By David Himbara
In the grim photograph Kagame cabinet ministers are listening to his State of the Nation Address on 16 December 2013. The President is citing impressive data on his alleged developmental accomplishments. Most of it is embellished – and of course no one would dare question an iota of his tall tales.
But one thing is evident to every thinking woman and man in Rwanda. Kagame has failed miserably at providing the most essential element for social economic well-being: electricity. Electricity is elementary to well being of any society, and supports pretty much everything, as someone once put it, “from a human’s subconscious fear of the dark to the practical need for working illumination.” The entire world essentially runs on electricity, in one form or another, and Rwanda is no exception.
So here is a man that says he is transforming Rwanda but does not prioritise power generation and access. Look closely at Electricity Consumption per capita (kWh) 2013 country comparisons by rank
http://www.photius.com/rankings/energy/electricity_consumption_per_capita_2013_0.html
Rwanda ranks 210th globally immediately after Somalia in 209th position. Burundi is the 213th among the wretched of the earth.
Which then begs many questions: Does the President of Rwanda not know that lighting alone is the backbone of every socioeconomic transformation? Is there any other way of paving the way for extended work capabilities via which prosperity is created and spreads? Do you want me to believe Kagame is not aware that electric power runs the world, with governments, private companies and financial institutions relying on it daily for communication, commerce and and trade? That he is unaware power also extends to the average Rwandan, for among other things mobile communications? Perhaps most puzzling is: how does Kagame imagine his pet sector, ICT will ever take-off, having falsely claimed he is so called DIGITAL PRESIDENT?
At the state of the Nation Address Dec 2013 the President spectacularly claimed that he wants electricity quickly, quickly. But we also know in March 2013, he equally in a dramatic fashion claimed he would not wait for electricity any longer and that he would engineer a solution.
A less charitable assessment of this “performance” would be that Rwanda is led by a pathological liar. A more generous assessment would see a failed leader. I pick the latter but my readers are free to choose.