Statement to Representatives of the Senate and Chamber of Deputies of the Rwandan Parliament

Mr President of the Senate, Madame Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Honourable Chairpersons of the Standing Committees of the Parliament of Rwanda,

I thank you for bestowing upon me the honour of addressing you today.

Your Parliament is the very expression of Rwandan national sovereignty and unity; it is one of the three independent pillars of democratic governance; it is the conscience of the people, and the protector of their rights, their freedoms and their aspirations.

The two Houses of Parliament which you represent have jointly in the past expressed conviction in the merit of the Republic of Rwanda joining the Commonwealth. That day arrived when Commonwealth Heads of Government collectively accepted Rwanda into membership at their meeting in Trinidad and Tobago less than two months ago. It is my pleasure, on behalf of the 53 other member countries of the Commonwealth, to be here to welcome Rwanda formally as our newest member.

So who are we, in the Commonwealth? We are home to countries new and old, and – as member countries – recent and longstanding. We are countries large and small, rich and poor, surrounded by land and by sea. Across oceans and continents, we represent the greatest possible diversity of humankind, and a third of the people on this planet. We are an organisation of governments and of peoples; freely and equally joined together; bound to some extent by history – to a greater extent by shared aspiration and challenge – but bound, above all, by the values we share.

Our values were reaffirmed in Port of Spain in November. Let me read you the most revered of roll-calls:

We place our hope and our trust in the following: International peace and security...; Democracy...; Human rights...; Tolerance, respect and understanding...; the Separation of powers...; the Rule of law...; Freedom of expression...; Development...; Gender equality...; Access to health and education...; Good governance...; Civil society.

Let me quote further from the same document, our defining statement of values and principles, which is now also Rwanda’s: “We reiterate our commitment to the core principles of consensus and common action, mutual respect, inclusiveness, transparency, accountability, legitimacy, and responsiveness.”

It is into this body, this Commonwealth of Nations, this Commonwealth of values and principles, that you are admitted.

Just as the modern Commonwealth has come far in its 60 years, Rwanda has come far, too. You rightly observe progress since the darkest days of 1994. Even now, this country’s people hold those dreadful memories. And you draw strength from the knowledge that your journey is centuries old: it began when the seeds of your languages, your customs, and your ways of living were first sown.

The roots of the Rwanda of today are strong and old: they have pushed deep into the soil of this beautiful place – this country of mountains and lakes, of grasslands and volcanoes, this ‘Land of a Thousand Hills’.

Word has it here that even by climbing the shortest hill, we reach a higher point. For 15 years now, you have climbed, and climbed – hill after hill.

The vista has become ever finer and wider, but there is much further to go.

The Commonwealth’s decision to welcome Rwanda was a collective act of goodwill, and of affirmation. It was recognition of the hills which you have climbed, and a commitment to climb further with you.

Many of you will know the history of an application made as long ago as 1996. The process of informal and formal consideration was thorough and two-way.

And there were, of course, two sides of its coin.

Our Commonwealth findings revealed many clear causes for encouragement.

First and foremost among these was the adoption of a Constitution in 2003 based on power-sharing and consensus, and a commitment to multi-party democracy. We found practical commitment: in ensuring the representation of women and young people, and independent academics, and the representation of opposition political parties in positions that count. We found a judiciary that is constitutionally independent, combining civil, customary and common law. We found the institutional structures and policy commitments of good governance, and of human rights. And we saw the evidence that democracy breeds development, with a steady and remarkable rise in national output.

Rwanda deserves the recognition it has been given. You have your ‘six-point plan’ and your ‘vision for 2020’. We see it as your transformation: rooted in values and principles, just like the Commonwealth; and becoming stronger in its practical application, just like the Commonwealth.

But so, too, of course, did our findings reveal causes for debate and concern.

They included important questions about levels of pluralism and independence in this country.

Democracy, we always say, is more than the exercise of a vote at election time. It is more, even, than the institutions which guarantee that such a vote is a thing worth having. It is a state of mind, and a deep-set culture, which recognises that all people must have a say in how they are governed, and have their rights and freedoms preserved and respected. That democratic and rights-based culture must be as real in central as in local government, in the private sector as in the ‘third’ sector - of civil society. It must be as real in the three branches of government – the legislature, the executive, the judiciary – as in the ‘fourth estate’, which is the media.

Mr President, Mr Speaker, distinguished Representatives, our Heads of Government took a total view in Port of Spain. Because each Commonwealth country is climbing hills; each is journeying on the often rugged and winding paths of democracy, development and diversity; each has known reversal, but remains committed to advance. This is the experience of all our member countries: the oldest democracies and the newest; the most developed and the least. In committing to support Rwanda reach its goals, they were also recommitting to reach their own, and to do so collectively – across regions, across continents, across the entire globe.

The Secretary-General’s presence here in Kigali today is therefore to affirm a commitment of 53 other Commonwealth countries, to be your partners. In partnership, they recognise the enormous progress made – and the enormous challenges still to be met – in taking this country onwards and upwards into the highest hills of the just and prosperous society to which you aspire. This is the summit you seek; this is the summit we all seek.

Let me pose two questions. What can the Commonwealth bring to Rwanda?

And, what can Rwanda bring to the Commonwealth?

Commonwealth membership is a way to advance your own interests, both at home and abroad. It is further binding for friendships which you already have on the continent of Africa, and it cements new bonds in Europe, the Americas, the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific. It guarantees you a voice: you will be heard in all our fora, as much as a country of a hundred million people, or a hundred thousand. And our voices together will go further: they will go to the world.

Commonwealth membership commits you to a community, and one with a particular concern for its most vulnerable. It reaffirms you in progress built on values; and it holds you accountable to stand by those most cherished values and principles – they are the Commonwealth’s, they are yours.

It reinforces your position – and your responsibilities – in the neighbourhood of your own East African community, and across this continent. The Commonwealth has given much to Africa, and Africa to it. It has worked as a trusted partner – always listening, always encouraging, always bringing every partner to the table, always working towards hard and fast ways of turning its values and principles into practice. It will do the same here.

Only last week in London, Rwandan officials met mine, and discussed the ways in which we can be partners. I have since been having similar discussions here in Kigali as we define the parameters of early engagement. There has been discussion of the ways in which we can strengthen your democratic institutions and deepen that culture of democracy which embraces all. The work can begin right here, in this Parliament, inculcating the ways and the means whereby the Opposition is seen to have a constructive – in fact, an indispensable – role in the everyday work of government and politics. We hope you will pursue an active relationship with the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association.

There has been discussion of the ways in which we can strengthen your economic development plans, particularly in maximising the potential of some of your greatest latent strengths: your women and young people. There has been discussion of the ways in which we can strengthen your human development plans, in which health and education are at the top of any nation’s priorities.

And there has been discussion of our Commonwealth work on ‘respect and understanding’ of each other: the way that we celebrate not ‘single’ or narrowly defined identities – most obviously, perhaps, those of faith or ethnicity or tribe or language – but our many and diverse identities, which transcend divides and unite us as human beings. The risk lies in reducing our multiple identities to simple lines of definition. The Commonwealth - that is home to such variety - thrives because it celebrates that variety, and its gloriously creative and often unstructured overlap.

Let us be clear: the Commonwealth cannot offer you the world. But it can offer you the best of its own and of the world’s thinking, together with its expertise and its networks. They are all at your disposal.

Rwanda, too, can make its valuable offering to the Commonwealth and to the world. Your Commonwealth links are already strong, particularly in this region with Uganda and Tanzania as your neighbours. Further afield, the underlying sadness that haunted so much Rwandan exile in the latter years of the last century, has in fact brought with it new friendships, and new relationships.

You can help us build further bridges.

You offer your hard-learned lessons in courage and in collectiveness. Your achievements in building a new and democratic Rwanda are instructive. Your progress in coming to terms with the legacy of conflict carries a lesson far and wide. In combining local culture with wider wisdom, you have sought to pursue truth and justice in what has gone before, and a commitment to respect and to understand in what is to come, by forging a future and a destiny that will be shared by all Rwandans.

We have as much to learn from you, as to share with you. All of us are journeying; all are climbing hills. From the Commonwealth, to the people of the Land of a Thousand Hills, let me conclude simply by saying, Murakaaze!

ENDS