24 years on, we cannot afford to be complacent

Yesterday was exactly 24 years since a few brave men and women resolved that enough was enough, and decided that then was the time to free Rwanda from the shackles of a government that knew nothing about governance except sowing seeds of hatred among Rwandans, young and old. I take this opportunity to pay my respectful tribute to such brave souls who paid the ultimate price to secure the freedom and peace that we enjoy in Rwanda today. I also express my deep sense of gratitude to all the freedom fighters, who suffered hardships, imprisonment for a similar cause for the people of Rwanda. During the last 20 years, Rwanda has made spectacular progress in terms of socio-economic development, and the credit for making Rwanda one of the most progressive, prosperous and peaceful countries in the region and beyond goes to the people of Rwanda. Today, Rwanda is reckoned among the front-ranking countries in Africa in various indicators including access to healthcare, access to education, gender equality, security, ease of doing business, and tourism, to name but a few. The human development indices of this country are indeed impressive. Rwanda has witnessed a major turnaround in its economy during the last two decades. In fact, in a little over five years, many studies have indeed confirmed that more than a million people have lifted themselves out of poverty in line with Vision 2020. This achievement has of course been supported by a decade’s economic growth which has exceeded 8 per cent per annum. This is significant because, as we know, Rwanda relies on few natural resources. The tourism and hospitality industry is also gaining a firm foothold – something that previous regimes ignored and failed to exploit. It is true that some of these achievements have been realised with support from various development partners; however, it is also true that failure to recognise the strategic efforts of the current government is to underplay key reforms that have taken place over the years. Having said that, we Rwandans cannot afford any form of complacency; this is because, there is always scope for further development of the socio-economic sector and improvement in public services. We have to consolidate the gains of the past, and at the same time, we have to take effective measures to speed up delivery of key projects to enable weaker sections of our society to benefit equally. This will of course enable us to achieve inclusive growth. And with the strong currents of globalisation hitting our shores via ICT tools, Rwanda will have to plan its development taking into consideration the future requirements. I would also like to emphasise that, for a country like Rwanda, which lacks significant natural resources, it is absolutely important to continue developing our human capital. Recent challenges have meant that many countries are seeking new ways to maintain competitive advantage. In response, the prevailing sense is that the success of key projects will depend in large part on the people with higher levels of individual competence. In the end, the people are becoming valuable assets and can be recognised within a framework of human capital. Broadly speaking, the concept of human capital is semantically the mixture of human and capital. Along with the meaning of capital in the economic perspective, the human is the subject to take charge of all economic activities such as production, consumption, and transaction. On the establishment of these concepts, it can be recognised that human capital means one of production elements which can generate added-values through inputting. In Rwanda, we need this more than ever. In the end, it is clear that our country is passing through a crucial stage in history. On the one hand, we have achieved accelerated economic growth, but on the other hand, we still have challenges like poverty, unemployment, and to some extent, uneven access to financial services. Also in the past, we have had isolated insurgency activities and such other man-made evils that have threatened the country’s core values such as unity and progress. Time has come for each one of us to stand up as one people to defeat such forces. We cannot afford to reverse the efforts of our heroes who went as far as sacrificing their lives so we can enjoy the freedom we have today. The writer is a UK Parliamentary Intern and holds a Master of Science in Public Services Policy.

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24 years on, we cannot afford to be complacent