Kagame dropped the Covid19 testing fee to US$5. Only 8 percent of the 12.9 million Rwandans earn more than US$5.50 a day.

By David Himbara

General Paul Kagame’s regime announced that from August 9, 2021, the price of the Covid-19 rapid test will drop to RWF5,000 or US$5. With an average family size of 4.5 people, a Rwandan household would need US$22.5 for Covid19 testing. This is a country in which 92 percent of the population lives on less than US$5.50 a day. The overwhelming majority of Rwandans are, therefore, still priced out of Covid19 testing.

General Paul Kagame has been loudly accusing the West of endangering African lives by hoarding Covid19 vaccines. Yet, Kagame’s cruelty against the people of Rwanda is of the worst kind – the cost of Covid19 testing is more than what most Rwandans earn in a day. Shamelessly, his regime announced on Twitter that from August 9, 2021, the price of a rapid diagnostic test for Covid-19 will drop to RWF5,000.

RWF5,000 translates into US$5. This is simply too high and too prohibitive for a poor country like Rwanda. With an average family size of 4.5 people, a Rwandan household must come up with US$22.5 for Covid19 testing. Somebody should remind Kagame how poor Rwanda is. Rwanda’s poverty headcount ratio at $5.50 a day is 92 percent. Put differently, only 8 percent of Rwandans are not poor, per the international poverty line which defines poverty as the percentage of the population living on less than of US$5.50 a day. Evidently, Kagame does not know the country he rules with an iron fist. Stay tuned.