Have you ever wished that you could give God a hug? A hug for the victories of our friends, families, and yes, countries!  For Rwanda, great things have happened here in 2016; we should certainly give God a warm hug except for my atheist friends Eric Bright and Collins Mwai.

Eric and Mwai don’t believe that, God or his alleged son, Jesus Christ, exist. But they’re both kind gentlemen who believe in ‘doing good’ which, as ancient Greek philosophers argued, is a virtue of civilization. Believers and nonbelievers, kindness binds us; to me, that is what matters.

It is 11pm on Friday night. I am seated on the couch at the balcony of a room on the topmost floor of one of Kigali’s new 5-star hotels; it’s a very seductive view of Kigali glowing at night. I can see lovers walking on the pavements, stopping occasionally to take selfies.

Love! Certainly among my favorites of all God’s creations; Christmas itself is about love, for self, neigbours and humanity as a whole.

Talking of love, December saw two of my good friends Tom Kakyomya and Sunny Ntayombya separately walk their respective longtime sweethearts down the aisle; may the Lord bless their marriages.  Soon, I should follow in their footsteps.

It’s almost midnight. I have been on the balcony since 10pm, writing this article yet I only have 240 words on the page; obviously, the great view of Kigali at night is a sweet distraction.

This city has changed so much in the last five years that it is almost unbelievable. In 2016, Kigali sped like Usain Bolt yet the finish line is still a couple of years ahead.

It was a great year in which we saw new landmarks unveiled. The city was a theater of continental and international activities; depending on your interests, a handful of moments stood out in 2016 starting with completion, in May, of the US$200 million "KivuWatt” project.

Before KivuWatt’s unveiling amidst international applause, I had visited the plant, in September the previous year, in response to public anxiety then, over its delayed completion.

"It is a ‘lake breaking’ project; a learning process,” Jarmo Gummerus, ContourGlobal’s Country Director told me, in response to KivuWatt’s delayed completion.

Gummerus explained to me what he meant by ‘lake-breaking. "Because there are no templates for whatever we are doing here, there’s no luxury to copy and paste; everything here is being done for the first time, it’s an experiment where we have been learning and unlearning.”

We can put his words in the context of Rwanda’s renaissance journey; at the end of a cruel Genocide against the Tutsi in 1994, with millions dead, a country torn apart, nationals ridden by poverty, hunger and disease…there was simply no template to manage such a situation.

In July, the 6000-seater Kigali Convention Centre (KCC) opened along with a 292 room 5-star hotel, Radisson Blu; like the KivuWatt project, completion of the project whose construction had started in 2009, derailed a couple of times until its successful inauguration.

Later, in October, Marriot was opened; another 5-star hotel gracing Kigali; the opening of the two facilities, in addition to all the others, has since placed Kigali in a firm position to drive its Meeting, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions (MICE) strategy.  

And we have seen quite a number of conferences this year. Perhaps the most outstanding being the World Economic Forum on Africa, held here in May and the African Union Summit which became the first international conference to be hosted in the Convention Centre.

The Pan-African Passport was also launched here, during the AU summit. I may not know when or how I can get one but it was a major step forward to easing travel on the continent as well as deepening integration.

We also witnessed the passing of the Kigali Amendment, following the Montreal Protocol meeting, giving hope to the crusaders of climate change mitigation; the Tour du Rwanda where our boys put up record performances. It was incredible stuff.

Time check; 1am Saturday morning and I am still on the balcony. It is getting colder but I can’t go into the room before completing this commentary.

I am reminiscing on that moment, when President Paul Kagame gave the King of Morocco a ride to the Airport in that majestic black Range Rover at the end of his State visit that saw 19 bilateral agreements signed, when a loud earth shaking sound jerks me out of my thoughts.

It is a heavy aircraft taxing on the runaway; its noise is value addition as it reminds me of yet another 2016 moment; RwandAir’s acquisition of an Airbus 330-200 (Ubumwe) in November.

Weeks later, a Boeing 737-800 Next Generation (Kalisimbi) was added, signaling a truly determined nation, ready to fly, high and wide beyond the skies, formally thought to be the limit.

On a personal note; in January, I left the newsroom and joined a bank. It has been a year of transition, learning and unlearning, plenty of mistakes but tons of lessons. I am hoping for a better me in 2017; it is the same wish I have for you.

Have a Merry Christmas & Prosperous New Year.