Rwanda's Economic Miracle is a Lie
Many people, in
their sweet bubble always dangle Rwanda, under Paul Kagame, as a shining example of
some miraculous model of ‘progress’ for an African country that it is not. Rwanda
under Kagame is a big lie. The level of crony capitalism that is Rwanda is one
of the worst in Africa. For example, Crystal Ventures Ltd. (CVL), which is
arguably the biggest Rwanda corporate conglomerate and which is directly linked
to Kagame has multiple monopolies in nearly all sectors of Rwandan economy
including concrete products, construction, real estate development,
telecommunications, agriculture, aviation, security services, printing and
publishing, furniture trading, manufacturing, property management and
engineering.
But only a few of us have kept screaming that Rwanda under Kagame is a lie
but the rest including its donors keep pumping in money, most of it only ending
up massaging Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF)’s crony capitalism under directly supervisory
of and benefit to Kagame. Rwanda still has the highest foreign aid per capita
in East Africa and its donors seem to be too willing to pump in more. They seem
to have settled on the proverbial Faustian bargain; trading democracy for
development but the truth is that the likelihood of ending up with neither is
very high until and unless Kagame opens up the Rwanda economy, which he does
not have the will to do because it will go hand in hand with opening up
governance. The sphere of open governance is one that Kagame loathes simply
because he is a dictator per excellence who can’t be questioned. Worse still,
he dominates the economy away from successfully creating and sustaining an
atmosphere of anxiety. These conditions are never known to support economic
growth anywhere because in their nature, people do work better and are
productive when they live and operate in an environment of freedom, not fear. The
plain truth is that there are no economic opportunities for a majority of
Rwandan citizens in Rwanda. Last time I checked, only about 500,000 Rwandans against
a population of over 5 million, were in gainful employment. Rwandan young men
are now languishing in Uganda since Museveni started his silly crackdown (which
must be condemned with strongest terms possible) but the few I have interacted with
seem willing to face Uganda’s hostility that return to Rwanda because there are
simply no opportunities for them in Rwanda. Rwanda’s development ‘miracle’ is a
lie; the Rwanda economy is an enclave that is under Kagame’s tight grip. Plus,
he is not leaving power any time soon now that he has hypnotized his supporters
and admirers and made them believe he is not only but also the only liberator/saviour.
Rwanda's Economic Miracle is a Lie
Reviewed by Ibrahim Magara
on
July 09, 2019
Rating:

Thanks for sharing this informative content, Good work.
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