Kagame Overthrew Bizimungu In 1998 — History Tends To Repeat Itself In Rwanda
History often repeats itself in Rwanda. President Gregoire Kayibanda was overthrown by his defense minister, General Juvenal Habyarimana. That was in 1973. President Pasteur Bizimungu was overthrown by his defense minister and vice president, General Paul Kagame. This was in 1998. Why do I say General Kagame overthrew President Bizimungu in 1998 when Bizimungu was head of state until 2000? It was in February 1998 that Kagame executed what I may term a “silent” coup d’état. Kagame grabbed the chairmanship of the ruling party, the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), discarding Alexis Kanyarengwe. Kagame then declared himself the top power-holder in Rwanda by grabbing the ruling party. By that act, the Bizimungu presidency was over. Imagine, for example, Kenya’s Vice President William Ruto, taking over the top leadership position in the Jubilee ruling party from President Uhuru Kenyatta. That, of course, cannot happen in Kenya or any normal political environment. But in Rwanda, that is precisely what Kagame did. This was the worst coup d’etat — Bizimungu was to endure another two years of total humiliation before being pushed aside in 2000. He then ended up in prison.
History will be very kind to President Bizimungu.
President Bizimungu paid a heavy price for his beliefs. He has the distinction of having fought two Rwandan dictatorships — Habyarimana’s and Kagame’s — in pursuit of his vision of national unity. He was a victim of both, fleeing Habyarimana only to be imprisoned by Kagame. I personally never met Bizimungu. But I know this — during his presidency, he initiated far-reaching discussions among Rwandans in an attempt to create a shared history, and a shared vision of a reconciled, united, democratic, and prosperous society. The Urugwiro debates, as the Bizimungu-led discussions became known, are even what led to Rwanda Vision 2020. The real father of Rwanda Vision 2020 is not Kagame. The father is Bizimungu. This was fully acknowledged by the then minister of finance, Donald Kaberuka in 2000 as follows:
” In 1998–1999, the Office of the President of the Republic of Rwanda, launched national reflection sessions on the future of Rwanda in Village Urugwiro…After extensive consultations, the Government of National Unity drafted a document called VISION 2020. This draft document was presented to a large cross-section of Rwandan society, by whom it was amended and validated. The final result is the current document, in which a long-term development path for Rwanda is outlined and ambitious goals to be reached by the year 2020 are formulated.”
In other words, even after he was reduced to nothing in 1998, Bizimungu persisted in encouraging discussion and reflection among the people of Rwanda. His Urugwiro office remained the center for reflection and visioning. Rwandans ought to salute President Bizimungu for his courage, resilience and exemplary leadership.
