Forbes lists Kagame among top African personalities

President Paul Kagame has been named among the 2011 personalities by the Forbes Africa Magazine and among the 70 most powerful people on the planet. According to December 2011-January 2012 edition, President Kagame is named along with 20 other most influential African personalities. Prominent on the list are noble laureates, activists, politicians and economists. Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, the Governor Central Bank of Nigeria, emerged as the most powerful person in Africa. President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia, Pedro Veron Pires, former President of Cape Verde, the late Professor Wangari Mathai, Nobel Prize Kenyan environmental and political activist also feature on the list. Others are Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man, Goodluck Johnson, the President of Nigeria, John Atta Mills, the President of Ghana, Rebecca Kadaga, the Speaker of the Parliament of Uganda and Mohamed Bouazizi, the Tunisian Street Vendor who set himself on fire, a move that triggered the widespread Arab spring revolutionaries. Kagame was named in the list due to the fact that he spearheaded Rwanda’s transformation after the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi which has led the country to become one of the fastest growing economies in Africa. “Kagame is also driving the East African Community initiative, a renowned Publication New Statesman named him as one of the 50 people in the world who matter,” reads the Forbes magazine. Speaking to The New Times yesterday, Antonia Mutoro, the Executive Director of Rwanda’s Institute of Policy Analysis and Research (IPAR), expressed gratitude saying that President Kagame had done a lot for Rwanda and merited the status. “We do a lot of research in Rwanda, and we have found out that the country has progressed tremendously in the areas of social and economic development,” she asserted. “I am very proud to be a Rwandan. He is our role model wherever we go,” she said. Apollinaire Mupiganyi, the Executive Secretary of Transparency Rwanda, said that Kagame had shaped the development process in Rwanda, especially in fighting graft. “Our president has demonstrated exemplary leadership in terms of fighting corruption because many people in other countries have been asking us about the measures we have put in place to combat graft,” he added. He stated that the Head of State is an exemplary leader who has a vision, noting that he was not surprised that Kagame had been named among the world’s 70 most influential people. Elizabeth Rugina, a Sterilization Attendant at King Faisal Hospital, remarked that President Kagame’s good governance practices and positive economic policies exemplified strong positive leadership. “Our President has improved Rwanda through the promotion of education, health, infrastructure, transparency and reconciliation. We are enjoying better services from our government due to his strong positive leadership values,” she said. frank.kanyesigye@newtimes.co.rw

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Forbes lists Kagame among top African personalities