Lest I be misunderstood, this is not a phrase I just coined, but a plea I have heard over and over and over again during my four day visit to Kenya.
From Nairobi to Narok, through Masai Land and at Masai Mara: Kenyans seem to be pleading for a change.
At lunch in a cozy Israeli-run restaurant, Talisman, no sooner did I seat down did my Waiter ask me where I was visiting from. When I said from Rwanda, Joseph, the Waiter said, “Please, lend us Kagame” When I inquired why, he replied, “ “He is the only one who can save us from our mess.”
“What is your mess, Joseph?” I inquired. “Corruption” he said. “It is killing us.”
Tongue in cheek I told him Kagame was not for rent.
A good friend, famous and controversial lawyer, (name withheld upon request) told me, “Willis, may be the God that smiled down upon Rwanda will not forget us.”
Every time I come home I go out of my way to solicit opinion on how we are doing, and how our home grown solutions are addressing our issues.
But asking Rwandans about the State of our Republic would be like that Pastor at a babtism ceremony asking if the child has been baptised or not. Sort of preaching to the choir, don’t you think?I have not been here (Nairobi) in a couple of years, but when did Nairobi become garbage-central? The once Green City is sadly chocking in garbage. Streets are strewn with plastic bottles and plastic bags, all along the highways and byways.
At Narok for a stop-over, another Mwananchi asked me where I was from, and I said Rwanda. Similar sentiment, “Aaah, Kagame ——good and strong man.”
However you interpret all this, it is surely an indication that Rwanda is on the right course and headed in the right direction.
Which begs the question: What is Uganda’s beef with us?
Whatever your answer, President Kagame has warned that those who mess with us do so at their own risk. We can neither be threatened nor cowed into submission. Never.
Kenyans’ sentiments could be the barometer of how far we have come. Very far. It tells much of the progress we have made, and the leadership we have crafted and chosen.
I pray our success will not breed a layback attitude and arrogance of success. Much has been accomplished, but we are not at the finish line. Far from it.
