By Mwizenge S. Tembo, Ph. D. Emeritus Professor of Sociology

When I established the Mwizenge Sustainable Model village in rural Lusaka in Chongwe in 2018, the purpose was to recreate the village cultural experience. This is primarily because I deeply cherished my childhood village experience when I was six years old in 1960 and Chipewa Village in Lundazi district in Eastern Zambia. I assumed others might want to relive that experience even if it is just for a day.

So it was with great anticipation recently that I went to the village to spend ten days. I designed the village such that there is a small brick house for the caretaker. But about one mile up the hill, there are 5 huts that were built in the Tumbuka traditional structure style. This location has no lights and no cars are allowed there. Only fire, flash lights or torches are allowed in order to maintain the pristine village experience.

My evening starts with taking a warm bath which my hosts do provide. After my bath I put back on my trousers, gam boots, and long-sleeved night gown or robe so that I can cover my arms. This is the worst time for mosquito bites since I will be sitting enjoying a quiet evening sitting on the chiwundo corridor of my hut. I saw the crescent thin moon the first night as I waited for my dinner. The dinner was nshima with delicious village chicken.

After dinner was some of the best part of the evening. I see bright swarth stars of the bright expanse of the milky way. I contemplate how many times I have seen the milky way in the village in my life. There is a big twinkling star just below the leaves of a tree and above the grass on the roof of the kitchen. There are always the three stars that are lined perfectly in the middle of the sky. I have always seen those three stars. I hear the crickets and just a cacophony of night insect sounds. One night I heard the characteristic loud moaning whistle which people in the village said was the Chipili snake. I wished then I could walk into the bush and investigate. The snake would probably just shut up once it heard me coming.

And then heard the lovely song of the night bird whose lyrics are very slow;

Anya Zgobela (Nya Zgobela)

Tendenge bana bane (Lets walk together my children.)

I remembered the lyrics from when I was a child during those bright village moonlights. It was time to go to bed at 21:00hours or 9:00pm.

My bed was a thin mattress placed on a reed mat mphasa and a bed sheet and a blanket to cover with. I put up and tacked in my brand-new mosquito net. I folded my bath robe or gown and used it as a pillow. Inside my mosquito net covered bed, I put by my head a flashlight or torch, my wrist watch, my cell phone which I turned off and my small shortwave radio. I soon turned off my flashlight. Suddenly it was not just dark but so pitch black dark that I could not see my finger 2 inches in front of my nose; this is total darkness. I soon fell asleep.

At 2:00 am I woke up because I ran out of sleep. Some nights I turned on my short-wave radio. Most nights I did not turn on the radio and enjoyed the serenity and sounds I heard outside and inside the hut. Sometimes I heard people walking along the path 50 meters behind my hut. This path connects two villages. Sometimes I thought the voices could be witches. Many nights I just enjoyed the serenity and the total darkness. At 4:00hrs I fell back asleep.

At a certain time, I saw a tiny thin slither of light in the crack of the small wooden window. I was excited as that was the tale-tell sign of day break. It was exciting as the light grew and filled the hut. It was 5:30hrs.

I crack open my hut door to see the dawn of the new day. When I emerge, the air is fresh and crisp and the bird sounds are spectacular. I slowly walk to the toilet in my warm robe. I come out of the toilet and take a slow walk back to the hut. I stop, look at the trees, the birds, and gaze at the glow of the sunrise in the east. I take a big breath and just in that moment appreciate the great blessing and gift being alive.

“Where else can I experience all of this purity of life, besides here at the model village?” I ask myself.

By Amandin Rugira

Through the “Kwibuka” events like today, we learn about the causes, reality and consequences of the Genocide to better fight its remnants in Rwanda and anywhere else in the world. We also aim to raise awareness and advocate for UN member countries to arrest and prosecute identified and confirmed genocide fugitives residing or hiding in foreign countries, as adopted by the UN Security Council in its Resolution No. 2150 of April 16, 2014, asking member states to judge or extradite genocide fugitives on their territories.

Kwibuka allows us to build a better society, a country free of discrimination, segregation, hatred and free of Genocide and its ideology. It must be highlighted that though the genocide against the Tutsi was put to an end in 1994, fugitives from the former Government of Rwanda, the army, and militias are still at large and have ever since been spreading this genocidal ideology from the counties where they are situated. From afar, this ideology is being spread through social media platforms and online channels, and in some education and higher learning institutions, so-called researchers are spreading revisionist narratives of the 1994 Genocide against the Tusti.

Twenty-nine years ago, Rwanda witnessed the horrors of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. Triggered by hate speech and propaganda, and the unfortunate scenario where friends and neighbours turned into enemies. This resulted into the deaths of more than one million Tutsi and moderate Hutus in a period of one hundred days.

We therefore come together today, to pay our respect to the lives and memories of those who perished during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. We also honour the survivors, who mustered the strength and courage to defy the odds. Their bravery and resilience stand as a testimony of the beacon of hope for the people of Rwanda, and many more across the world.

Critically, during this commemorative period we reflect on what made the unspeakable possible, the unimaginable all too real. As we examine the forces that enabled the Genocide, together we should ask ourselves the pertinent question: “are we truly doing all we can to prevent future genocide and bring peace where there is conflict in the world?”

Having said that it is therefore important to raise awareness and alert all countries about the current situation in the eastern DRC, which has been designated by the UN Special Advisor to the Secretary General on prevention of Genocide as a warning sign of societal fragility and proof of the enduring presence of the conditions that allowed large-scale hatred and violence that may erupt into a genocide like what happened in the past in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. The prevalence of armed groups, including the Forces Democratiques De Liberation Du Rwanda (FDLR), in the region, unfortunately still spread genocide ideology and causes insecurity not only in Rwanda but to the region as well.

It is understandable that people focus on the one hundred days beginning APRIL 7, 1994 given its unparalleled magnitude both in scope and cruelty. However 1994 was not a beginning but a culmination of decades of discrimination, oppression and violence directed against one group of Rwandans whose only fault was to be born Tutsi. It wasn’t, as some would have believed a sudden or unpredictable eruption of mob violence.

For decades preceding the tragedy of 1994, Rwanda’s then political leaders pursued a policy of segregation and discrimination against the Tutsi population that laid the groundwork for the Genocide. The Anti-Tutsi propaganda permeated all the major institutions of the country and the privileges of citizenship and the protection from the state were stripped from the Tutsi decades before the Genocide.

They became the “other” in their own nation and the media eagerly propagated the idea that Rwandans of Tutsi descent were somehow enemies within even less than human and that to kill them was an act of patriotism. From vilification to dehumanization, what was viewed as the next logical step was eradication.

Numerous outbreaks of acts of violence and mass killings targeted against the Tutsi in 1959, 1963, 1968, 1973 and as late as 1992 laid the ground work to Genocide and drove hundreds of thousands of survivors into exile in neighbouring countries and beyond. As mentioned earlier, the privileges of citizenship and the protection from the state were stripped from the Tutsis decades before the Genocide therefore one can say the ghost of genocide hung over Rwanda for many years before April 7, 1994.

It should also be highlighted that one of the cruellest tragedies of 1994 was the abandonment of Rwanda by the international community. As militiamen took to the streets with their machetes, murdering, raping, and tearing our country apart, under the gaze of the United Nations, and the world’s media, the rest of the world watched on, leaving Rwanda to its tragic fate. This abandonment should serve as an important lesson to all of the humanity. Thankfully for Rwanda on July 4, 1994 the Genocide was effectively stopped by the Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) under the leadership of His Excellency President Paul Kagame ushering a new era and new beginning for Rwanda.

Today, Rwanda has rebuilt from the ashes of horrific tragedy and destruction, evidenced by its economic, social and political developments. It laid the foundation for these achievements by having embarked on a better path; one of forgiveness and reconciliation, leaving behind past-resentments and acknowledging the common humanity of all Rwandans.

Rwanda’s economy has impressively recovered over the last two decades. With the country registering an average GDP growth of around 8 percent per year during that period. After the Genocide was stopped by the RPF-Inkotanyi in July 1994, the new leadership set national unity as a foundation for rebuilding the country. In this regard, a government of national unity was put in place and from the beginning, it committed to valuing Rwandanhood and its values where every Rwandan has rights and responsibilities which are not provided by his/her ethnic or regional belonging, but by rather simply being Rwandan.

It is commendable to have witnessed over the last 29 years the resilience of the people of Rwanda complimented by the leadership of His Excellency Paul Kagame, for finding the grace within themselves to heal, to reconcile, and to embrace national challenges with a collective spirit. As we light candles and commemorate this dark chapter of history today, let us for the education of future generations ensure our commitments to stand against racism, hate speech, xenophobia, and all forms of discrimination, continue to burn brighter than the darkness of hate and violence. We also continue to remind the International Community and UN Member States, as well as signatories to the 1948 UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, of their obligations under this convention to fight and prosecute hate speech and crimes of genocide in their respective countries.

Additionally we remain steadfast in advocating for the remaining countries, which have not yet assented the United Nations Convention on the prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide, to do so and to remind those who haven’t yet enacted laws punishing the crime of any genocide recognized by the United Nations or international courts, as well as any other act leading to genocide ideology, genocide denial, or its revisionism as defined by international instruments.

Let’s remember that life can only be understood backwards but it must be lived forwards. Rwanda continues to demonstrate to the world at large, that even in the deepest darkness there is hope.

In solidarity with the people of Rwanda, in memory of the victims, and in respect of the survivors, let us recommit to upholding the principles of human rights, peace and security, and let us continue to truly reach for the ideal of ‘never again’.

This year’s commemoration events are being held under the theme “Kwibuka Twiyubaka: Remember – Unite – Renew.”

The author is Rwanda High Commissioner to Zambia

By Antonio Mourinho Mwanza

Finance Minister Situmebeko Musokwatwane says that Zambia has recorded a 100 percent performance on the economic programme set with the International Monetary Fund-IMF- last year.

What Musokotwane means is that Government has fully complied with the LOAN conditionalities that the IMF has imposed on Zambia which include the following;

1. The removal of subsidies on fuel which has led to high fuel prices, high cost of living and dehumanising poverty levels many Zambians are grappling with;

2. The high increments of electricity tariffs and electricity connection fees which has worsened the cost of doing business, increased deforestation as most people are now resorting to charcoal as they can’t afford electricity, worsening the climate situation and increasing the disease-burden.

3. Reduced Government spending on critical social sectors such as Health, which has in part, led to critical shortages of medicines and medical supplies in our clinics and hospitals countrywide. This has led to increased disease-burden, reduced economic productivity and unnecessary loss of lives. Government hospitals have turned into Consultation centres where people just go to get prescriptions.

4. Giving foreign mining companies TAX HOLIDAYS at the expense of local businesses and the general auctioning of Zambia’s mineral rights on PINYOLO which has largely contributed to the collapse of the economy, specifically on the Copperbelt, a weakened Kwacha, high youth unemployment levels, reduced liquidity in the economy and the general poor economic performance.

5. Tightening of the Monetary Policy Rate and increased Statutory Reserve Ratio which has wiped out liquidity in the economy as the ability for banks to lend has been reduced while interest rates on loans has remained high making loans expensive and unprofitable for businesses.

NB: these are but just the first set of conditionalities that IMF has imposed on Zambia, the next set includes the privatisation of strategic state assets and companies such as ZESCO. In fact the process to privatise ZESCO under the guise of ‘Restructuring’ of ZESCO.