Kagame: Rwanda’s Progress Can be Replicated in Africa

While speaking at a dinner held under the theme Integrating Infrastructure into Socio-Economic Transformation, President Kagame commended Rwanda’s infrastructure development adding that the progress can be applicable in other countries.

“What we have done is no miracle,” President Kagame told the audience.

“It can be done anywhere in Africa, maybe even better. It is about follow through, knowing what you want to do and actually doing it.

The difference lies in building institutions, people and leaders who will make these institutions work.

It is about implementing the policies identified by people.” President Kagame explained.

“We chose to push hard to get results and used these results to show more can be done for everyone’s benefits because no one will come from far away to come and do it for us.”President Kagame added.

The next questions focused on Rwanda’s ability to transform its vision into action and the challenges encountered along the way.

The latter included Rwanda’s position as a landlocked country and the need to build capacity that can address the infrastructure gap.

“We can’t change Rwanda being a landlocked country but we can overcome it,” President Kagame told the audience.

With 17% of Rwanda’s budget going to education, President Kagame explained the strides that continue to be made to build sustainable institutions that will meet the infrastructure gap.

To address the challenge of capacity, President Kagame told the audience that Rwanda learns best practices from around the world and relies on external expertise.

However, as President Kagame reminded the audience, one of the challenge remaining is posed by those “who want to help their own way and determine their own priorities.”

“In Rwanda, we work to own our development process,” he added.

Convened by McKinsey and Company and co-hosted by the Government of the Republic of Turkey, TIME Magazine and Albright Stonebridge Group, the conference will build on the expertise of the hundreds of leaders present to Rethink Infrastructure and provide recommendations on what will be reqired to lead to long term infrastructure change.