Filip Reyntjens, once hailed as a “Constitution Professor,” during the dark era of Habyarimana’s apartheid regime, now finds himself adrift, stranded in a vast ocean of irrelevance, incapable of reconciling his grandiose proclamations with the harsh realities that define the present moment. With each fleeting day, the conspicuous chasm between Reyntjens and the subject matter he purports to comprehend swells, as he stands distanced, separated by thousands of miles from his Antwerp abode, a remote haven bereft of firsthand experiences within the Rwandan context for more than two and a half decades.
Reyntjens’ analysis conducted from the confines of his armchair, heavily reliant on secondary sources and lackluster research, has metamorphosed into a dissonant symphony of vacuous speculation. His sufferance from what can be appropriately termed as “the exile syndrome” is unmistakable—an affliction that afflicts those who, upon departing from a place, become incapable of perceiving its metamorphosis, forever ensnared in a wistful daydream of their bygone prominence.
Reyntjens persists in a state of perpetual agitation at the periphery, his fervent activism obscuring his ability to differentiate the crucial from the inconsequential. Ensnared by his own dogmatism, he ardently strives to undermine the post-genocide Rwandan Government despite all tremendous gains it has registered, utilizing every conceivable means at his disposal. Yet, his frenzied exertions serve only to expose his profound lack of introspection and intellectual depth.
Reyntjens, in his feeble undertakings to sully Rwanda’s remarkable advancement, conveniently overlooks the quintessential essence of the Rwandan Patriotic Front- Inkotanyi’s Liberation struggle. Alas, he lacks the cognitive capacity to apprehend that the RPF, in its unyielding pursuit, transcended the confinements imposed by ethnicity. Unlike his constrained mental landscape, the RPF’s resolute vision soared above the boundaries of division, diligently striving for the emancipation of all Rwandan people, irrespective of the ethnic constructs arbitrarily imposed upon them by Reyntjens and his progenitors during the epoch of colonialism.
Reyntjens’ viewpoint remains ensnared within the entanglements of ethnicity, impeding his acknowledgment of the extraordinary advancements Rwanda has achieved in transcending this fracturing mindset. His persistent fixation on a bygone epoch, wherein he reveled in his neocolonial position as a Caucasian amidst Africans, amplifies his incapacity to acclimatize to the present-day Rwanda.
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