Volkswagen South Africa is ready to start assembling vehicles in Kenya. Several models, including Vivo, a small sedan, will soon roll out of the Thika plant outside Nairobi. Meanwhile in Rwanda, the Kagame regime is making loud noise about an agreement with the same company to assemble cars in Rwanda.
But if we read carefully Kagame’s newspaper, the New Times, all Volkswagen “promised” the Rwandan ruler was to research the matter: “Thomas Schäfer, the chief executive of Volkswagen South Africa…told journalists that the firm will have accomplished its market research in Rwanda by May next year.”
One other for Kagame to think about – Rwanda does not have enough electricity to run a large assembly plant. A substantial factory would plunge the whole country into darkness.
By David Himbara
