Kagame’s Guests For Transform Africa Were 2 Out 54 African Presidents

By David Himbara

In his opening remarks at the Transform Africa Summit, General Paul Kagame said:

”We need to keep upping our game in realizing the need for cooperation, it means working directly with each other and it is just logical.”

Here is a man who has closed an international border. And cynically talks about ”upping our game in realizing the need for cooperation” and ”working directly with each other” because ”it is just logical.”

Actions are louder than words. Few of Kagame’s counterparts believe him. Only two African presidents bothered to show up at Transform Africa Summit held in Rwanda from 14–17 May 2019. The two are Kenya’s Uhuru Kenyatta and Mali’s Ibrahim Boubacar Keita.

The other 52 African heads of state stayed away. They recognize the disconnectedness of Kagame’s rhetoric and his actions. He claims to champion borderless digital markets in Africa while closing borders.