Date: 03/07/2017
While Mr, Kagame is hailed by many to have stopped the 1994 Rwanda Genocide and led the country to a reasonable progress, the country’s future remains uncertain.
- In a report titled, The Least Developed Countries Report 2016, UNCTAD which stands for (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development), states that by 2025, Rwanda will still be among the Least Developed Countries (LDCs).
- The United States Department of State 2016 Country Report which can be obtained at https://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2016/af/265290.htm, cites Rwanda for a number of Human Rights violations, arbitrary arrests, killings and forced disappearances.
- Local and International organizations are practicing self-censorship for fearing the Government retributions, which makes it difficult to assess the accurate statistics of the progress Rwanda has made.
- In his closing remarks during the 14th government retreat at Gabiro Military Training Camp, Mr Kagame recognized that Rwandan population is suffering, and is not expected to recover from hunger and poverty. The entire speech can be accessed through the link below.
- President Kagame, who has been in power since 1994 as vice President and President, in 2015 he ordered a referendum, which voted to allow him to remain in power until 2034. In August this year, Rwanda will hold Presidential elections, in which Mr. Kagame is expected to run for a 3rd seven year term.
- Human Rights organizations, Amnesty International, Journalists without borders,and the State Department have all accused President Kagame’s government of restricting Free Press, and Freedom of Assembly.
- Rwanda under President Kagame is considered a dictatorship.
- For Harvard Business School to give Mr. Kagame a platform is to endorse his actions, which we (Rwandans) compare to the likes of Stalin or Kim Jong Un. As Anjan Sundaram, the author of Bad News: Last Journalists in a Dictatorship put it “To lionize dictators like Paul Kagame is to mock those they persecuted”.
Turayishimye Jean Paul, J.D.
Member of the Rwandan Community in Massachusetts and,
Rwanda National Congress, Co-Founder
Email:[email protected]
