This week the UCI Road World Championships descended on Kigali, first time this world cycling extravaganza has been held in Africa. Over 108 countries are represented, 38 of them from Africa. There are over 1,000 participants. And across the Globe, 300 million people are watching live.
Meantime, in New York the UN General Assembly is in session and 190 countries are represented. There are many long winded speeches by world leaders or their representatives, but not much else happens. DJT pointed this out yesterday, albeit so crudely.
The UCI was founded in 1921, and that Rwanda was selected to host this year’s event speaks volumes. The report card is in : the pulse of the Nation is good, regardless of the nonsense Human Rights Watch spews out with their never ending un-substantiated allegations and accusations. There is no stopping us now.
The first time this event was held outside Europe was in 2022 in Australia. Now, Rwanda. Nothing silences our critics like sheer success, and nothing irks them more as when the world ignores their flimsy exaggerated accusations of human rights abuses but delegations keep flocking to Kigali.
The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in 2022, with 54 Heads of State, came and went with resounding success. Then came the Africa Health Agenda International Conference (AHAIC), then the International AIDS Society (IAS) which brought 4,000 delegates. They keep coming. Why? Good governance, clear vision of the future, a budding democracy and firm, health economy. We must however guard against the arrogance of success, and I know we will.
In 2024, more than 20 Heads of State attended President Kagame’s inauguration for a fourth term. There have been numerous State visits by Heads of State from Mozambique, Togo, Guinea-Bissau, Uganda, France, Egypt — add on Presidents Clinton and Bush.
My point is simple : if Rwanda was a banana republic nobody would visit. If Rwanda was unstable we would not be hosting over 150,000 refugees. If Rwanda was weak we wouldn’t be the most robust peace keeper on the African continent, now with a possibility of a permanent base in Cabo Delgado province in Mozambique.
In 2023 the UCI event was held in Glasgow, Scotland and 110 countries participated. We are playing in the Big Leagues, you know.
Sitting in the comfort of my home here in Austin, Texas sheltering from the punishing Texan summer watching Kigali turn into a world stage for a week, I can’t help but reflect on our journey since 1994. I am humbled, but encouraged by the resilience of us as a People that refuse to wallow in our misery. We have been to hell and back, and no where else to go but skywards.
I watch crowds descend on Kigali to welcome our foreign visitors warmly and I feel goose bumps. I see young kids waving our flag and I salute our leaders who have given us an un-wavering sense of patriotism. I watch the crowds in Remera ululate and I am overwhelmed by a sense of pride and appreciation of how far we have come in 31 years. Country folks in Nyamirambo waving to the cyclists they have never met reminds me of the legendary friendship of Rwandans. Kacyiru crowds, young and old, countrymen and foreigners intensely encouraging the cyclists tell me we are on to a good thing. But much remains to be done.
I can’t but help think of Rwandans in self-imposed exile hell bent on tarnishing Rwanda’s image. Cowed in their small apartments and engaged in subsistence living in Brussels, Paris and Quebec, I wonder why they can’t shed their hatred and come home and participate in National reconstruction and soul searching. Gone are the days of National IDs that divided us along made up ethnic divisions.
If they un-clench their fists, we will extend a warm hand of friendship.
To the Man at the helm, to the gallant men and women of the RDF, to the millions of widows across our land who have held firm and breastfed our orphans, I salute you. Because of all this, even in my Golden YearsI walk with my head high, assured to the core that Rwanda’s best days are yet to come.
My brother a great analysis of Rwandas current position on the continent and the world.
What i see is a Country that has invested in its people and the people have .responded to good governance.
A president who have said each and every one of you can go as far is u want to go its up to u.In rwanda tre people are responding and the results are there for everyone to see and the best is yet to come.