Citation
Rwanda Journal of Arts and Humanities, Volume 2 (2), 2017
The political vision of the Rwandan kingdom https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/rj.v2i2.6A
Charles Kabwete Mulinda and Raphael Nkaka
College of Arts and Social Sciences
University of Rwanda
Abstract: This article discusses the political vision of pre-colonial Rwanda. The authors
used oral traditions as privileged sources of the history of pre-colonial Rwanda. Such
vision is spotted by means of the analysis of declarations and decisions of the kings of
Rwanda where it is possible to identify a net formulation of the political vision. In this
regard, the article is focusing on the reforms of ubwiru as formulated by King Mutara
Semugeshi. Indeed, these reforms have clearly defined the missions of the kings
according to their regnal names during the regular cycles. The authors also have
examined through the power management of the kings of Rwanda some elements of
political vision. Therefore, it is clear that Rwanda had a conquering vision, a unifying
vision and a power sharing vision. These are the visions that guided the daily life during
the reigns. The authors conclude that the ideal of the political leaders of pre-colonial
Rwanda was to control a wide Rwanda, militarily poweful, populous, economically rich
and unified.
Key words : Kingdom, vision, ritual, mission, military
Introduction
Did the Rwanda kingdom have a political vision? In case it had one, then we need to
understand what that vision was, or else what were the nature and the character of that
vision. If we take vision to mean long term planning, then we need to check areas of
power management where that planning occurred. In our view, there are two ways of
checking the presence of that vision. First, there has to be statements of leaders of
Rwanda presenting that vision. In that case, we can check in the oral traditions or written
versions of pre-colonial Rwandan history traces of long term planning details. The
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second possibility is to trace political activities that survived for a long time and that
presuppose their prior planning.
For example, there are a number of decisions that certain kings were taking. Then those
decisions got perpetuated over decades, over other reigns, and even over centuries. This
continued up to the point of becoming what Kagame called “firm traditions” (Kagame,
1972, p.10). We can consider for instance the somewhat friendship between the kingdom
of Karagwe and Rwanda since Ndahiro Cyamatare up to Kigeri Rwabugiri. Another
example concerns the perpetuation of the production of ibisigo from Ruganzu Ndori (by
Nyirarumaga) up to the end of the kingdom. Even the perpetuation of Ubucurabwenge,
i.e., the genealogy of Rwandan kings together with queen mothers. Another example
concerns the tradition of queen mothers not to get married. Abiru, kingship ritualists, and
other leaders calculated that given their influence at the royal court and in the kingdom
politics, remarriage of queen mothers would cause disorder in the succession principle.
This tradition got respected with the exception of Nyakiyaga, the mother of Cyirima
Rugwe and Ncenderi, mother of Kigeri Nyamuheshera. Murorunkwere was also wrongly
accused of being pregnant. Also, the Ubwiru institution underwent many reforms in order
to survive and remain meaningful.
This paper looks at certain features of the planning that was done overtly and the political
culture that guided the pre-colonial Rwandan political system. The first area where a long
term planning appears is through the naming of the political entity that the Nyinginya
dynasty and their allies built progressively. They called it “u Rwanda”, which means
expansion. And indeed they expanded the territory of Rwanda over decades, reigns and
centuries. But their expansion was not just about territory. They also incorporated several
other clans and lineages as they were subjugating them. They included them in the power
structure and at some point the Rwandan kingdom was the kingdom of all those clans and
lineages. So, there was a vision about territory expansion and a vision about people or
social incorporation in power structures. These two visions are not clearly stated but they
can be identified through the reading of the political history of the Rwandan kingdom.
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However, there is one case of an open formulation of the mission of kings per reign, or to
put it more correctly, per cycles of kings. This was the result of the reforms undertaken
by Mutara Semugeshi in the 16th century.
1. Political and military vision through the missions of kings
Cycles of kings had existed prior to the Mutara Semugeshi reform. For instance, we see
the repetition of reign names such as Yuhi, Ndahiro and Nsoro and Ruganzu up to
Semugeshi. But, it is Semugeshi who decided over names to keep, and kings’ mission
from his reign onwards. Prior to Semugeshi, Rwanda had had kings who had
implemented significant reforms. For example, Kigeri I Mukobanya is said to have
initiated the process of centralization of the country. Ruganzu II Ndori had rescued the
monarchy of Rwanda. Mutara I Semugeshi came as a monarch who made more reforms
in the esoteric code and in the royal ideology. Abiru consider him as the genial innovator
(Kagame, 1951, p.48).
Semugeshi took a very strong decision of suppressing some of the existing names of
reign. He put away the following names: Ndahiro, Ruganzu and Nsoro. The first was said
to bear misfortune because Ndahiro Cyamatare lost the dynastic drum Rwoga. Ruganzu
was also a name of previous two Kings who were killed by the enemy (Ruganzu I
Bwimba and Ruganzu II Ndori). The name Nsoro was put aside because it was used also
in a neighbouring monarchy of Bugesera. Then, Semugeshi introduced a new name of
Mutara (Kagame, 1972, pp.113-114, Bourgeois, 1954, p.45, p.67). That is why
Semugeshi ceased to be called Nsoro Semugeshi and took the name of Mutara
Semugeshi.
So, four names remained in the cycles of Kings and took the following order: Cyirima,
Kigeri, Mibambwe, Yuhi. Mutara was added to that list and became also a name of the
first place in the cycle like Cyirima. For the first cycle it was Mutara, Kigeri, Mibambwe
and Yuhi; while for the second it should be Cyirima, Kigeri, Mibambwe and Yuhi, etc.
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Thus, Mutara and Cyirima came once for eight reigns, while the others occurred once
after four reigns. Since then, the genealogy became as follows:
New cycles of reigns from Mutara I Semugeshi onwards
Cycle 1
Cycle 2
Cycle 3
Cycle 4
1. Mutara I
Semugeshi
5. Cyirima II
Rujugira
9. Mutara II
Rwogera
13. Mutara III
Rudahigwa.
2. Kigeri II
Nyamuheshera
6. Kigeri III
Ndabarasa
10. Kigeri IV
Rwabugiri
14. Kigeri V
Ndahindurwa
3. Mibambwe II
Gisanura
7. Mibambwe III
Sentabyo
11. Mibambwe IV
Rutarindwa
4. Yuhi III
Mazimpaka
8. Yuhi IV
Gahindiro
12. Yuhi V
Musinga
It is very important to note that on the above list there is one king who is omitted, i.e.,
Karemera Rwaka. The latter was officially enthroned in Yuhi IV Mazimpaka lifetime and
succeeded him as an acting king. As such, he is believed to have resigned when Rujugira,
the legitimate heir, arrived from Gisaka to acquire the throne (Kagame, 1972, pp.129 and
134). Some scholars found this narrative not convincing enough. For example, Vansina
(2001, p.132-135) believed that Rwaka was a legitimate king who got deposed by
Rujugira.
At the same time, in this reform of Semugeshi, particular commitments were dedicated to
the monarchs according to their names of reigns. In this respect, the Kings Mutara and
Cyirima would be Kings of cattle (D’Hertefelt, Coupez, 1964, p.46, p.98). That is why
they would be organizers of the ritual of watering. They were obliged to stay in Nduga
and to cross the Nyabarongo River once when they were going to organize the ritual of
watering. Then, they had to remain in Bwanacyambwe until death.
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Mibambwe were the Kings of conquest and war (D’Hertefelt, Coupez, 1964, p.38). This
seems to have been so since Kigeri I and Mibambwe I. They could thus move
everywhere, inside and outside the country. On the other hand, the monarchs called Yuhi
were Kings of the Fire, which means that their duty was to keep the long life of the royal
dynasty symbolized by the permanence of the fire of Gihanga, the supposed founder of
the dynasty. They were also Kings of cattle. The esoteric code Ubwiru committed them to
live in the Nduga region and never cross the Nyabarongo River (Kagame, 1947, pp.385386; Kagame, 1952, p.130; Chrétien, 2000, p.103; Wrigley, 1996, p.200).Consider for
instance the following strophe from the ritual of fire (inzira y’umuriro):
« Umwami ubyarira umuriro niYuhi
Akima i Nduga
Akaraguza ari i Nduga
Akeza imana ari i Nduga
Agatsinda ari i Nduga
Akagaba ingabo ari iNduga
Zigahabwa umugaba
Zikajya kumutsindira. […]
Ntiyambuka uruzi rwa Mwogo
N’urwa Nyabarongo.” (D’Hertefelt, Coupez, 1964, p.54)
But this does not mean that these new commitments just occurred in practice like that.
Some kings of cattle were obliged by circumstances to protect the country against
invasions and acted militarily in a successful manner. On the other hand, circumstances
obliged monarchs to move out of the territory in which the Abiru advocated them to
reside permanently.
But these missions got respected most of the time. The conquest mission owed to the fact
that Rwanda envisioned to be a very big country in terms of size. The name “Rwanda”
itself means “kwanda” i.e. to expand. In order to reach this, military campaigns against
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neighbouring countries were necessary. The increase of subjects politically speaking or
people socially speaking through conquest was needed. It is people who would later
become tax payers, economic producers and ingabo (militarily). The demographic
increase was also targeted using cultural sensitization. There was a belief that power
comes from belonging to a very big family or owning a very big number of subjects.
Then since Rwanda envisioned to expand, its kings were required to be strong warriors.
The ritual of enthronization that informs us how the new king was enthroned, shows us
how he was prepared “ritually”, psychologically and socially to be the conqueror par
excellence. Consider these few passages:
“Barakwimitse ngo utsinde
Uburundi n’Ubunyabungo
N’amahanga yandi yose
Adatura umwami w’i Rwanda.” (D’Hertefelt, Coupez, 1964, p.240)
“Bagashyira ho ihembe ry’inzovu
Umwami akarikandagira hejuru
Ngo umwami ahore ari inzovu
Ahore aheza amahanga hasi.”(D’Hertefelt, Coupez, 1964, p.264)
As a result, the majority (or all) of the Kigeri kings were either great conquerors or great
warriors. Crises in military domain are considered not as failures but as misfortunes. See
for instance why Ndahiro Cyamatare got one ubwiru ritual, Inzira ya Gicurasi, how
Kibilira River is never crossed by Rwandan kings, how names of Ruganzu, Nsoro and
Ndahiro get removed from the reigning names. All this is to avoid contradicting the
conquering vision.
However, there are also exceptions. In the remainder of this section, some of those
exceptions are emphasized. For example, in the ritual of fire of the esoteric code, it is
indicated that all monarchs bearing the first name of Yuhi were forbidden from moving
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out of the Nduga region. They were obliged to be enthroned there and to stay there until
their death. Yet, Yuhi II Gahima II crossed the Nyabarongo River and went to Nzaratsi in
the Nyantango region. Is this an infringement of the ubwiru code or is it because this
tradition had not yet existed at the time of Gahima II as Kagame argues? (Kagame, 1972,
p.84)
There is another example that stresses how Yuhi V Musinga was obliged to cross the
Nyabarongo River: In 1925, the Belgian Governor asked the King Musinga to go and
meet His Majesty the prince Léopold of Belgium, at Nyabitare, near to the Nyabarongo
River. Musinga knew well the utmost rejection of Ubwiru tradition by the Belgian
administrators and Missionaries. He understood that he was not going to convince the
Belgian prince to meet him at Nyanza. So he decided to overstep the esoteric code and
managed to go to that meeting. But he invented an intermediate solution to that issue. He
put in front of him a diviner who was chasing the angry spirits of the King’s forefathers
all the way, so that the journey would be somewhat conform to the norm (Bourgeois,
1954, p.46).
However, due to the difficulties of establishing a chronology in oral culture, it is not easy
to date absolutely the setting of the above missions. Kagame attributed the “reform” to
Mutara Semugeshi, namely in sixteenth century (Kagame, 1972, p.38), while Vansina
was attributing the “reform” to CyirimaRujugira (Vansina, 2001, p.265). Kagame based
his statement from the ritualists who considered King Mutara Semugeshi as a reformist
and genial inventor (Kagame, 1951, p.40). Vansina makes his point not from a source
like an historical tale, but from a logical conclusion. The first argument of Vansina is
that Rujugira's predecessor took the reign name Karemera, which does not occur in the
cycle and therefore the rules about cycles did not exist (Vansina 2000a, p. 400). Our
counter argument is that according the new rules, Musinga should have been named
Mibambwe instead of Yuhi, and Rudahigwa should have been named Cyirima instead of
Mutara. When those names were not appropriate to the new rules, does it mean that the
rules didn’t exist before their reigns? The Vansina’s second argument is that Cyirima
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Rujugira lived in Bwanacyambwe province at the beginning of his reign in contrary to the
rules which state that Cyirima or Mutara must live in Nduga province at that time
(Vansina, 2001, p.120). Our counter argument is that Vansina himself wrote that Rujugira
came from Gisaka with his son Ndabarasa to depose King Rwaka when Rwaka lived in
Rukoma (Vansina, 2001, p.133). Resisting to Rujugira, the prince Nama, a brother of
Rwaka, attaqued Rujugira from Bugamba province and was defeated by the Rujugira’s
loyal armies at Hogwe at Rukoma border (Vansina, 2001, p.134). This implies that
Rujugira did not live in Bwanacyambwe at that time. Much more, our last counter
argument derives from a useful contradiction of Vansina. This scholar wrote that
during the 18th century, the main residences of the kings were located within the
Nyabarongo river loop, precisely in Rukoma and around Kamonyi mountain. He added
that the Rukoma area continued to be the core of the kingdom until the end of the reign of
Rujugira where it has been moved to Bwanacyambwe (Vansina 2001, p.108-109). It
means that Rujugira lived in Bwanacyambwe during his last days accordingly to Vansina
himself and ritualist rules. It is important to know that in royal rituals, the area of Nduga
referred to the land located within the Nyabarongo loop and Mwogo river opposite to the
Bwanacyambwe area referring to the lands located in the eastern Nyabarongo River.
Therefore, the statement of Vansina is an opinion which is not necessarily acceptable
(Vansina, 2000a, p. 400-401, 2001, p 120).
Concerning military matters, the esoteric code tells us that the Kings called Cyirima were
committed to the wealth of the country, in the sense that they were monarchs of cattle.
However, as Rujugira was facing a very strong threat from neighbouring kingdoms
against Rwanda, he could not ignore war issues. It is in that context that he set a strategy
which made him one of the major military references among the Rwandan Kings. He
faced militarily three countries: Burundi (south), Gisaka (east), and Ndorwa (north). In
order to defeat them, he chose a defensive strategy against Burundi, as this was the
strongest among the three enemies. And then Rwanda made offensive against Gisaka and
Ndorwa. The strategy of Rujugira kept away that threat. Records also attribute him the
following famous formula: “u Rwanda ruratera ntiruterwa” (Rwanda does attack; it is by
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no means attacked) (Kagame, 1972, p.137). So Rwanda deserved such a motto from a
King who was not ritually destined to war, just because the circumstances had obliged
him to cope with a new situation. Vansina (2001, p.l55) suggested that the motto is a
boastfulness. Yet again, the latter hides a vision attitude.
Indeed, only the Kigeri and Mibambwe kings were allowed to take part in military
expeditions. (Kagame, 1952, p.59). So, Cyirima Rujugira, though not necessarily a
warrior, was a strong strategist, as the above decisions and implementations suggest.
Again, it is during the reign of Rwogera that the kingdom of Gisaka was definitely
conquered and annexed by Rwanda. Here again the vision of the Mutara kings as kings of
cattle was nuanced in that this very Mutara was able to conquer the long time coveted
territory.
Most importantly, each and every king created one or many militias during his reign that
were added to the previous militias established by his predecessors. (Kagame, 1963,
p.10). This principle did not put an exception on Mutara, Cyirima and Yuhi kings
because they were not war or conquest kings. This shows to what extent pre-colonial
leaders had a high sense of pragmatism or political realism. Indeed, each king was
supposed keep alive the conquering vision.
2. Unifying vision
Many clans happen to have been incorporated in organs of power and they remained
within those positions for centuries. Key to this feature was the adoption and
implementation of the principle of hereditary political positions. Some keepers of power
were getting dismissed (kunyagwa) but their successors would keep positions. For
example, in the Abiru college, we find following clans and lineages: Abatsobe, umwiru
wa Nyamweru, Abatege, Abaheka, Abakobwa, Abatandura, Abenemuhinda, Abakuna, etc.
Another unifying feature is that several clans intervened in the rituals of Ubwiru to make
the rituals more ‘national’. Indeed, the reading of inzira y’umuriro, inzira y’umuganura,
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inzira y’ishora and inzira y’ubwimika indicates that many geographical places, many
people of different clans or lineages appear or play a role in a ritual. Men and women of
all ages also are represented in rituals. In particular, the annual Umuganura ritual unified
the peasants around the King (Newbury, 1981, p.89-101).
Moreover, rituals were performed at different times or months of the year. The year had
many celebrations or rituals that animated, regulated and kept busy the public life.
Throughout the year, these rituals became like national events that gave to Rwandans
occasions to meet regularly and share perceptions, beliefs and practices.
Even among the dynastic poets, we see this incorporation of members taken from several
clans or lineages: Abanyiginya, Abasinga, Ababanda, Abene-Nyamurorwa (or
Abanukamishyo), and other poets from unknown clans and lineages (Muzungu, 2013).
The fact that these different clans and lineages hold positions of power within the
kingdom of Rwanda is not haphazard. Indeed, they had taken part in the expansion of
Rwanda, in the building of social and political institutions of Rwanda, and even in the
enrichment of cultural aspects of Rwanda (Ogot, 1984, pp.516-51; Mbonimana, 2011,
p.85-108).
Same territory created consciousness about unity among these clans.
Moreover, a shared culture among them strengthened a cultural unity.
The Rwandan political ideology was also characterized by power sharing. And power
sharing operated in the same line with the unifying vision. To begin with, just as the
Rwandan kingdom evolved from a small territory of five political entities (Buganza,
Bwanacyambwe, Buriza, Busarasi and Bumbogo) to become the Rwanda of Kigeri IV
Rwabugiri, so did the idea of royalty. It is likely that before the king Kigeri I Mukobanya
the royal ideology was not yet solid. But since this king, it is mentioned that the process
of centralisation of the state led progressively to the advent of the idea of nation, at least
for a big part of Rwanda (Lugan, 1997, p.17).
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The monarchy was led by the Nyiginya dynasty. It is this dynasty together with other
clans that progressively increased the size of the Rwandan territory through conquest and
assimilation. But the royalty was embodied in the dynastic drum (Rwoga and then
Karinga). The King was its servant, just as were Abiru. In this regard, some authors have
argued that it was the royalty that was sacred rather than the King as a person, for he
lived amongst members of his court Mbonimana, 2001, pp.9-10). At best, in Rwanda, it
was the dynastic drum that was sacred (Mbonimana, 2001, pp.9-10; Gravel, 1968, p.23).
But the King was also the supreme chief of the army and of the administration (Kagame,
1952, p.116; Vansina, 2001, p.55).
The royal ideology presents the King as a supernatural creature, linking Rwandans to
God; sometimes the King bears the name Imana (God). That is why it was said that once
King, the heir ceased to be a Tutsi and to his ordinary name was added the name of reign.
It was believed that the King was neither a Tutsi, nor a Hutu, nor a Twa. He was the King
of all.
Although it was believed that theoretically the power of the King was absolute, above all
because the ideology presented him as the ‘representative of God in Rwanda’, it has been
made clear that in practice, the monarch did not enjoy absolute power. Indeed, the royal
hierarchy superposed to the King a permanent queen mother with whom he shared power.
The queen mother was chosen by the ritualists among the clans named Ibibanda
“matridynastic clans: Abasinga, Abakono, Abega, Abaha, Abazigaba and Abagesera
(Bourgeois, 1954, p.52; D’Hrtefelt, Coupez, 1964, p.512). It is worth mentioning that her
power was not negligible. Besides, there was the ‘religious’ and political power of Abiru.
The king’s power was therefore to some extent limited (Kanyamacumbi, 1995, p.238;
Gravel, P.B. 1965, p.323; D’Hertefelt, al., 1962, pp.70-71). It was also shared among
many other organs that had members coming from different clans and families.
Therefore, Vansina is right to say that the Rwandan king was not an autocrat who would
rule alone (Vansina, 2001, p.111-117).
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The royal ideology contains also the unifying vision in term of peace, prosperity and
attitude. The ishora ritual expressed that ideology in wishing plant seed, milk, sorghum
beer and hydromel, peace, kindness and sharpness to all Rwandans including the king, all
men and all women. It wished peace also to all drums and cattle of Rwanda (D’Hertefelt,
1964, p.115, p, 116-117). It is important to note that all wishes were addressed not only
to men, but also and always to women. That ritual aimed at renewing a dynastic cycle.
For that reason we find many wishes for the following cycle. Through the wishes, it is
possible to see the vision of the Rwandan court during the next period. The Umuganura
ritual aimed, in particular, at increasing the agricultural production of sorghum. This
ritual was also very crucial in political vision, given the fact that the ritual revealed the
kingdom unity and the solidarity among Rwandan people. In addition, each year, the
ritual defined who was belonging or not to the kingdom of Rwanda (Vansina, 2001, p,
77).
3. Military ideology
The practice of kings of creating a militia at their advent to be added to the existing ones
led to the increase of military recruits. This shows some kind of military vision for
reaching a bigger size of military recruits in future. But most importantly, the ideological
part of military activities reveals to what extent the military vision was elaborated.
Through the ibyivugo and the inzira z’ubwiru we get a grasp of this ideology. The
ibyivugo trace psychological mobilization at individual and social levels. They also place
military exploit at the top of the ideals of ingabo (Kagame, 1969, p.15-88). In dynastic
poetry, the King is presented as the most powerful warrior. Sometimes he is compared
with the thunder such as the King Mazimpaka. The latter has been considered as the
thunder when he defeated the Burundian King Ntare. A poet celebrated the event in his
poem in following terms: “The day when the thunder defeated the lion.”(Kagame, 1951,
p.137).
Besides, naming male children followed sometimes military exploits. For example:
Nshozamihigo, Rugamba, Mutiganda, Ntaganda, Rudahunga, Mulindabyuma, Mutabazi,
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Mukotanyi, Makuza, etc. This practice may have played both a psychological role (selffulfilling mission), but also an educative role (socialization).
The Ubwiru rituals also elevate the king at the level of a great conqueror of other
kingdoms. The ritual of enthronement, inzira y’ubwimika, socializes, obliges and instills
the new king to be an extraordinary warrior. He is young, so the Abiru, through this
ritual, are trying to instill in him all these ideals. Let us consider some excerpts:
Inzira y’ubwimika
“Umwene nyabirungu mukuru agasenga
Ngo gahorane imana Kadaho
Tuje kudaha imigisha y’abandi bami
Tujekudaha ingoma z’abandi bami
Tuje kudaha imvura y’abandi bami
Tuje kudaha inka z’abandi bami
Tujekudaha imbuto z’abandi bami.”(D’Hertefelt&Coupez, 1964, p.248
“Ngo uwo ni umuribata
Twaribata u Burundi
Twaribata Ubunyabungo
N’andi mahanga yose
Adatura umwami w’u Rwanda. »D’Hertefeltc& Coupez, 1964, p.258, p.260)
That vision is also present in all war rituals where the Rwandan King must conduct
operations against other kingdoms and defeat them (D’Hertefelt&Coupez, 1964, p.155197).We would like to focus on the ritual of the “drum refurnishing”, kwambika ingoma.
When a king was killed officially by Rwandan warriors, he was castrated and the drum
Karinga was dressed with his sexual spoils. The operation aimed at increasing the
military strength of the king and the country in general (D’Hertefelt, Coupez, 1964,
p.155). The ritual text reads as follows:
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Iyo ingoma yambara When the drum is dressing
Umuhinza aba yapfuye
It means that a rebel has died (D’Hertefelt,Coupez, 1964, p.170)
The term Umuhinza was supposed to designate the so-called Hutu kinglets governing the
Rwandan space before the Tutsi arrival in Rwanda. That belief led the politician Gitera
who was opposing to monarchy and Tutsi in general in late colonial period to complain
that Karinga was decorated with the Hutu spoils and therefore Karinga embodied the
Hutu defeat. For him the Karinga drum symbolized the domination of Tutsi over Hutu
(Semujanga, 2010, p.56-57).
When one reads the ritual, he/she does not find anywhere the term “Hutu”, but the victim
was every King who did not recognize the Nyiginya King’s power. All excerpts of the
text associate every time the Umuhinza with a foreign country, not a Hutu. In the ritual,
the Burundi kingdom is cited at least five times as the Rwandan enemy. It is worth noting
that Minyaruko who has curved the drum Karinga at the advent of Ruganzu Ndori is
considered as Hutu (Coupez &Kamanzi, 1962, p.280-281; D’Hertefelt, Coupez, 1964,
p.481; Kagame, 1972, p.101-116).
Gitera was inspired probably by Kagame who has
suggested that the Nyiginya court did not consider at the same level the defeated Tutsi
Kings and the defeated Hutu kings, as D’Hertefelt wrote, citing InganjiKaringa,
Kagame’s book (D’Hertefelt, 1971, p.32). D’Hertefelt has reacted against Kagame
arguing that the ritual did not mention the absolute difference between Hutu and Tutsi
(D’Hertefelt, 1971, p.33). We can conclude that the absolute differentiation between
Hutu and Tutsi in pre-colonial period is the projection of the colonial racial ideology
applied to Rwandan society since the end of the nineteenth century.
Conclusion
The mission of Rwandan kings as formulated by Mutara I Semugeshi stresses in clear and
open terms the political vision or philosophy of Rwanda viewed in the lenses of its kings.
On the other hand, how power was defined, managed, and shared among several clans of
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Rwanda shows implicitly the implementation of that political philosophy. The political
vision of pre-colonial Rwanda was shaped around the ideals of having a bigger Rwanda,
a more powerful Rwanda militarily, a more populated Rwanda, a more prosperous
Rwanda, and a more unified Rwanda. The means used to reach these wide visions include
the setting up of administrative and institutional mechanisms and regular reforms of those
mechanisms, military affairs but also religious or ritual performances.
How political and military ideals were popularized and socialized through rituals and
literary genres (inzira z’ubwiru, ibisigo, imigani, ibyivugo) and public performances or
celebrations (ibitaramo), suggests a constant need for pre-colonial Rwandan leaders to
have these visions and philosophies shared among all Rwandans and spread to next
generations. This point is also emphasized by Mbonimana: “Rwanda’s political system
and ideology were built on four pillars, namely a monarchy conceived in terms of a
theocracy, a two-headed monarchy (King and Queen Mother), and a policy of territorial
aggrandizement, conquest and patriotism, all of which were inculcated constantly to the
people, especially through literary institutions.”(Mbonimana, 2011, p.109)
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