WSJ: Rwandan President Paul Kagame eschewing foreign aid
Unlike many of his peers in the Third World, his focus is on how to create wealth—not on how to beg for charity […] “We don’t expect anyone to hand us any success or progress we hope to be making.”
That attitude makes Mr. Kagame a skeptic when it comes to foreign aid, which he faults for many of the world’s ills. “It has created dependency, it has distorted the markets, it has detached people from their leaders and their values, it has created conflicts in some cases.”
[…]
His key bugaboos include import tariffs and agricultural subsidies: “Trading fairly with developing countries would put more money in the hands of the developing countries than [donor countries] give through aid.”
Full article here.
east africa should invest in women
allafrica.comPresident Paul Kagame has called upon the East African Community (EAC) member states to invest in programmes and institutions that improve the livelihoods and incomes of women, if they are to succeed in empowering them.
“It is regrettable that I should have been one of the people who was instrumental in explaining and selling this version of the story about the killing of President Habyarimana, the president of Burundi and all the people who perished with them”
—Theogene Rudasingwa, the seniormost RPF leader and former ally of Paul Kagame, on accusing him of causing the plane crash that sparked the Rwandan genocide: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-15165641Kagame Urges the Region to Invest in Women
allafrica.comPresident Paul Kagame has called upon the East African Community (EAC) member states to invest in programmes and institutions that improve the livelihoods and incomes of women, if they are to succeed in empowering them.
The President made the call, yesterday, while officially opening the first ever East African Community (EAC) Women in Business Conference in Kigali.
Addressing the two-day conference attended by delegations representing women entrepreneurs from the EAC partner states and Southern Sudan, President Kagame said that while there is no doubt that women play a critical role in society today, they remain the majority of the region’s poor and vulnerable.
“Despite many good efforts, women remain on the fringe of our formal economies. The question that begs an urgent answer today is how can we progress on this critical issue as fast and as effectively as possible?” Kagame said
“Women’s productive capacity is staggering. In Africa today, women constitute 70 percent to 80 percent of the total agriculture force, a third of the global manufacturing labour force and a third of the micro and small scale enterprises business population,” he added.
The Head of State further said that women constitute the majority in the informal sector but ironically, still struggle with low incomes, unemployment, unequal access to financial resources, as well as legal obstacles to their potential as entrepreneurs.
“It is clear, therefore, that the EAC needs to properly harness this energy and talent as an important contribution to the region’s socio-economic transformation,” he said.
In order to achieve that, President Kagame said the EAC states need to consider a number of key interventions including investing in training and equipping women, especially those in the informal sector, with the skills necessary to manage their businesses.
“It is our responsibility as governments and regional bodies to mobilise more resources and ensure that institutions to support women in business exist and work well,”
“Similarly, we must continue to invest in programmes that have a direct positive impact on family livelihoods and women’s economic security,” Kagame said.
The President noted that women leaders have a crucial role to play in such areas as trade transformation and facilitation as well as other business related policies.
The Head of State highlighted the need for countries to formulate policies that are critical in empowering women financially, citing the example of Rwanda where initiatives such as gender responsive budgeting, women cooperatives and financial products targeting women have already taken root.
Transparency 2.0
aviewfromthecave.comIf you haven’t already, read Rwandan President Paul Kagame’s heated altercation with journalist Ian Birrell on Twitter. It’s a remarkable example of how technology can pry open heretofore opaque systems.
Forget Gaddafi. Blair's NEW best friend is a despot guilty of even bloodier slaughter
dailymail.co.uk
At the former Prime Minister’s side throughout was a rake-thin and bespectacled black man whom Blair was conspicuously keen to introduce to the assembled movers and shakers. Not surprising, perhaps, given that the event — at which Mr Blair was officially the chairman — was arranged in sole honour of Paul Kagame, the president of the African state of Rwanda.
And this being Mr Blair, the subject on his lips throughout the stylish meeting, held during the World Economic Forum in Davos, was cold, hard cash. Or, more to the point, how much he could persuade the super-rich investment bankers to plough into businesses in his close friend Mr Kagame’s emerging economy.
Paul Kagame: I asked America to kill Congo rebel leader with drone | Guardian
guardian.co.ukRwanda’s president, Paul Kagame, has rejected accusations from Washington that he was supporting a rebel leader and accused war criminal in the Democratic Republic of the Congo by challenging a senior US official to send a drone to kill the wanted man.
In an interview with the Observer Magazine, Kagame said that on a visit to Washington in March he came under pressure from the US assistant secretary of state for Africa, Johnnie Carson, to arrest Bosco Ntaganda, leader of the M23 rebels, who was wanted by the international criminal court (ICC). The US administration was increasing pressure on Kagame following a UN report claiming to have uncovered evidence showing that the Rwandan military provided weapons and other support to Ntaganda, whose forces briefly seized control of the region’s main city, Goma.
“I told him: ‘Assistant secretary of state, you support [the UN peacekeeping force] in the Congo. Such a big force, so much money. Have you failed to use that force to arrest whoever you want to arrest in Congo? Now you are turning to me, you are turning to Rwanda?’” he said. “I said that, since you are used to sending drones and gunning people down, why don’t you send a drone and get rid of him and stop this nonsense? And he just laughed. I told him: ‘I’m serious’.”
Rwanda's Economy: An Unlikely Success Story
npr.orgEast Africa is a tough place to do business. Want to open shop in Kenya? Prepare for a month of paper work, surly officials and bribes. To the west, in Rwanda, it’s a different story.
“Registering a business takes just a matter of hours. It no longer takes months, weeks, as it used to be,” says Rwandan President Paul Kagame.
This year, Rwanda moved up seven spots on the World Economic Forum’s competitiveness index to number 63 out of more than 140 countries. In recent years, it has posted average, annual GDP growth of more than 7 percent. The country’s unlikely economic success can be traced back to its president.
Rwanda seeks diaspora investment to cut reliance on foreign aid
guardian.co.ukRwandans in the UK are among those being tapped to contribute to a new “solidarity fund” set up by President Paul Kagame in a bid to lessen the government’s reliance on foreign aid.
“Why should a citizen of another country have an obligation to feed me forever? This is almost blasphemy,” Kagame reportedly said last week at a fundraising lunch for the Agaciro Development Fund in the capital, Kigali. According to the government, Agaciro – which means “dignity” in kinyarwanda – has already attracted pledges totalling 20bn Rwandan francs (£20m) since launching in August.
The fund’s website says Agaciro aims to improve the country’s financial autonomy and will give Rwandans “a higher level of direct ownership in the nation’s projects”, with priorities chosen through national consultations. Individuals can transfer money to the fund through banks, online or SMS.
