On a path to progress

For some people who set foot in Rwanda in 1994 and those who watched from a distance, it would have been hard to imagine that fourteen years down the road the country would have "found its feet” and forged ahead.

Looking at Kigali’s skyline, there has been a lot of changes that are a measure of the developments that have since taken place.

According to John Mbanda, a photo journalist who came to Kigali immediately after the war, Kigali was underdeveloped and without any remarkable buildings.

"The sky line is now very different with many high rise buildings and new posh suburbs coming up” says Mbanda.

Economic advancement 

Fourteen years down the road, many who perceived Rwanda as a basket case, have had to reassess. They now find themselves looking on with awe at what has been achieved.

On the economic front, Rwanda has made remarkable progress since 1994. The economy has recovered and has registered steady growth.

Jack Kayiranga, a resident of Gaculiro, a Kigali suburb, comments on Nyarutarama and Gaculiro, the city’s new housing estates.

"I had never lived in an organised environment, but now I am a resident of this housing estate which is well organised” says Kayiranga, pointing towards Gaculiro where he lives with his family of four.

Kayiranga is among the fast increasing middle class in Rwanda some of whom have taken advantage of the mortgage housing scheme that is championed by BCR.

The Rwandan economy has in recent years attracted reputable foreign investors. Many of these already signed deals that will see them invest millions of dollars in the country.

Dubai World the investment holding entity of the United Arab Emirates announced in October 2007, that it will invest $230m in Rwanda.

Istithimar Real Estate, the investment arm of Dubai World, has said it is to invest in the development of eight tourism facilities in Rwanda.

These investments according to Dubai World include a golf course and a 150 room luxury hotel in Kigali. Others include several lodges in "tourism rich areas” throughout the country.

Another recent entrant in the Rwandan economy is Lap Green, a Libyan business consortium. Lap Green has already bought a majority stake in Rwandatel further outlining the confidence reputable international business interests have in the Rwandan economy.

Lap Green is owned by the Libya Africa Investment Portfolio for Africa, a consortium that represents the Libyan government’s business interests on the African continent.

Apart from the telecommunications, sector Lap Green is also interested in real estate development in Rwanda. These include shares in a convention center that is to be constructed in Kigali.

Political steps

On the political front, Rwanda for the first time in its history held free and fair elections at different levels of government. The 2003 elections saw Paul Kagame win the country’s first direct presidential elections.

The Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF-Inkotanyi) which is the main political party leads the country in partnership with other political parties.

The wave of democratisation in Rwanda ushered in after 1994, has led to the elevation of the role and status of women at different levels of leadership and decision making. Women are required to hold at least 36 per cent of representation in cabinet.

No woman left behind

In parliament women have more than 48 per cent representation. This is also reflected in the judiciary where women are make up half of the members.

These efforts which are evidently championed by the country’s leadership led the Geneva based NGO Femmes Africa Solidarite (FAS), to award the biennially Africa Gender Award to the Rwanda president Paul Kagame in November 2007.

In its efforts to put women affairs at the fore front, the government created the ministry of gender and women affairs. More to this, women committees have been set up in the different Rwandan villages.

The electoral system also allows women to be elected to positions of leadership. Women have gained the right to inherit property from their husbands and fathers.

Reconciliation

Rwanda in the after math of the 1994 genocide has committed itself to bring about justice and reconciliation. The Gacaca restorative justice system, criticised in some quarters, has played a great role in bringing about justice and reconciliation.

The clear understanding of how genocide can impact on any community and commitment to stop it, is reflected in Rwanda’s efforts to bring about peace in the Darfur region of the western Sudan.

Under the auspices of the African Union the Rwandan Defense Forces have been engaged in peacekeeping in Darfur since 2004.

Media trudges on

The role of the local media in the Genocide has been widely talked and written about. The radio station RTLM and the newspaper Kangura played a major role in perpetrating the Genocide.

Today, at least some media houses are seen to be acting responsibly and professionally. The media has registered the arrival of new media houses both print and electronic.

For the first time in the history of Rwanda according to Kennedy Ndahiro, a veteran journalist in Rwanda, the country has seen the birth of news papers whose medium of communication is English.

Since 1994 a number of English newspapers including; The New Times, News Line, Rwanda Champion, Rwanda Herald, Business Daily and Focus, have hit the streets of Kigali (though some have not stood the test of time).

Several Kinya-rwanda papers have also come up, and circulate on bi-weekly, weekly and also bi-monthly basis.

Coming home

Yet another milestone in the post 1994 Rwanda is the return of exiles to the country. Rwanda no longer has the reputation of exporting refugees as was the case prior to 1994.

People who had fled the country in 1959 and in the sixties returned to Rwanda in the aftermath of the countries liberation in 1994.

The others who were forced to flee the country by the defeated Genocide government also returned to the country when they were rescued from the Genocidal forces that had taken them hostage in Eastern DR Congo.

Ends