Editor,I wish to comment on the article, “Rwanda’s aid cuts – A blessing in disguise”, by Diana Mpyisi, published in The New Times on December 6.Honestly, I find the move by some donors to freeze aid to Rwanda a pure blessing, not a blessing in disguise. I agree the economy is going to feel a pinch, but there are certainly good times ahead of us. I think Rwanda is the place to be right now.I have seen many African countries making a fuss from a visit by western leaders, yet the same is not true when it is fellow African leaders visiting. Yet it should be the vice versa, because, truth be told, western leaders don’t give a damn about Africa.Aid cuts should mean that our leaders work even harder to eradicate corruption, speed up regional and continental integration, and double or even triple intra-African trade. I know Rwanda is doing extremely well in these aspects, but we should work harder to convince our neighbours to speed up integration process. Once these issues are resolved, we will absolutely have no need for aid; we will actually be respected around the world.I encourage the west to stop aid for the whole of Africa; this will help us achieve integration much faster since most of us just talk about it, but with little or no action altogether. We should be happy when we hear news about aid cuts; it means chains have been cut off our hands and feet. We just need to remove the chains from our minds for us to be self sufficient. Remember aid means chains! Thank you,Timmy Pasi,
