For almost all of us Rwandans, we know how much suffering we are undergoing. On every hill we live in fear, anger, suspicion, and uncertain of the future. We are in jails in Rwanda. We are in jails in Arusha, and even when free, we cannot go back home as free people. We are banished as refugees in every corner of the world, silent for fear of persecution, targets of assassination everywhere. We are in the jungles of Congo, fighting endless wars that consume lives of young Rwandans and Congolese so that a dictator may survive longer. We are poor, and yet being forced to give money to the so-called Agaciro Development Fund, to a dictator who plunders and kills Rwandans. We clap for the dictator, and while he is away, or secretly in our hearts, we wish him dead. We are a humiliated lot, living as second class citizens in the country that belongs to all of us.

There is enough injustice and human suffering among us Rwandans: the harvest of change is ripe. Nothing important in life is ever cheap. It takes nine months of pregnancy, painful labor and a whole lifetime to get and raise a whole human being. Revolutions are even more costly: their number one asset is commitment. It cost commitment on the part of Rwandan kings to run the show for several centuries. Even the Belgian colonial enterprise was committed to run Rwanda for decades. It cost commitment to bear and deliver the 1959 MDR revolution, to deliver the 1973 MRND regime that lasted until 1994. It cost commitment and sacrifice for RPF to wage and win the 1994 war.

How much commitment do Rwandans have to win the current mission of uniting and healing all Rwandans?  All Rwandans want a change, and immediately, with a quick and cheap solution; meanwhile we spend an enormous amount of time on the internet and social media trading words among us and with the dangerous regime in Kigali. Many of us are neither hot nor cold. We have one foot in the revolution and another in the regime that hunts us down. We are scattered in organizations that are weak enough to be manipulated, intimidated or bought by the regime. The Hutu are a marginalized lot, but they dream that one day, as if by magic, numbers will perform the miracle. The Tutsi, hostages falsely believing that Kagame represents them, are in denial, thinking that monopoly of the army, intelligence, government and money will save the regime forever. 

Meanwhile Kagame's regime is at its weakest since 1994, with little legitimacy among Rwandans and increasingly isolated abroad. This is the time to mobilize and organize, and shorten the agony and suffering of the Rwandan people. We must face and kill these seven demons that consume our commitment to move quickly to end Kagame's brutal regime:

1-. Fear that is the most powerful weapon in the hands of Kagame and his clique. The moment Rwandans overcome fear will be the moment the regime crumbles.

2-. Procrastination that traps us in believing that it will be done tomorrow while we know what to do and how to do it today. Yet we are quiet while a day spent procrastinating is another day spent in misery.

3-. Denial and deception of those who still believe we can restore the Rwandan kingdom, regimes of the past (MDR-PARMEHUTU, and MRND) or prolong RPF forever. The past is gone, and gone forever. The best we can do is to learn lessons to help us change the present and re-imagine the future in which we leave behind the shared bad past, and build on the shared positives in our history.

4-. Selfishness & Greed typical of Rwandans –we are selfish especially most of us the elite-, and we tend to think that the world revolves around us and our immediate family.  We are enticed to "come and see", like visitors or strangers, the new "Rwanda flowing with milk and honey". Especially among the Hutu, we have become the generation of "come and see".  What, our own property? If we fall on our knees will they give back to us what belongs to us? What are we teaching our children? That they must bow in submission to get a job or food? Is that Agaciro our value?

5-. "They will do it for us" mentality: the Belgians and the French did it for the Hutu, the Americans and the British did it for the Tutsi, they say. The truth of the matter is that Belgians, French, Americans and the British look out and fight for their interests. Rwandans must look out for and fight for our future first and foremost. Nobody else will. To get friends who support your cause, you must show that you deserve their help, you merit it and you will put it to good use.
6. The "Us vs. them" mentality: Rwanda is so precious that very often we want to have it alone without the other. The other is the enemy. The other is the problem. The other killed my people.  The other is inyangarwanda, the unpatriotic guys who hate Rwanda. Who is holy among us to cast the first stone? The kings? MDR-PARMEHUTU? MRND? RPF? Hutu? Tutsi? We cannot re-invent Rwanda's past. It is shared, the good and bad. We can, however, choose to write our future together. We must be bold and courageous to look at each other from each other's standpoint, and see areas where we can stand and build together, brick by brick, one day at a time. We must begin where we live and work. We must reach out to the other.

7-. Guilt and Shame rob us of self esteem. We speak in whispers so that we are not denounced as génocidaires, interahamwe, revisionists, those who deny genocide, terrorists.  On the internet we write anonymously so that nobody discovers who we really are. Exceptionally intelligent Rwandans cannot speak out for fear of retribution from Kagame. They can’t be on Radio Itahuka because they fear to see their organization connect with FDLR. We go to places we shouldn't be to buy identity and acceptance. Now there are people in Rwanda who say they have "Tutsi blood" to gain a foothold within the mafia that rules Rwanda as there were Tutsi who used to claim they were Hutu during past regimes. We are what we are.

When Kagame can taunt us with his death squads armed with cannons and bayonets, if we stand squarely in his face we can build a powerful army of free Rwandans, armed with peace, truth and unity. So, Rwandans summon the courage to slay the demons of guilt and shame, "us vs. them" mentality, selfishness and greed, "they will do it for us" mentality, fear, procrastination, denial and deception. Or else you will die in humiliation and misery, and condemn future generations to a legacy of servitude. Nurture your commitment. And the so-called giant will collapse.