By David Himbara
General Paul Kagame’s favorite subject is homegrown solutions. By this, he means Rwanda cannot prosper if it depends on outsiders. As Kagame persistently explains, there is no nation or people ”anywhere in the in the history of the world who progressed by receiving assistance from other people.” In practice, however, Kagame does the opposite.
He imports people from abroad to run Rwandan institutions. The University of Rwanda, the Bank of Kigali, the Rwandan Development Board, the Rwandan Energy Group — and even the ruling party’s business empire, Crystal Ventures — are run by Kagame’s imports.
Kagame and some of his imports running Rwandan institutions.
Here are Kagame’s imports running Rwanda’s institutions
- Chancellor of the University of Rwanda — Patricia Campbell, from the US.
- Vice Chancellor of the University of Rwanda — Phil Cotton, from the UK.
- Deputy Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, University of Rwanda — Nelson Mutatina Ijumba, from Tanzania.
- Principal University of Rwanda, College of Education — George Njoroge, from Kenya.
- Board Member, University of Rwanda — David King, from the UK.
- Board Member, University of Rwanda — Deidra Shears (country of origin unknown).
- Chairman of the Board, Bank of Kigali — Marc Holtzman, from the US.
- Chairman of the Board, Rwanda Development Board — Itzhak Fisher, from Israel.
- Chief Investment Officer, Rwanda Development Board — Guy Baron, from the US.
- Chief Executive Officer, Rwanda Energy Group — Ron Weiss, from Israel.
- Chief Executive Officer of Crystal Ventures Ltd — Kok Foong Lee, from Singapore.
Kagame’s rhetoric on homegrown solutions is bogus. Here is a man who has run Rwanda for 24 years but still prefers to import folks from abroad instead of empowering Rwandans to run their institutions.
