They came in their tens of thousands, arriving in the stadium before the earliest birds had broken into song. They had come to mark Rwanda’s liberation that falls on 4th July, for the 30th year, Kwibohora30.
The atmosphere in the newly refurbished Amahoro stadium was electric, the excitement palpable, despite people having arrived in the early hours of the morning.
The Kigali city authorities had invited the city’s inhabitants, who wanted to celebrate the day at Amahoro stadium, to arrive by 5am. They would have come earlier had they been asked to.
By the time the VIP seats had been filled, heads of the Sri lanka, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, militaries, among them, there was not an empty seat in the stadium.
Local musicians and disc jockeys kept the crowd entertained, until, to raised excitement, the military marching band took over the crowd pleasing duties. When the band rested, the crowd cheered the birds of prey, which dived onto the pristine playing field. They were in that kind of mood.
The cheers increased, as the national emblem arrived, with a military police escort, then even louder, to greet the military and police, as they marched to their positions, and stood, characteristically immovable, like living, breathing square wall.
“Let’s welcome the guest of honour” shouted the master of ceremony, pointlessly, his voice immediately drowned out by the loudest cheers of the day. The crowd had spotted President Kagame’s car, arriving with the first lady, and needed no invitation to give him a rousing welcome.
“Ni wowe, ni wowe, ni wowe,” they shouted as one voice, somewhat inappropriately, repeating the election campaign chant of it’s you, it’s you, it’s you. They had not, but subject of their adoration had set electoral campaigning aside.
But they soon seemed to realise that the man to whom they affectionately refer to as “muzehe wacu” our elder, had come wearing his other hat, that of head of state. It was President Kagame, not candidate Kagame, chairman of his political party, the Rwanda Patriotic Front.
Kwibohora is owned by all Rwandans, under it, all political parties fall under one flag, the national flag.
The president talked of the pride of Rwandans, the pride they had in their military, and as so many times before, reminded the younger people especially, that it was to them that the duty and responsibility of protecting and cherishing all that had been achieved, at such great sacrifice, falls.
As always, they were in tune with him, as he is with them. For Kwibohora, it was Ni twese, it is all of us. They would hear and cheer President Kagame today, as he called them to rally around the national flag. Today, it would be, Ni twese, and come tomorrow, they could let him know that, Ni wowe, ni wowe.
