MUCH TO LEARN FROM RWANDA

ONCE the black sheep of the African Union (AU) during and post-1994 genocide, Rwanda has risen from the ashes like the fabled Phoenix to be the darling of the continent - notwithstanding its despotic President Paul Kagame’s reputation of having masterminded many atrocities against political rivals – culminating in that country spinning positive coverage across the mêlée of social and traditional media in recent times.

Firstly, I should confess that I am by no means an admirer of Kagame for the dictator that he is coupled to the many atrocities he is reputed to have committed against his people, especially his political opponents and detractors, to strengthen his political control of Rwanda. Secondly, I never believed in benevolent dictatorship or even its practical existence but Kagame has shaken this belief to the core. Ah yes, looking at the somewhat magical progress, Rwanda has made under his leadership, there is no longer doubting that he is a benevolent dictator that his country needed. 

While our lawmakers were going through the motions of debating a budget that is cut from the same stencil as those of previous governments and that is assured to drive more emaSwati into the poverty trap – which they eventually passed with no changes whatsoever – Rwanda has been making waves across various media platforms for fast-tracking that country’s development and modernisation to improve the lives of its people: 

l Rwanda is the first country in the world to use drone technology in its healthcare to transfer blood and medicines to hospitals and health facilities nationwide (this snippet was accompanied by pictures of a drone being loaded and in flight to deliver its cargo). Rwanda’s healthcare is free and provides universal eye care for its citizens;

l Rwanda Government boosting national education toward goal of knowledge-based economy: 10 per cent increase in primary and secondary teachers’ salaries starting next month; student loan repayments waived for those who after graduating teach for three years in primary and five years in secondary schools;
l Rwanda has Africa’s best in judiciary; second best roads, is Africa’s best country to do business with and the 29th in the world. Is the eighth best governed country and is set to become a cashless economy by 2022;

l Rwanda is set to open its first smartphone factory, making it the first in Africa to manufacture phones that will meet the demand of the African market;
l Rwanda has launched the first coding academy that will produce a pool of experts in the field of software engineering in order to address, in a more sustainable manner, the current shortage of software developers locally and regionally;

l Kigali, Rwanda’s capital, is the cleanest city in Africa. Why? The country’s 2008 ban on non-biodegradable plastic and the mandatory Saturday monthly clean-up practice called Umuganda, loosely translated as ‘coming together to achieve a common purpose’;
l In Rwanda, public schools are so advanced and effective that private schools had to close in mass numbers due to low patronage.

As I see it, it is impossible to ignore the quantum leap into the future that this once backward and wretched country has conjured up. Equally, it is unavoidable to make comparisons between that country and this the Kingdom of Eswatini, especially given the contrasting backgrounds. For the most part, since attaining independence in 1961, Rwanda has been wrecked by internal strife that is largely owed to the manner the continent was carved up by departing European colonial powers, a legacy that sparked many a conflict across post-colonial Africa. With a population of 12.2 million (2017 World Bank), a semblance of stability returned to Rwanda in 1999 when the first post-genocide local elections were held. Presidential elections followed in 2003 that elevated Kagame to power. In essence, what Rwanda has achieved has largely happened in this magical period of the last 16 years.

Yet comparatively and ironically is that in all 50 years of independence on the back of so-called peace and stability, Eswatini, with a paltry population of 1.2 million and a far smaller country, is nowhere near achieving what Rwanda has achieved in 16 years of proper and good governance. As a journalist I had the privilege of visiting Kigali on assignment in the 1980s. What I met was the stench of poverty and helplessness plus an extremely dirty and unhygienic town that was not bigger than Siteki. Yet today, Kigali is bustling and it is the cleanest place on the continent and Rwanda is on the threshold of becoming a First World nation even if this is not the fixation of Kagame and Rwandans.

And looking at the contrasting backgrounds of the two countries, Eswatini and Rwanda, we had the better chance of creating the first digital and ultra-modern nation on the continent given our attributes; a country the size of a village with a relatively small population and endowed with many natural resources.

This to the extent that not a single road should be gravel and access to communication as well as the Internet should be universal instead of being prized out of the reach of ordinary folks just because those holding political reigns are making huge profits from the people they are supposed to lead to prosperity. Not a single compatriot should be living in a lidlokolo but in decent houses through a well-crafted national housing policy.

Yet here we are, an impoverished nation that has not developed exponentially to the country’s potential and outlay of resources since independence in 1968 given all the mineral wealth because of the way this country is governed.
  
 

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