I See Dead People

By Rudolf Okonkwo in his column – Correct Me If I Am Right.

My father died on June 19, 2009. One of the first things I did, as soon as I came out of the shock, was to read the manuscript of his uncompleted autobiography, Onyenkuzi.

For years, the work was hidden inside a safe in my room. Days after he died, I started to read the handwritten pages. Like in all relationships there were things in the book that I did not know about my father.

One of those things that really surprised me was when he wrote of his fear of the dead. It appears in his account of his first day as a 19 year-old ‘small boy’ teacher at Ekwulu/Unubi Central School in 1951. After unloading his luggage, he looked around the premises of the school.

I’m An Idiot

By Rudolf Okonkwo in his column – Correct Me If I Am Right.

I’m an idiot. If you tell me that a wall is wet, I need to touch it before I believe.

That is why I touch stories; even the ones that I know are dirty. Because the mind of an idiot is one dimensional, I do not think that they will dirty me.

Contrary to what most people think, idiots have some economic importance. I’m not saying this because I’m an idiot. It is just a fact of life.

I learned that at high school. I read in Modern Biology that houseflies had economic importance. “Houseflies?” I asked, in great shock.

One of the economic importance of houseflies is that their maggots help to break down compost. I never thought of the significance of that role in life’s cycle. Without the maggots breaking down the compost, there won’t be nutrients for plants to feed on.

I Wrote The Cable

By Rudolf Okonkwo in his Column ‘Correct Me If I Am Right.’

“I shot the sheriff
But I didn’t shoot no deputy oh no! Oh.”
-  Bob Marley

Since I first heard Bob Marley’s song, “I Shot the Sheriff” I have not stopped wondering what difference it makes if you confess to shooting the sheriff but not the deputy. You’re as guilty as hell. And you’re going to pay, anyway.

Well, now I know the difference.

In the last few days, I have found myself singing, I wrote the cable. But I didn’t leak the sassy piece, oh no! Oh.

Satire sucks!

On the day that the former speaker of the House of Representative, Oladimeji Bankole was arrested, I wrote a satire I called “US Diplomatic Cable on the Arrest of Oladimeji Bankole.” It was to be published under the series, “Correct Me If I’m Right.”

As usual, I sent the first draft to my two readers. My readers’ task, for over five years now, has always been to go through the first draft and tell me if it made sense or if I should discard it. If I get the go ahead to continue, I then begin work on the second, third and maybe fourth drafts.

Our humanity as one: empathising with those who suffer in other places

The story of Ashraf camp in Iraq is as old as the resistance of Iranian people to the rule of religious fundamentalist leaders over the state can be, particularly since the fall in 1979 of Reza Paravi, Shah of Iran. Over the years, the camp has gained prominence and become a symbol of hope and freedom for Iranians inside and outside their country. In 2006, when exiled Iranians explained me the story of that camp, I felt like they were telling me my compatriots’ experience of suffering and oppression under the rule of the Rwandan Patriotic Front as far back it can be traced. Since then I have been supportive of Ashraf friends’ work. They make a remarkable contribution to change for Iranian people which if it could be replicated elsewhere and inspire other oppressed citizens around the world, we would all live much more fulfilled lives.

President Habyarimana protected Tutsis between October 1990 and April 1994 as much as he could

Peter Erlinder, the American lawyer that Paul Kagame, president of Rwanda, imprisoned for three weeks in Kigali on May 28, 2010 has unveiled not well known truth about the prevailing political and security context of Rwanda prior to April 1994 in an article titled The UN Security Council ad hoc Rwanda tribunal: international justice or judicially-constructed “victor’s impunity”?]. The document was published in the De Paul Journal of Social Justice in the fall of 2010. It reveals some facts significantly worth highlighting, particularly for those that RPF propaganda has lied to for years. Among those lies, one is about the former president Habyarimana and his regime’s relationship with Tutsis inside Rwanda particularly during the RPF guerrilla war. As we may know, this  period of social and political unsecurity and instability lasted almost three years and half, from October 1, 2010 to July 4, 1994.

Protests against Paul Kagame in Chicago on Rwanda Day, June 11, 2011: signs of times ahead

When a regime upholds power for too long, and categorically unwilling to listen to its critics, people normally aspire to seeing it replaced, even when it has been relatively doing good deeds in the eyes of the majority. Unfortunately, this hasn’t been the case for the Rwandan leader during the time he has so far been around, already seventeen years since 1994. The Rwandan success story that he and his sponsors boost about is incomparably outscored when it is weighted against systematic oppression and ongoing suffering of millions of people under his rule in Rwanda and Congolese populations particularly from Eastern provinces.

Religious leaders who don’t speak out on bad governance

This is true about all spiritual leaders. Despite the fact that I am not a religious person, neither a pagan, but only a believer, I highly consider and am strongly aware of the significant importance that religious leaders play in billions of people’s lives.

Many of us are guided and behave in our daily life according to the way we were brought up spiritually. Consequently, spiritual teachers as other social leaders including politicians, influence our lives in ways we are not always conscious about. In case of one of these life shapers of billions of us on the planet doesn’t behave in an appropriate manner that appears to harm our well being, they should be reminded of the wrong they may be doing by anyone with some public cloud.

An interested look at the Rwandan government budget 2011/12

We hear all the time about the progress Rwanda has made since 1994. It would be shameful if its leaders haven’t made any since. This week I read an article written in Kinyarwanda on the website www.igihe.com which describes the deplorable situation of education in the country. The author, Mimi Rachel Mukandayisenga, reports that parents are complaining to be paying more fees today, when primary education is said officially to be free, than before when they were required to pay for their children to attend school.

Ms Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza’s beliefs in the final victory of Rwandans’ political struggle

“I believe in the political project that I share with my colleagues in this struggle, I love my country and all its inhabitants and I know I am not alone in this and Rwandans from all social classes, ethnic backgrounds and generations are with us. It is my source of strength and an oath that I would never betray. I will not waver in my dedication as I promised my colleagues and friends. I know and I have thoroughly thought about it, the regime may persecute me, imprison me. Let me say in conclusion that I am ready to face and endure all the difficulties and obstacles on my way until the final victory. And in case the regime attempts on my life, I trust you shall continue from where I will fall,” said Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza, leader of FDU-Inkingi  imprisoned since October 14^th, 2010, by Paul Kagame, president of Rwanda. This was before her imprisonment.

Appeal to the international community to stand on the side of Rwandans

By Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza

The imprisoned leader of FDU-Inkingi, a Rwandan political party of the opposition, made the following appeal last year when Peter Erlinder, her defence lawyer, was released from Paul Kagame’s prison in Rwanda. It was after a relentless pressure from different authorities particularly in US, lawyers’ associations, mainstream media, and ordinary people around the world that the American lawyer found his freedom. Now that Victoire Ingabire is herself in prison since October 14^th, 2010 where she cannot communicate with the outside world, because she has been denied visits for already eleven weeks, her appeal is more relevant than ever.