The Sunday Times : Is Kigali to become Kandt’s Capital? (Rose-Marie Mukarutabana)

Hello, Netters! Long time no see!!!Ubu ndi mu rwa Gasabo, niho nterera gatigisimu. Iyi article yasohotse mu kinyamakuru chya Kigali: "The Sunday Times".Mushirike ubute musome, kandi namwe mwandikire iki kinyamakuru, cg se ikindi mushaka.

RMM

""Is Kigali to become Kandt's Capital?""by Rose-Marie Mukarutabana

Rwanda is preparing to celebrate the centenary of the City of Kigali. This welcome initiative should provide a good opportunity to recall the history of the foundation of Kigali as the capital of Rwanda, by King Chyiirima I Rugwe whose reign began in 1345 according to Alexis Kagame, or in1506 according to J. Vansina. Kigali has therefore been the capital city, umurwa mukuru, for at least 500 years , and not the 100 years that the documentation from the Kigali City Council has assigned to it. This documentation is based, not on the actual creation of the capital Kigali by the King Chyiirima I Rugwe, but on the date on which the first German imperial resident, Dr. Richard Kandt, began to live in Kigali. In a publicity brochure, we read:
"In 1907, Germany through Dr. Richard Kandt, the first European resident of Rwanda, set up an administrative residence in Kigali. From this grew 20 commercial houses on the lace of hills around present day Nyarugenge until 1921 when Kigali became a Belgian colonial administrative centre". (…) 2007 is a very special year for us. We are celebrating 100 years since Dr. Richard Kandt set up an administrative residence on behalf of the German Colonial Office in Kigali." (Mayor's Message in the brochure "Celebrating the 100 years, 1907-2007")
We understand from this statement that the hundred years of Kigali are counted from the time Dr. Richard Kandt began to live in Kigali as a representative of the "Deutsch Ostafrika" in Rwanda." In fact, given that the actual celebrations are scheduled to commence in October, one may infer from this that we are preparing to celebrate the moment Kandt began to live in his first Kigali house (which apparently no longer exists, the one now known as Kandt's house being actually his second house), and not the date on which Kigali was formally declared the capital of that part the German Empire in East Africa. Kandt established himself as Imperial Resident in November 1907, and exercised those functions until May 1914 (Minnaert 2006) . A. Kagame (quoting De Lacger) informs us that Kigali became the capital of this part of "Deutsch Ostafrika", not in 1907, but in 1908. Later, Kigali became a Belgian colonial administrative centre in 1917—again, according to A. Kagame (and not in1921 as stated in the brochure).
But we are not here concerned with the exactness or otherwise of the dates for these colonial landmarks. Our concern is that Kigali City Council is ignoring our own traditional landmarks. We are worried that Kigali City Council appears to have overlooked the widely-known fact that Kigali has been the main capital of Rwanda—umurwa mukuru w'Urwanda—many generations before it had the misfortune of falling into the hands of foreigners.
Perhaps the Kigali City Council was misled by the fact that Nyanza, and not Kigali, was, for reasons too involved to explain here, the last residence of Yuhi Musinga and Mutara Rudahigwa. But we should remember that, while, from the beginning of the Third Dynasty, Kigali was always the principal capital—la capitale-coeur Kagame always said—individual kings could establish what may be called a "personal capital" elsewhere, but always made sure to reside in Kigali for the periods stated by traditional law. Kigali has thus never ceased to be the capital of the Kings of Rwanda.
We should also note that while Mt Kigali was the site of the royal residence, the capital proper spread out over the surrounding valleys and hills. Courtiers and civil servants, priests and diviners and healers, artists and artisans, as well as farmers and herders lived there, surrounded by temples, sacred groves, holy springs, wells, pools, ritual river crossings, etc.It is true that colonial powers reshaped the old umurwa, erecting on its ancient hills their colonial residences, commercial houses and other Western-style amenities and infrastructures. These, and other forms of modernization, were of course, most welcome. But the truth of the matter is that the colonial enterprises were intended to benefit the colonizers, in cash and kind, and in international power, renown and glory, and that whatever advantages accrued to the colonies were not meant as such, but as a way to increase the means of exploiting them.
If we want a cause to celebrate, why not commemorate the day of the decolonization of Kigali? Do Rwandans really think that they should celebrate the first colonial residence established in our centuries-old umurwa. Alexis Kagame uses, and he has often mentioned Kigali as the capital Rwanda's "capital-cœur" , the heart of the kingdom, half a dozen times in his "Abrégé d'Ethno-Histoire du Rwanda" (1972, pages 49, 99, 104, 121, 202, 246, 276.)
According to rwandologists M. d'Hertefelt & A. Coupez , Kigali was a veritable Temple Mount. Many kings, they write, built their cities on Mt Kigari, and various rituals were scheduled to be performed there. Also, many of the surrounding areas were sacred:
1. There used to be a temple in Nyakabanda valley (between Mt Kigali and Nyarugenge hill) dedicated to King Kigeri I Mukobanya, the heroic son of Chyiirima Rugwe, who was born in Nyakabanda valley. A shrine was erected there, to commemorate the birth of this prince, who grew to be the general of his father's army, reunifying its severed parts around the capital, Kigali. The Nyakabanda shrine was dedicated to this great conqueror.
2. The sacred well Rweezangoro, at the foothill of Nyarugenge, in the Muhima sacred grove. The name of this well means translates as "Temple Purifier", for its waters were used to purify and consecrate palaces and temples. In Rwanda tradition the palace is also a temple, for the king's first and principal role is to be a priest and intermediary between earth and heaven.
3. The Nyaruteeja crossing (on river Nyabarongo), at the foot of Mt Kigali, which served as a ritual passage way between the capital, Kigali, and the region of Nduga, thus symbolising the passage from the centre to the periphery and back again.
Thus Kigali was not just an administrative and sociopolitical capital, but a vast network of energy collection and distribution points. Hence that symbolic phrase often used by our poets Abasizi, who say that the King's role was to "milk the sky", meaning that, through meditation and ritual, he was able to draw down spiritual energy as one draws milk from a cow. The inkongoro or "milk jug" used to draw this heavenly milk was the king's and priests' own hearts, while Mt Kigali acted as storage facility (igicuba).
The energy storage function of Kigali is suggested by the prayers said on this mountain at certain stated times—"Gahoran Imaana, Kigari ! God be always in you, Kigali!"—
Gahoran Imaana, Kigari! Tuuje kweend imitima… Ng'Umwaami w'Urwand agir umutima. Ngw abagabo mu Rwanda bagir umutima. Ngw abagore mu Rwanda bagir umutima. Ngw inka mu Rwanda zigir umutima. Ngw Urwanda rwoose rugir umutima". (Translation)God be with you always, Kigari!We have come to obtain the hearts, That the King of Rwanda may have [an increase of] heart That the men of Rwanda may have [an increase of] heart That the women of Rwanda may have [an increase of] heart That the cattle of Rwanda may have [an increase of] heart.
If we wish to celebrate the foundation of Kigali, we should celebrate its true foundation, by Chyiirima Rugwe, in the middle of the 14th century AD. We should first build a monument on the site of the old palace of Chyiirima Rugwe, on Mount Kigali itself, on and around which site his successors built their own palaces and temples and shrines.
The landmarks are still there, visible to all, just as those which mark the sites of the other ancient cities, shrines and temples, burial grounds, etc. Any local inhabitant of Gasaabo, including the children, will indicate three or four of the half a dozen landmarks on this other sacred mountain. Go to the royal necropolis of Rutare, and any passerby will show you the old trees that marked the chapels and cemetery of the ancient kings. Any inhabitant of Buhanga bwa Nyakinaama will tell you that this place was the site of the city of Gihanga. And if you ask around, you will even locate a grandson of the old priest Komayombi, who, in the 1930s and 40s, was still discharging the duties of his office as chief ritualist for the shrine of Our Father Gihanga.
Also extant, and highly visible, and very widely known indeed, are the famous Rocks Marks made by the Feet of Ruganzu Mutabaazi Ndoori, the most famous and grandest of our heroic Kings. Go to any site where those marks are to be found, and ask to see "Ibirenge bya Ruganzu" and the locals will immediately add — "N'amajanja y'Intoozo Ze", and the marks of the paws of His Hounds.
What would really create genuine enthusiasm in the hearts and minds of our people would be a celebration of all these landmarks, which have such a powerful resonance in the collective memory of Rwandans. And if there is any doubt that these narratives and accompanying landmarks still have the power to excite the imagination of our people, let them conduct a survey to that effect. Let them ask the people of this country this question:
Would you rather celebrate October (or November) 2007 as the 100th anniversary of the arrival in Kigali, of Dr. Kandt, the first of our colonial masters, or would you prefer celebrating "A 1000 years of Rwanda's History"?
If you had a choice between honoring the site of Kandt's fist house in Kigali, and honoring the Landmarks of Chyiirima's Palace on Mount Kigali, which would you choose?
Would you like the government to create a "National Ancient Landmarks Day", to honor and promote the above-described sites?
It would be most surprising indeed if the people of Rwanda preferred Kandt to Chyiirima, agreed to the age of their capital being reduced to a mere century, and chose to celebrate other people's monuments instead of their own, under the false pretext that ours are not in stone, but in words.
"Words, the sages say, are more durable than stones." Our history is enshrined in our narratives, in the words of our tradition. Through our narratives, we have managed to preserve our history better than many of those countries that had written texts and engravings and stone monuments. For stones and bricks and other material structures can be destroyed, but words will last for as long as there are brains and memories to house them, provided, of course, that no drastic disruptions occur to interrupt or impair the transmission and preservation systems. Rwanda seems to have been luckier than most in managing to preserve its narratives, enrich them and preserve their transmission lines.
The celebration of the anniversary foundation of Kigali by that King of Wise Majesty, Chyiirima Rugwe, should offer ample opportunity to study our culture and history, but also to promote their preservation and enrichment. This history should also highlight the contribution of later centuries, especially its transformation into a modern-style city. Here, we should recall that Dr Richard Kant, a German explorer and later colonial administrator, built the first Western type house in Kigali. We should also recall that this gentleman was the first to localize the source of the Nile in the Nyungwe forest, and also the first to introduce coffee farming . Formal recognition may be awarded him for these achievements.
But recognition for founding the Rwanda capital, Kigali, should be given to King Chyiirima Rugwe and his successors." "
RMM