Kagame cautions Africa, Rwanda

 By Anne Mugisa in Kigali

The President of Rwanda Paul Kagame, has said that Rwanda’s and Africa,s redemption lies in sustainable home-grown development and growth through self- reliance.

“If we do not achieve self-reliance, some will think they have the right to make us carry their burden. ..We cannot achieve this without proper planning and effective planning and proper strategy. We need to improve collaboration within our institutions, move from plans to implementation with results,” he added.

President Kagame was opening a three day national leadership retreat for central and local government officials to reflect on government the achievements and challenges over the past first year of its ambitious five-year economic development programme. The programme code-named the Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy (EDPRS2) is in its second year.

The retreat at the Gabiro School of Infantry, a two hour drive out of the Capital Kigali in the country’s Eastern Province was opened by President Paul Kagame. According to Government officials, holding the retreat at the infantry school instead of a costly hotel is one of the ways to encourage frugal government expenditure to save resources for development programmes.

In his key note address, President Kagame said that the country is targeting an 11.5% economic growth as compared to 8.2% growth about a decade ago.

According to him, this EDPRS2 will focus on economic transformation, rural development, productivity and youth employment as well as accountable governance. He said that the retreat will focus on strategies set out in the EDPRS2
He told the participants that the retreat is a time for them to examine progress and work together “to take Rwanda as far as we can go and as fast as we can.”

According to the Government officials, the retreat will focus on making strategies for effective implementation of the targets. And cutting costs is seen as one of the ways to do that.

The officials said that the retreat will examine… including private sector led economic growth and development of the requisite human resources to implement these strategies.

According to the Minister for Cabinet Affairs, Protais Musoni, the overriding objective is to double the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita to US$1,240 from the current US$600.

The retreat, according to Musoni, not only helps put the country on track for different development programmes, but also promotes the spirit of teamwork among the nation’s leaders which would greatly boost efficiency.

In last year’s retreat, emphasis was put on the priority areas of; improving service delivery, job creation, agricultural transformation and energy.