Oral East Africa>Part 3 Discipline and fear At the hut of the story

Written by William Waka

The Rwandese are also very disciplined people. I can tell you that country is spotlessly clean. You will not find a piece of paper thrown anywhere, nor plastic bottles as is the case in Kenya.

The Rwandese do not do the right thing just because a policeman is in earshot, they do it out of their own consciousness.

I think whoever worked on their minds to change did a good job, and that is why they normally praise their president. In Rwanda you will never get someone speaking negatively about their president or their country. They're always positive. They say their country is the best, which is very, very different from Kenya..

If you go visiting Rwanda from say Kenya and you are in a bus and you throw out a plastic bottle through the window. Do you know what happens? First the passenger sitting next to you will be the first to admonish you for what you have done. If the driver sees you they will stop that bus and you will have to go back and fetch it.

And if by chance he does not, and you for even a long distance, where you’ll meet the police, you’ll be asked to turn around and drive back to collect it. And it will be punishable, whoever threw it, will also go to prison. You will be charged fined and you will go to serve 7 days in prison for doing that.

So in short, these guys are disciplined, they just do the right thing whether during the day or in the cover of darkness.

Russian doll

It is something you see across Rwandese society, I have been to the villages and this serenity, this cleanliness is not just in town. I went to very remote areas, small urban centers and when you just see the environment, very clean.

In Rwanda even the ghettos. You will see it is a ghetto, in terms of maybe the structures and what not, but you will not find sewerage gushing though, mixing with dirty water, pampers floating in it. You’ll never see that even in Rwandese ghettos, people are poor but the environment is serene.

They have an elaborate disposal system for garbage, people come in those huge tracks collect the trash and take for dumping.

It is so unlike Kenya where cleanliness is found in rich suburbia and neighborhoods in urban areas. In poorer estates trash lies everywhere.

Nyumba Kumi

Rwanda security is very civil, they would not abduct you the way Kenyan officers are doing. When the police come to arrest you, they come in a good way, you will not get harassed like in Kenya. They come nicely, knock the door, they welcome you, you sit down and you laugh, then they tell you, we have come to pick you up. You laugh as you go.

But they are also firm and strict, I travelled there by bus, so when you get to the border the way you are frisked is very very thorough. They ask you who you are going to visit, and for how long and even ask for the contact of your host and call them to confirm if he is expecting you.

Something very different I saw there was the presence of the military on the streets. They are everywhere, it is a normal thing to see the RDF vehicles just passing by everywhere.

That is one thing that made be a bit uneasy, which I did not like about the country because when you see the military in Kenya you feel there is something serious happening.

It also felt very un-free, there are government spies all over that's one thing I realized again in that country. You are not that free.

Once you get there as a visitor you will find people called Manyumbakumi. Unlike Kenya where the concept is just on paper and you will live all your life before encountering the, Rwanda’s Manyumba kumi are very present and they even put on uniform.

In the evening you will see a group of three or four people walking around and locals say it has really helped stop petty theft. Their security is well, well organized, from the bottom to the top.

Gestapo

But this security also comes with too much spying, you will find that a stranger will come and eavesdrop your conversation however harmless. They may even interrogate you, who you are where you have come from and you have no idea whether they are policemen or not.

I witnessed this kind of open spying in three different places. We had just parked our car and were chilling and this guy just comes up to us and joins us out of the blue. The Rwandese themselves are used to that, and watch what they say and will later tell you that was a spy who was listening in.

There is no free air there like here in Kenya, they may speak of democracy but there it is not really enjoyed. It is limited, here you can insult President Ruto but in Rwanda they will come for you if you criticize the government. It's like Kenya during the old President Moi days. That is what I did not like about the country.

Equality and justice

When it comes to corruption, people in leadership are not as kleptocratic as in Kenya. In Rwanda leaders are more accountable, of your time in office. Before assuming office you declare your wealth so that if you are corrupt they can retrace whether you made your money genuinely or you stole.

And if you are found guilty you will go to prison, not like here in Kenya where if you were a big fish you can avoid justice. They mentioned like four or five senior officials who were in jail because of corruption.

It is unlike Kenya here where the law is for the poor and rich people can bribe their way through the system and avoid accountability. There you are sure the law applies to everyone, and corruption is a very serious case.

If a policeman stops you for an infraction, you had better let him write you the ticket or you can explain yourself, they are very understanding. But if you try to bribe the policeman he will arrest you on the spot. You will be charged for your offence and trying to bribe a state official. So you can imagine that's how strict issues of corruption are handled in that country.

So it was very unique especially for us who come from Kenya where corruption is the order of the day.

Not for hustlers

In Rwanda you will not see hawkers or women selling from make shift structures like in Kenya. Everything has to be sold from a fixed premises and in organized markets where different goods are sold in different segments.

That is why you find hustling is hard for ordinary people there. The businesses that thrive there are the big businesses that can afford to rent permanent premises. And that's why you find that the Rwandese in Kenya are very good at selling tea and coffee here.

If you tell those people to go back to their country, they tell you they can't go back there. They tell you Kenya is the best for their nature of work. They only go back to Rwanda for a short time, and then they come back. That's why you will find many people here, many business people in Kenya, they do small businesses and they do it well. Because in their environment, small businesses are not favored.