The President finally broke the ice, cleared the air on what the real issues with Uganda were; Illegal detention, torture and harassment of Rwandan citizens and the RNC destabilization equation were at the bottom of the matter. That was during the ongoing Leadership Retreat in Gabiro that brought together over 350 top government and private sector officials. The President even spoke of the several meetings with President Museveni that have fallen on deaf ears in the name of “economic interests”. In such matters, there is so much one can do and Rwanda’s only leverage is to advise its nationals to think twice before going where they are likely to meet with trouble. The Uganda subject was just a by-the-way; there were many things that cropped up, especially after the Prime Minister gave a recap on the state of implementation of the previous retreat’s resolutions. Not everything was gloomy; there were very positive outcomes that show this country is in “work” mode. First of all, 77 percent of the recommendations of the previous retreat were successfully addressed. But none stood out more than the fact that the government had given itself a target of building at least 100 but it outdid itself by building 103. This is part of the government’s ambitious plans to build a health centre in all the Cells in the country in a bid to bring health services closer to the people. Who can beat that? Rwanda’s first priority is the welfare of its people. So when the government advises its citizens to exercise extreme caution if they have the urge to go to Uganda at the moment, it only has their interests at heart, unlike the “economic interests” cited above. editor@newtimesrwanda.com
