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President Kagame on Vienna AU-EU forum: It was a continuation of the good discussion held at Abidjan AU-EU summit. It’s important for Africa and Europe to relate to each other in a partnership of equals, not where one is a permanent recipient of the other’s generosity.
President Kagame on Rwanda’s Home-Grown Solutions: We sought solutions from within our values and traditions because we had tried everything else and come up with nothing. Like in the rest of Africa, people experimented on us, we accepted it, and it came to nothing.
President Kagame: A few decades ago, African countries were at the same level of development as some Asian countries, which have now advanced where we have stagnated. There has to be some interrogation about this, there’s a need to try something else.
President Kagame: We started with Rwanda’s own value system. In the past, we had solutions that worked to create cohesion in our society. Some practices we had in our traditions have parallels today, but we had discarded them and took what was shoved down our throats.
President Kagame: For example, it would have taken hundreds of years to try genocide suspects in courts. Rwanda used our traditional method of solving disputes; Gacaca. We tried hundreds of thousands of cases while bringing about reconciliation.
President Kagame: In comparison, the UN international tribunal, ICTR, after two decades had tried 62 cases and spent billions of dollars. There are solutions within our traditions, in all our countries. And we can also learn from each other.
President Kagame on personal motivation: Determination to make progress is not limited to a few individuals. Everyone has the right, every individual has to play their part. For me, we share this broadly in Rwanda, any situation where people remain poor should make us angry.
President Kagame: If you feel you are not satisfied and want to get out of it, the dissatisfaction gives you the energy to do just that. I’ve been uncomfortable since my childhood in a situation of deprivation. It was not what I, my community, or any other person deserved.
President Kagame: Why should Africans survive on the kindness & generosity of foreigners? People in this room have different backgrounds, have learned & taught in universities abroad. Why not use this to change our situation? Africans have the capacities to change our continent.
President Kagame on promoting women: It’s simple. When I talk about Africans or Rwandans, I mean women & men. In Rwanda, women constitute 52% of the population. It’s absolutely stupid to alienate half of Rwandans. They have a right to participate. We are not doing them a favor.
President Kagame: We started by education for empowerment, women were not benefitting fully. For example, population growth was 3.2%, educating women helped them to see that they can be active at work and have a family they can take care of. This helped to reduce the birthrate.
President Kagame on attracting investments to Rwanda: It’s not a secret, it’s everything we have done in the open. We didn’t hide our problems. Then we looked for solutions, created institutions to hold ourselves accountable. We refused to accept corruption as a way of life.
President Kagame: But these things alone do not put food on the table. This is done by business, entrepreneurship, innovation & productivity. We created an environment that is conducive to business, if you want to bring your money to Rwanda, you know what to expect.
President Kagame: We have emphasized regional integration, as part of the East African Community. Rwanda is an entry point to a larger market of 150-170 million people. That’s the beauty of integration, together we are bigger than we are alone.
President Kagame: We’ve worked to make people interested in investing with us and in us. It takes 6 hours to register a business, used to be 90. And many other reforms, efficiency,& transparency. People have seen some of it for themselves, but we have also gone out to tell them.
President Kagame on corruption: You have to take the fight to the big guys. We hold everyone accountable. We have an Ombudsman. Everyone makes a wealth, declaration starting with the president. I am usually one of the first to submit my forms.
President Kagame: Along the way we have demonstrated that people will be held responsible. My friend @NOIweala wrote a book “Fighting Corruption is Dangerous”. I told her she needs to write another one, “Not fighting Corruption is even More Dangerous.”
