“Visit Rwanda” is emblazoned on the shirts of Arsenal footballers but that probably is not the reason why people are familiar with the country, or at least its name, but it does symbolise her future.
Rwanda, in the heart of Africa, is a changed and changing country. Following the genocide of one million Tutsi, Hutu and Twa by the Hutu majority in 1994, the county has worked to heal her past and carve out a better future for her people. It is not easy but the development has been remarkable.
I visited Rwanda in 2008 to teach English as a second language because the country decided to leave the Francosphere and Francophone world. By joining the Anglosphere and then the Commonwealth of Nations, in 2009, the Rwandans set their course to merge from their terrible recent history.
Having worked with local people, participated in Umuganda – monthly communal work and discussed some of the more pressing issues with NGOs, I have since watched, from afar how Rwanda’s people are making a difference to their own lives, to pull themselves out of poverty and create a better future.
Unfortunately, too many want to hold them back and reject the progress that has been made.
It is almost as though some elite westerners want to maintain African countries in an inferior position as neo-Imperialists.
They are dismayed that the United Nations support refugees from other parts of Africa and even Afghanistan in Rwanda where they can restart their lives and have a future.
They are horrified that Britain may follow the United Nations lead and work with Rwanda to offer asylum seekers sanctuary in a safe country.
What motivates those who so oppose the principle of people finding asylum in Rwanda even when the UN does it?
Why do people believe that it is legitimate to flee from France and pay a fortune to criminal gangs to gain a place in the United Kingdom?
We do know that an advisor to Tony Blair and Jack Straw said that Labour’s relaxation of controls was a deliberate plan to “open up the UK to mass migration” and that it was a “driving political purpose” behind their immigration policy.
The French say that the British welfare system is too generous but I will not get into that in this short article.
Putting too much politics into a nation controlling her borders is toxic as the principles are simple.
If someone is genuinely fleeing from, for example, Iran then they need safety and a place that they can rebuild their life and have a future. Rwanda offers that possibility.
If someone is paying a fortune to criminal gangs to travel across Europe from country to country seeking the best welfare and work opportunities, then who says that they should have a right to choose England?
“Spend a fortune to arrive in Rwanda” or more simply “visit Rwanda” is not an attractive sales pitch from a criminal gang.
The Prime Minister must now make his plan work.
This article was originally published in the Wigan Observer on 27th April 2024: https://www.wigantoday.net/news/politics/chris-green-mp-asylum-seekers-…
