We-versus-They

Building a Paradigm Community in Rwanda

Abstract

This paper seeks to analyze how Rwandan paradigm community can be formed following two decades of unfulfilled promises of true democracy, justice and reconciliation. In doing this, Rwanda government needs to champion national unity in establishing an understanding and tolerable community than embarking on collective conviction that genocide was committed by one ethnic group (Hutu) against another (Tutsi). The paper uses a relativist approach where ‘Three M–Strategy’ is intertwined as an approach–to ‘Mobilise’, ‘Mediate’ and ‘Monitor’ all groups toward building an egalitarian society. It calls all stakeholders to embark on building a new paradigm society where everyone’s voice is heard in the decision-making and implementation processes as opposed to now elite-driven and top-down approaches.