{"id":39171,"date":"2023-04-05T07:47:33","date_gmt":"2023-04-05T07:47:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/citizenship-is-not-just-about-genetics-but-rather-shared-values"},"modified":"2023-04-05T08:09:46","modified_gmt":"2023-04-05T08:09:46","slug":"citizenship-is-not-just-about-genetics-but-rather-shared-values","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/citizenship-is-not-just-about-genetics-but-rather-shared-values","title":{"rendered":"Citizenship is not just about genetics but rather shared values"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Rwanda. <\/strong><\/span>Keeping up with events in the DRC is not easy. One day the finance minister is declaring in the Financial Times that Rwanda is smuggling a billion dollars\u2019 worth of minerals each year, then the next day you have the minister of communication admitting on the BBC that armed groups are a result of government ineptitude.<\/p>\n

And just when you think you can catch your breath, the president appoints a convicted war criminal as defence minister. All this is happening as East Africa Community troops are deploying all over North Kivu. To add to this me\u0301lange straight out of hell, is the DRC election season.<\/p>\n

Now, understanding the electoral politics of the DRC is not a simple task. On one side you have different players vying for the presidency, with some actively campaigning (Moise Katumbi, Felix Tshisekedi, Martin Fayulu, Vital Kamerhe) while others sit on the sidelines biding their time (Joseph Kabila).<\/p>\n

Then you have the outsized influence of the Catholic Church. You also have the strange conduct of the electoral commission (CENI). And into that toxic mix enters the \u2018Loi Tshiani\u2019 (Tshiani Law)<\/p>\n

The Tshiani Law, is a draft law that is being pushed by Noe\u0308l Tshiani, a politician from the province of Kasai Oriental, and his political grouping, to ostensibly save the DRC from \u2018infiltration\u2019. The Law reserves access to the highest offices in the land, including the presidency, to only Congolese born to Congolese mothers and fathers.<\/p>\n

If passed, this law would remove one of Felix Tshisekedi\u2019s strongest rivals, Moise Katumbi (whose mother is Congolese and father Greek). Will his political party accept that without a fight? Will the people of Katanga? I doubt it.<\/p>\n

What makes this law even more of a powder-keg is the fact that issues around nationality are actually one of the reasons that sparked the original conflict in North and South Kivu in the 1990\u2019s. The framers of the Tshiana law are playing with fire. What bothers me, beyond the potential conflict it shall cause, is just how parochial the law is.<\/p>\n

Instead of looking for strength from every which way, these politicians are actually going out of their way to weaken themselves.<\/p>\n

A nation’s strength isn\u2019t the amount of gold and other precious minerals it has under its surface. Nor is it about how large it is based off of surface area. Neither is it about how many factories and industries it’s home to.<\/p>\n

A country\u2019s strength is in its people and their shared ideal of what citizenship means. And it\u2019s not only about how many people you have, it\u2019s about their diversity as well.<\/p>\n

As a country, Rwanda decided decades ago to stand in direct opposition to the ideology that the Tshiani Law is based on. The ideology that was chosen was founded on the ideals of collective strength and shared vision. You weren\u2019t Rwandan because you, or your family came from this place. You were Rwandan because you shared the common ideals of what being a member of the community was all about.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll not pretend and say that the ideals that Tshiani is spouting don\u2019t have an audience, even here. They do. I\u2019ve heard it spoken and written online. It reared its ugly head when government positions were announced recently.<\/p>\n

The sentiment that I saw being voiced was, \u2018did they fail to find qualified Rwandans\u2019 to do the job (never mind that those voicing these sentiments weren\u2019t qualified for those positions anyway). What I found most encouraging was the pushback that those comments received from their fellow Rwandans.<\/p>\n

For our country to keep moving forward, we need all the help we can get. We need as much muscle and brain power that we can muster and that is why I think Rwanda is so open to people from all over the world.<\/p>\n

We cannot afford to throw away people. Rwanda is big enough for all who aspire to the ideals of Rwandan-ness. Everyone has a role to play in this journey we are on and I\u2019m happy to know that we want more diversity, not less.<\/p>\n

The writer is a socio-political commentator<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Rwanda<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Rwanda. Keeping up with events in the DRC is not easy. One day the finance minister is declaring in the Financial Times that Rwanda is smuggling a billion dollars\u2019 worth of minerals each year, then the next day you have the minister of communication admitting on the BBC that armed groups are a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":39170,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,761],"tags":[760,763,758],"class_list":["post-39171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-files","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-rwanda","tag-rwanda"],"yoast_head":"\nCitizenship is not just about genetics but rather shared values - Rwanda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Keeping up with events in the DRC is not easy. 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