By David Himbara
General Paul Kagame has been shouting on the rooftops that Rwanda would soon become a hub for producing mRNA vaccines for the African continent. Kagame announced in May 2021 that “In the context of developing hubs for manufacturing the vaccines in our continent, Rwanda is in advanced talks with private firms and multilateral agencies to build manufacturing capacity in our region.”
Like many other Kagame fantasies about turning Rwanda into a hub for all manner of services, his mRNA vaccines delusion has crashed. On February 18, 2022, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa and Tunisia have qualified to become mRNA vaccine hub “with strong support from African and European partners.”
Kagame seems to have forgotten that in order to become a hub for producing mRNA, a country needs appropriate infrastructure, workforce, clinical research and regulatory capacity, none of which Rwanda has. These are the basics Kagame should be building instead of “dreaming big” as he likes to boast. Stay tuned.