About 200 participants are expected to meet in Kigali today at a national symposium that will feature discussions about 50 years of Africa’s independence, Rwanda’s 19 years after the liberation war and the role of Africa’s unity in the economic development of the continent. Organised by the Government of Rwanda, through Rwanda Governance Board (RGB) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the forum will serve as a platform for a dialogue between politicians, academics, and the public to talk about Rwanda and Africa’s socio-economic transformation and how to deal with current challenges for the continent’s development. Officials at the RGB said at a news briefing, yesterday, that the forum will mainly seek to raise awareness of what has been experienced in the last 50 years of African renaissance and Rwanda’s 19 years after the liberation. RGB Chief Executive Anastase Shyaka said the forum will challenge Rwandans to think about how Africans can own their future instead of letting foreign influence hover over them. "Can we make our future as Africans more predictable? Can we own our future? This meeting is going to be a catalyst to think about these questions,” Prof. Shyaka said. He will lead a panel tackling the theme of home-grown solutions for Africa’s socio-economic transformation with the Rwandan case in focus. Rwanda is known for having applied local approaches to deal with some of its most challenging problems such as trying Genocide suspects where community-based courts, Gacaca, have been helpful, Imihigo performance contracts to fast-track development, and Abunzi (local mediators) to settle conflicts, among other approaches. Africa a home to some of the world’s fastest-growing economies, with a growing middle class emerging out of the formerly colonised poverty-stricken continent. A view of the long roadBut activists advocating for the continent’s independence have continued to ask if it is possible for Africans to push the envelope and be more in charge of their own destiny despite the achievements made after many African countries got independence. "This forum will be a platform to apply sufficient reasoning to the search for sustainable peace, development and self-reliance,” officials at the RGB said in a symposium concept note.The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Louise Mushikiwabo, is expected to discuss Africa’s voice in the global world some 50 years after the African Union, formerly OAU, was founded. AU is the largest Pan-African organisation where African leaders meet to set new priorities for the continent and set the tone of the Africa’s interaction with the rest of the world. The symposium will be conducted from 3pm to 6pm at Kigali Institute of Science and Technology and is also expected to air interactions from Rwandans across the country and in the Diaspora.