A New Rwanda in Name and Face

I was given a schedule of campaign rallies and was shocked by my ignorance, it said there would be rallies in Musanze, Rubavu, Muhanga, Huye, Karongi, Rusizi. I wondered why they were missing out major cities like Ruhengeri, Gisenyi, Gitarama, Butare, Kibuye and Cyangugu? But all those places are the same, there is a Shakespeare quote “what is in a name? For a rose called by any name would still smell a sweet.” A lot is in a name in Rwanda, people defined their identity by where they came from. To be from the Gisenyi-Ruhengeri area during the time of Habyarimana was to almost be royalty.


During that time even when people were the same nationality or even tribe or clan, the name of your area was more important. These names became power-bases, they became divisive and something had to be done. A decision was taken to change their names, most are ancient pre-colonial names that have a deeper meaning than we know. It is similar to what India did with Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkat, and so on. After some initial reluctance the world has come to accept these new names. It is important to rebrand our cities and regions, it is a way of redefining our national identity and wiping bad memories.


There is a joke that if the FDLR ever had the guts to invade Rwanda, they would get lost and run back to Congo, the place names would just confuse them. It is crucial that the new Rwanda, which has a new face, also has new names. Around 40% of our population has been born since 1994, they do not know the words “Hutu” and “Tutsi” like their parents did, nor words like “Mukiga” or “Munyanduga” or “Mushii” which were equally divisive. They live in Musanze not Ruhengeri, they live in Rubavu not Gisenyi. Therefore they are “Banyarubavu” and not “Banyagisenyi”. This is not semantics but a major shift in identity, it is a breaking of the shackles of division and internal hatred.


Most of these cities and towns are small enough to change names but Kigali will always be Kigali, at least for a short term. Sometimes it takes a while for the outside world to catch up, hence my shock when my air-ticket read “London Heathrow to Gregoire Kayibanda airport, Kigali.” I was rightfully horrified and argued with the travel agent that it is called Kanombe Airport, but the computer said Kayibanda so she ignored me. So now we have a chance to break with the past, to set a new path to proceed along. We need to define where we come from, and not the mispronounced names given by Belgian administrators. Rwandans have a deep history, our pre-colonial history dates back some 2,000 years since Twa pygmies settled these mountain forests. Now let’s look to our future