeavours. It must be made clear that being opposed to
and critical of government policies is not being an enemy of the country. It is obvious that
people cannot share same views on the policies to bring about sustainable development
1
https://www.securitycouncilreport.org/atf/cf/%7B65BFCF9B-6D27-4E9C-8CD3-
CF6E4FF96FF9%7D/s_2020_1168.pdf
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in Rwanda. In fact, when well-managed, policies criticisms can trigger creativity in finding
solutions to the development problems that Rwanda is facing.
To achieve the aforementioned, the current democracy concept has to change and a new
consensus on that matter be reached with all key stakeholders through the proposed inter
Rwandan dialogue. Given especially that the political scenery in Rwanda have changed
over the past 27 years and includes dissenting voices today and will continue to evolve
as time passes by, the democracy applied by Rwanda must be adjusted to respond to
today realities.
The proposed dialogue could debate and agree on whether it is high time to have an all-
inclusive political process that is open and allows free political competition in Rwanda.
The current political system has all the signs of a one-party state system where one party
dominates all the state structures including deciding on who should be allowed to
compete with the ruling party in political elections or even should be registered as a
political party.
2. National reconciliation
The mechanisms to promote unity and reconciliation among Rwandans adopted by the
consultation meetings of 1999 were commendable. However, there is still tensions among
Rwandans. These tensions emanate from the following:
•
•
•
•
Rwanda’s unfortunate past is differently perceived and thus remains divisive
among Rwandans;
Persisting ethnicity division among Rwandans due to unfortunate events that
occurred in Rwanda;
distrust among Rwandans whereby some are afraid that other want or will seek
vengeance;
Conflicting views on the memorial to the victims of war crimes committed in
Rwanda before, during and after the genocide against Tutsi.
All of the aforementioned create social grievances and weakens trust and cooperation
among our people.
To achieve genuine reconciliation, the proposed dialogue could debate on whether the
following proposals worth considering.
•
Transforming National Unity and Reconciliation Commission into a real
independent body led by people who truly represent the different backgrounds of
the Rwandans;
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•
Continuing the commemoration of the genocide against Tutsi and at the same time
take actions and measures that enable Hutu that lost their loved ones in other
committed massacres to feel included in the nation’s remembrance.
Transforming Rwanda’s unfortunate past into a better and an inspiring history by
implementing a form of amnesty on all crimes committed in Rwanda. For such an
amnesty to be possible, Rwandans must to establish a common understanding on
all crimes committed against them between early 1990’s and 2000’s.
•
3. Rule of law and human rights
Among the RPF’s achievements is that the security has been maintained across Rwanda,
governing structures have been established and the legislations directing state’s activities
have been reformed.
It is quite clear that these efforts have not reached expected results. The most obvious
signals are:
•
•
Many refugees have not returned despite government calls inviting them to come
back home. Others are fleeing the country now.
Prejudice among Rwandans whereby those opposing the policies or actions
implemented by incumbent governing regime are quick branded as enemies of
states.
Scepticism between Rwandans living abroad and in Rwanda, as well as between
opposition and the Government;
The absence of culture of dialogue with those with divergent ideas ;
Lack of human right respect;
The absence of freedom of expression
The absence of political participation
•
•
•
•
•
Security is not merely an absence of war but how the ordinary citizen lives without fear of
security services. It depends on the level at which an ordinary citizen is satisfied with the
enjoyment of his inalienable human rights. Over the past decades Rwanda has been
alleged of human rights abuses by many of its development partners and international
human rights organisation. It is important to remind that during the January 2021
Universal Periodic Review, Rwanda received 284 recommendations from 99 countries. It
accepted 160 recommendations, noted 75
2
. Further reports of human rights abuse or/and
unjust judicial proceedings against dissenting voices in Rwanda will be damaging to our
country’s reputation and future development. It is high time to engage in constructive
2
https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/02/01/un-countries-call-out-rwandas-rights-record
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debate on how respect of basic human rights and rule of law should be restored and make
the political space inclusive in Rwanda.
4. Sustainable development and shared prosperity
From the national consultations of 1999 merged a great idea of a development
programme that aimed to transform Rwanda into middle income state by 2020 driven by
a knowledge economy – referred as Vision 2020. In spite of the financial support the
Government of Rwanda received from development partners, it has not delivered Vision
2020 objectives. Our country remains a low-income state and among the poorest and
least developed countries in the world.
In our view, the failure to deliver vision 2020 objectives was due to policies - such as
educational, agricultural and land policies among others - meant to facilitate the vision
delivery have been implemented without citizen participation and/or in a manner that
lacked accountability and sensitivity towards them. While Rwanda as a small and land
locked country faces a structural constraints to growth, the political tensions with our
neighbouring countries that led to border’s closure, have never enabled our country to
overcome its structural limitations and take fully benefit from regional economic
opportunity.
COVID-19 pandemic has taken a heavy toll on our country economy which was not
resilient as often portrayed. This has intensified economic stress among citizens and is
raising question on whether the government’s development plan to transform Rwanda
into a middle income state by 2035 and high income by 2050 is realistic under current
governance standard. Research has also shown that Prior to Covid-19, Rwanda had a
cash gap of 15.7% of GDP per year to meet its sustainable development goals by 2030.
This has increased to 21.3% of GDP
3
.
We believe that when the governance reforms, emanating from the proposed dialogue
between the government and dissenting voices, would have been implemented, it will
immediately reinforce Rwanda’s brand as best place to do business in. In return this will
enable more investment to flow in the country which will contribute toward bringing about
sustainable development in Rwanda.
3
https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WP/Issues/2021/04/29/SDG-Financing-Options-in-Rwanda-A-Post-
Pandemic-Assessment-50252
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IV.
Road Map’s stakeholders
To achieve its assigned goal, this Road Map must be implemented by all active actors
who play a key role for a promising future of Rwanda.
The past history of Rwanda has shown governments and the international community
have always tried to negotiate the problem of refugees without engaging refugees
themselves. It has not worked. President Kayibanda called on Tutsi refugees to return but
they did not do so because they were not very sure of their peaceful and harmonious
reintegration in the social political and economic structures in the country. They were not
even consulted. The agreement signed between the Rwandan and Ugandan government
as well as UNHCR on the return of Rwandan refugees to Rwanda did not prevent the war
to take place in October 1990.
Therefore this road map has established the following as the stakeholders in this project.
•
•
•
Rwandan Government;
Opposition and civil society organizations (comprising those operating inside
Rwanda and in exile);
The International community
1. Rwandan Government
Some changes are needed in order for this Road Map can be implemented. The Rwandan
Government is recommended to:
i. Engage with all stakeholders including political opposition and civil societies
inside and outside the country;
ii. Implement the 287 recommendations made in January 2021 UPR and at the
minimum the 235 it acknowledged;
iii. Ensure a conducive and safe environment for everyone exercising or seeking to
exercise his or her rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association;
iv. Open the political space to offer all citizens the right and opportunity without any
distinctions and without unreasonable restrictions to freely form and register a
political party and operate in a pluralistic political sphere;
v. Enabling citizens living in Rwanda who are willing to start political parties in
Rwanda to do so;
vi. Ensure that no one is criminalized for exercising the rights to freedom of peaceful
assembly and of association, nor is subject to threats or use of violence,
harassment, persecution, intimidation or reprisals;
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vii. Release all those arrested because of the exercise of their rights to freedom of
peaceful assembly and of association and ending labelling critics of the regime
as enemies of the State;
viii. Ensure political education on democracy and human rights;
2. Opposition and Civil organizations
Opposition political parties and civil organizations are vibrant actors to advance Rwanda
toward a promising future. The experience shows that no country can sort out its
numerous challenges without taking allowances for the role of those actors. Therefore, to
implement this Road Map, opposition political parties and society civil organizations must
be responsible in order to fulfil their demanding roles such as:
i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
v.
vi.
Take part in charting a way for a bright future for Rwanda ;
Avoid instrumentalization of ethnicity in the political debate ;
Play the positive role of the opposition by focussing on constructive criticism
and making the government accountable to the public ;
Participate in political education on political pluralism and human rights;
Help in sensitizing refugees to get involved in political dialogue;
Help rebuilt the social capital of our country.
3. The International Community
Undoubtedly, the international community has a major role to play for this Road Map to
become a reality. It is not possible to stabilize the Great Lakes region without resolving
the political, socio- economic grievances in Rwanda. This Road Map is in the line with the
UN strategy for peace consolidation, conflict prevention and conflict resolution in the
Great Lakes region.
It is in this context that the international community has to :
i. Support all political actors and civil society organisations in their effort to bring all
stakeholders together to chart a new vision of Rwanda;
ii. Provide financial and logistical support to stakeholders where need arises.
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V.
Road Map implementation
For the proposed Road Map to be successful, it is necessary:
•
•
•
To set up a commission - made of inclusive politicians, religious and members of
civil society - that will thoroughly plan and implement the Road Map;
To engage Rwandans across the country and abroad in the implementation of the
Road Map
To prepare a budget for the Road Map;
VI.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Anticipated results of the Road Map.
Transforming Rwanda’s unfortunate past into a better and an inspiring future;
Planning a better inclusive future for younger generation of Rwandans;
Bringing about genuine and sustainable unity and reconciliation among Rwandans;
Guaranteeing durable security for Rwanda;
Achieving sustainable development in Rwanda;
Positioning Rwanda as an indisputably inventive country and indeed a model of
reconciliation in the region and on the African continent.
Changing the mind-set of Rwandans whereby they will be encouraged to direct
their effort and creativity as well as know-how on how to bring about sustainable
development in Rwanda;
Encouraging the youth born and /or brought up aboard to return to Rwanda do they
contribute towards making Rwanda a thriving country.
Removing reasons to exercise political activities outside Rwanda and create
armed insurgencies with intent to take over the power in Rwanda by force.
All members of Rwanda diaspora wishing to return to Rwanda will freely do so
without any fear for being ill-treated for their opinion among other.
Making it possible for Rwandans interested into politics to do so by competing for
power using ideals and applying peaceful and smart actions that safeguard and
build on the development achieved.
•
•
•
•
VII.
Timeline
The implementation of the proposed Road Map will be gradual through different actions
and activities to be carried out throughout the remaining presidential term of incumbent
president of Rwanda (i.e., during the next 3 years). Thus the incumbent president will
leave the office with a legacy of having solved issues making Rwandan fleeing their
country and fortified long term stability in Rwanda.
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This is the only way to safeguard the current achievement that he has brought about in
Rwanda during his presidency. Most importantly, he would have re-written a new history
of Rwanda which would serve as inspirational and a foundation for the next generation of
Rwanda , as they continue to work together toward making Rwanda secure and
prosperous.
VIII.
Conclusion
For this road map to become successful it requires a political will. Current leadership of
Rwanda will have to forfeit a lot for the sake of the country and new generations of
Rwandans in general.
To sum up, the success of this Road Map requires the total and full participation of all
keys actors as mentioned above. Needless to say that the current Rwandan Government
under Rwanda Patriotic Front INKOTANYI (RPF) is the major actor among them. It
belongs to RPF INKOTANYI to think about its legacy since the implementation of this
Road Map will be a corner stone for a promising future of Rwanda.