Onward, Rwandans, marching to prosperity

The news on Rwanda these last few days has been uplifting. Some of it has not been quite new. It has been a confirmation of the continuing efforts of Rwandans to turn the country into an attractive investment destination – whether it is about President Paul Kagame making an investment pitch in Miami, Atlanta, and Los Angeles or in some European or Asian city, or the Rwanda Development Board scoring marks for ease of doing business.The new is also not so new. It is a continuation of these efforts to raise capital both locally and overseas to build a country in which citizens enjoy greater prosperity, security and dignity. It has been about building and securing the future of this country.It was not like this barely two months ago. Then the news was quite depressing. We were busy fending off wave after wave of attacks over events that were happening beyond our borders. We were supposed to be responsible for unrest and the absence of the state in a certain huge territory whose inept owners are happy to lease to every stripe of adventurer at no fee. Oh, the shame of it.Tongues were wagging. Fingers were pointing. Daggers were out. All aimed at this so-called tiny country. Maybe we have more power than we realise, and perhaps we should begin to exercise it and throw our small, but apparently heavy, weight around. Then perhaps people will have the justification for baying for our blood and can then unsheathe their daggers to cut a piece off our frame and reduce the weight.For that is what it has become – an attempt to cut the upstart to size, trim the wings of these people who want to fly so they won’t take off, and knock their pig heads so that they can show some respect to stragglers, other slow movers and even the outright retarded. There are plenty of those around even though they have been outrageously well-endowed.The strength of feeling Rwandans arouse among some people and the consequent clamour for their collective head reminds me of a certain John whose head some woman demanded before she could lie at ease. You see John made her uncomfortable with revelations of her goings on. She got his head alright, but not the ease she craved.I wonder, do we sometimes remind some people of their iniquities? Do we know too much for the comfort of some? Notice I have not said anything about John’s cousin and master, The unceasing clamour of a mob incited by people who knew better – priests, scholars of the law, writers and politicians caused the death of an innocent, if not quite ordinary, man. His innocence was proved when he defied his murders and returned to life, albeit as more spirit than man.That was more than two thousand years ago and may be things have changed. In Rwanda the daggers were drawn by the protectors of people’s rights, the defenders of justice and fairness, and the advocates of freedom of choice self-determination. And sure enough the daggers found something to cut. They slashed into aid. I had always thought aid was given to help people get up, not to bring them to their knees. Obviously that sort of morality belongs to another age and different place.Amidst all the clamour, Rwandans refused to put their heads on the block and make it easy for the executioner. Instead, they vowed to move on and build the future and avoid daggers. Indeed the experience proved the need to find ways to blunt the knives. That is what the latest news has been about showing how Rwanda is doing it.The World Bank and its International Finance Corporation wing just issued a report chronicling Rwanda’s progress in creating the right climate for investment. For eight years running, Rwanda has been the second most improved economy globally. You might say this is no longer news; that it is now a way of life. But in an environment where all the news is about mass rape and massacres, plunder and poverty, where charlatans and the corrupt are in power, this is indeed great news.The same institutions commend Rwanda’s efforts to develop the private sector. The news in Rwanda, and in other parts of Africa, has been about developing capital markets as means of generating capital locally. The impending listing of several more banks and telecom companies on Rwanda’s stock exchange has received wide coverage. Many will recall that the stock market is less than ten years old in this country and most business people had never heard of such a thing.This new development comes after the much reported Eurobond offer that received overwhelming response.The news is good, but we are not out of the woods yet. We are still within daggers’ reach. The envious and criminals still abound and have the capacity to bully and menace. Mercifully, those itching to be prosperous and to build exist, too. They have the ability and will to create the means to overcome the menace and push ahead.Blog: josephrwagatare.wordpress.com

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Onward, Rwandans, marching to prosperity