Monday 17 November 2014

The problem in Rwanda is not President Paul Kagame - the problem is us Rwandans




Let us revisit Joseph de Maistre's famous statement that "Every country has the government it deserves (Toute nation a le gouvernement qu’elle mérite") written way back on 15 August 1811.
Rwandans inside and outside Rwanda must accept that we get regimes we deserve.
You may say that you had nothing to do with bringing the current one to power, and that therefore you don't deserve it. But the Rwandan character of conformity, blind obedience, and fear of authority is the mother of the problem.
As we all know conformity in Rwandan culture runs very deep. In Rwandan history, from Rwabugiri era, Kanjogera, Musinga, Rudahingwa, Kayibanda, Habyarimana, and Kagame, every Rwandan obeys powerholders as if they were gods. Rwandan people worship, obey, and fear power than even our cousins next door in Burundi if you realize how they dare debate issues that are taboo in Rwanda.

By coincidence there were recently demonstrations in Rwanda and Burkina Faso.

In the Rwandan demonstrations, Kagame regime simply rounded people, and like zombies, they matched on the streets to denounce a BBC documentary they probably had not even watched.
In Burkina Faso, citizens stopped a regime to carry out a constitutional coup d'etat by changing the constitution that would have allowed a dictator to hold onto power.





Meanwhile Rwandans, even those overseas, are hiding under their beds fearful of the dictatorship in their homeland hoping and waiting for a miracle to end the regime in Kigali.
And you wonder why nations get rulers they deserve! All of us look in the mirror and whisper to yourself what you see.......

Source: David Himbara


President Paul Kagame's mirage railway in back - surprise!

11 Nov 2014


Kagame says his global-trotting between 18 August and 7 November that begun with Rwanda Day in Atlanta, USA and ended in New Delhi is about mobilizing resources. For nearly three months? He has now claimed that top of his agenda is to bring railways to Rwanda - that is what he is hunting for in his global travels.
But hold on...it is important to draw lessons from Kagame's history on the mirage rail in Rwanda before prematurely celebrating that he is looking for resources to build it by 2018.
Here is the gentleman's record:
* Early 2000s, President Paul Kagame moots the idea of building a rail line linking Rwanda to the Tanzanian rail network to the Indian Ocean port of Dar es Salaam; He sees Burundi as part of the plan;
* 2005-2006 – Kagame persuades the African Development Bank (AfDB) to co-finance the survey of the rail route that would link Isaka, Tanzania to Kigali/Bujumbura; AfDB was to have covered 90%, with Rwanda and Tanzania covering 10%;
* 2007 – a leading American rail builder and operator, Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF), is recruited by the Rwandan President to assess the viability of the project;
* 2008 – United States Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) funds early investment analysis on a proposed upgrade to the Dar es Salaam to Isaka Railway; BNSF conducts an investment analysis; http://www.ustda.gov/…/Sub…/Tanzania/TanzaniaRail_111908.asp

* 2008 - President Kikwete announces that construction of the railway would begin in 2008, supported by BNSF; http://www.afrika.no/Detailed/16049.html

* 2009 – Kagame government confirms that not only is BNSF’s design of the rail already advanced, potential inventors to finance the project were already found.
* 2010-2011– The rail is forgotten;
* 2013 - Kagame announces he will hit Kikwete at the right time;
2014 - Presidents Kenyatta, Museveni and Kagame announce the Kigali-Kampala-Mombasa rail - Kikwete dumped.
Here we are in 2014, and President Kagame is claiming that among the reasons he is global-trotting is to find money to build a railway! Would he find rail builders/investors in Altanta? In Abu Dhabi? Busan, Korea? Jakarta, Indonesia? New Delhi?
Don’t bank on any of these half-cooked and hasty pronouncements about building railways in Rwanda by 2018. This mirage will go the same way as Kagame’s Kigali-Dar lunatic express – dead things that are permanently on the drawing board.

Source: David Himbara

When rulers take citizens for fools

14 Nov 2014




After a three month global-trotting, President Paul Kagame is now sharing with the citizens the good news of what he achieved, including the railroad. Mr and Mrs Kagame seem to be pleased - the cheering crowd is a sign of love and popularity.

Is that so?

Take a closer look at the cheering crowd in this photo. These are school children bussed in for the occasion.
These are the games played when rulers take citizens for fools. Citizens are never fools though - they merely play survival games. They attend these political rallies because the police state is watching via Nyumba Kumi.


By: David Himbara

President Kagame's enormous power and wealth can't buy him what he needs most....

16 Nov 2014











1. Peace of Mind. Look at this photograph of Kagame at Kirehe, Eastern Province. For a gentleman who says he is powerful and popular, he needs a whole army battalion to "protect" him from citizens...This is hardly a sign of having a peace of mind.
2. Sanity and happiness. Power and wealth are not by themselves cure-all against an ill-led life that include physical elimination of compatriots.Executive jets, expensive hotels, and trips to American, European and Asian capitals do not increase Kagame's sanity and happiness. To the contrary....
3. Friendship. No amount of power, status, or wealth can compensate for a life devoid of genuine friends. With Blaise Compaore, Burkina Faso dictator, overthrown, the only head of state Kagame may call a friend is Uganda's Yoweri Museveni.

Source: David Himbara

President Kagame's announcement of soon-to-be Rwanda railway took me back to 1896!

16 Nov 2014



Why 1896? That is the year Kanjogera consolidated her power having conspired to murder the newly-installed ruler Rutarindwa who was burnt alive with his entire family and followers.
But the year 1896 has greater significance in the broader East Africa. That is when the building of the original 600-mile length of Uganda-Kenya Railway begun, linking the interior to the coast .
Enter Kagame, who happens to be a nephew of Kanjogera.
Whether Kagame is aware or not, when he announced the Rwandan railway on his recent rallies, we are two years short of celebrating the 120th year since the arrival of the railway in East Africa. Sadly, we are also two years short of commemorating the rise of Kanjogera and the mass murder she unleashed from 1896 onwards.
This raises a question: will Kagame be remembered for bringing a railroad to Rwanda, or for mass murder like his grand aunt Kanjogera? One thing is for sure....no one, not even Kagame can hide from history. For those unable to speculate the answer, history will in due course confirm Kagame's legacy.

Source: David Himbara

How much aid has Rwanda received since 1994?


James B from Kigali wants to know how much aid Rwanda has received since 1994. To answer this question, let us first understand the definitions of "aid." The term "official development assistance" (ODA) describes:
1. Loans made on concessional terms, meaning, loans that do not bear any interest or a rate of interest that is below the average cost;
2. Grants are non-repayable funds made by donor nations or by multilateral agencies to recipient countries;
3. Loans with a grant element of at least 25 percent discount.
The following are annual ODA (in US$) that Rwanda has received from 1994 to 2013. It is evident that ODA to Rwanda steadily increased from $335 million in 2003 to $1.2 billion in 2011 before sharply being reduced to $878 million in 2013, and further declining to $661 million in 2013.
The sharp reduction of ODA to Rwanda in 2012 and 2013 mark the period when donors cut or suspended aid to Rwanda in protest of the Kagame government sponsorship of M23 in DR Congo. The data below showing the year and the amount of ODA Rwanda received is from the World Bank:
1994 -....711,750,000
1995 -....694,700,000
1996 -....465,310,000
1997 -....229,670,000
1998 -....350,070,000
1999 -....373,080,000
2000 -....321,460,000
2001 -....304,880,000
2002 -....362,920,000
2003 -....335,240,000
2004 -....490,110,000
2005 -....577,400,000
2006 -....603,070,000
2007 -....722,570,000
2008 -....933,510,000
2009 -....933,590,000
2010 - 1,032,200,000
2011 - 1,264,000,000
2012 -....878,990,000
2013 -....661,428,571
Rwanda has clearly received substantial aid of over $12 billion in 20 years, making the country the biggest per capita ODA recipient in East Africa. Rwanda ODA capita was in 2012, $77; Kenya, $61; Tanzania, $59; Burundi, $53, and Uganda, $49.

Source: David Himbara