It’s almost like a fairy tale, just 15 years ago, there was hopelessness, despair, anger, fear and the stench of death in the air in Rwanda.Today the Rwandese president is the face of the African renaissance. Don’t be fooled by the slender, bespectacled man; Mr. Paul Kagame is the president that illuminates hope for this continent.
He’s one of the very few success stories of a soldier turned statesman. This year he is one of Time Magazine’s top 100. He encompasses what brand Rwanda is all about; hope, ingenuity, beauty and prosperity.
What I admire about Mr. Kagame is his focus and genuine concern for reforms in his country. He has a genuine zero tolerance on corruption; government officials found to be corrupt are exposed publicly and are dealt with accordingly.
He has successfully established a truth and reconciliation tribunal, and steadily built Rwanda into an investor’s paradise.
In 2007, President Kagame delivered an endorsement at Starbucks AGM in Seattle. He further visited the Google campus in California and met with senior executives including CEO Eric Schmidt, where the internet firm announced plans to make its free Web-based software available in Rwanda.Kagame did come from a humble back ground; born in central Rwanda to Deogratius and Asteria Rutagambwa. He fled persecution and killing in Rwanda, that was fuelled by the Hutus and the Belgian military at the time, and became a refugee in Uganda in 1960. He attended primary and secondary school in Uganda.
Kagame and Yoweri Museveni (Ugandan President), together with 25 other men launched a five year liberation war in Uganda in 1980. He then served as a senior officer in the Ugandan army between 1986 and 1990. In 1990 he attended a staff and command course at Fort Leavenworth in the US.
In October of 1990 he returned home to Rwanda after 30 years in exile, to lead the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA) to liberate Rwanda. And after leading the RPA and stopping the Genocide in 1994, he was appointed Vice-President and Minister for Defence in the Government of National Unity. In 2000, Mr. Kagame was unanimously sworn in as president of Rwanda.
Rwanda is not only well governed, but has also opened itself up to serve as a model of private sector development in Africa. Rwanda has invested greatly on ICT development in this cause. This is evident with the fact that you can actually interact with the president on his personal website http://www.gov.rw/government/president/index.html. The parliament is also accessible online, where you can also subscribe to parliaments newsletter on http://inteko.gov.rw/.
Rwanda is a sensational country; I thank The Lord for President Paul Kagame. He encompasses what real leadership for Africa is. We all need to learn from his selflessness and work with him to ensure that the true aspirations of restoring Africa to its initial prosperity are met.
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