CHOGM 2022: Rwanda’s Moment to shine and Exhibit our Resilience

In a few hours Rwanda will host 35 Heads of State and Government as well as 5,000 delegates for the 26th CHOGM meeting. This is no small achievement considering we are in our 28th year since the genocide against Tutsi.

In 1994 the country was laid bear, our infrastructure wiped out, a million innocent people killed , the civil service decimated. The world wrote us off for dead. Everybody thought we would become a failed State. Not.

Look where we are today.

As the U.N. deliberated ad nauseam whether genocide was taking place in Rwanda a million Rwandans perished. They were avoiding taking responsibility and action under international law to stop the mayhem and slaughter of innocent people. Yet when civil strife consumed Bosnia NATO swung into action with lightning speed.

Even though Rwanda becomes the sixth African country to host CHOGM, much needs to be said. Zambia (1977), Zimbabwe (1991), South Africa (1999), Nigeria (2003), Uganda (2007). None of these countries went through the ordeal and trauma we have experienced. None of these countries paid the incredible price Rwanda paid. It becomes the only African country to host CHOGM in over a decade.

Noteworthy Rwanda has only been a Member of the Commonwealth since 2009. In a word, that CHOGM is being held in Kigali is a resounding Vote of Confidence in our form of government, our leaders and especially in President Paul Kagame’s leadership and vision. Like a coffee plantation cannot survive in the Sahara desert, not many countries can hold an event like CHOGM — in the style and manner that the world will witness in the next coming week.

Of the 19 African Member countries of the Commonwealth, Rwanda is the only non-former British colony to ever host CHOGM. And what this says about us is that the world is watching our progress, form of government, our justice system, and recovery from the Genocide with an approving and envious nod. Togo is said to be planning to apply in the coming days in Rwanda’s footsteps.

In spite of the so-called Human Rights Organization protests Rwanda has paid them no mind, so to speak, and gone on our business in our own way, and style. And there is more to come. It has not been easy and the obstacles have been overly challenging. But is has all been achieved because of our belief in our values (AGACIRO) as a People, our resilience and stamina, but more so in our belief in universal values of the sanctity of human life.

Kenyan journalist Faustine Ngila said it best when he described Kigali as the only city in Africa that understands the concept of sustainability of cities and ”a model for the whole continent to follow.”

CHOGM 2022 will set a trend for Africans to make a mark on the international diplomatic scene. Current Secretary General Patricia Scotland of Dominican descent is set to run for a second term as Secretary General . Her challenger, Kamina Johnson Smith, is Jamaica’s Minister of Foreign Affairs.

At the end of this CHOGM meeting, President Kagame will take over from British Prime Minister Boris Johnson as Chair-In-Office for the next two years — yet another recognition and acknowledgment of our journey to recovery, our values and respect for international norms and law.

As the eyes of the world focus on Rwanda for the next week, I am ever re-assured that Rwanda will deliver and meet expectations. Our detractors and critics will sing their usual negative songs — which it seems the world is not paying attention to. At the end of CHOGM 2022 the world will have taken a glimpse of how Nations should be governed.

No doubt delegates will return home with fondness of that unique Rwandan hospitality, patience, humility and our love of life. Memories of The Land of A Thousand Hills will forever remind them that even though our bodies were bruised, our blood soaks the countryside, Rwandans refused to be broken because of that uniquely Rwandan stubborn streak of contempt for subjugation.