How the World Economic Forum Became A Partner In Kagame’s Delusions of Grandeur

Open Letter to Mr. Klaus Schwab, Executive Chairman, the World Economic Forum (WEF)

August 30, 2016

Dear Sir, in your annual competitiveness reports, you rank Rwanda very highly. In the Global Competitiveness Index 2014–2015, for example, you ranked Rwanda 62nd out of 147 economies. According to you, Rwanda is one of Africa’s most competitive economies and the top performer in East Africa — well ahead of Kenya ranked 90th, Tanzania and Uganda, ranked 121st and 122nd, respectively.

Mr. Schwab, these rankings are questionable, not least because Rwanda is heavily dependent on its neighbors from which it imports most of its basic needs as well as foreign investment. For example, four out of six companies listed on the Rwanda Stock Exchange are Kenyan. Further, Rwanda’s economy is by far the smallest compared to its neighbors in terms of gross domestic product (GDP) and per capita income as indicated by the 2015 World Bank data:

• Kenya’s GDP was $63,398 with a GDP per capita, PPP (current international $) of $3,082.5.
• Tanzania’s GDP was $44,895 with a GDP per capita, PPP (current international $) of $2,667.3
• Uganda’s GDP was $26,369 with a GDP per capita, PPP (current international $) of $1,825.3.
• Rwanda’s GDP was $8,095 with a GDP per capita, PPP (current international $) of $1,758.7.

Even when looking at the factors WEF supposedly measures to determine its competitive rankings, namely, institutions, infrastructure, and education and health; there is no way that Rwanda outperforms its larger neighbors, least of all, in the state of economic infrastructure as I comprehensively demonstrate in my new book, Kagame’s Economic Mirage.

Dear Mr. Schwab, I now know where your problem is — it is in the method you use to draft your competitiveness report, or more precisely, what you term “partner institutes” that provide you the data. This is how you explain the importance of your partner institutes:

The World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness and Benchmarking Network is pleased to acknowledge and thank the following organizations as its valued Partner Institutes, without which the realization of The Global Competitiveness Report 2014–2015 would not have been feasible:

In the case of Kenya, your partner institute is Kenya Institute for Development Studies, the University of Nairobi. In Uganda, your partner is the Uganda Kabano Research and Development Center. In neighboring Burundi, your partner institute is the Burundi University Research Centre for Economic and Social Development (CURDES), the National University of Burundi.

And which institute do you partner with in Rwanda? In the 2014–2015 Competitiveness Report, you cite the Rwanda government itself through Rwanda Development Board (RDB), and its then CEO Valentine Rugwabiza. Your 2013–2014 Report says that your partner institute was RDB headed by the Acting CEO Claire Akamanzi. Your latest report — 2015–2016, cites RDB and its CEO Francis Gatare. That you also cite Private Sector Federation does not help either — that, too, is government-controlled. In any event, Rwanda’s private sector is dominated by the ruling party’s Crystal Ventures Ltd, and therefore, unlikely to provide an independent view on Rwanda’s realities.

We can make two possible conclusions on why WEF chose a different research method for Rwanda that is sharply different from the rest of East Africa. Either WEF is an innocent victim tricked into allowing an intellectual conflict of interest to evolve, whereby a government ranks itself — as opposed to engaging a neutral and independent research institution. Or WEF is a willing partner in President Paul Kagame’s delusions of grandeur of having built an African economic lion.

Either way, Mr. Schwab, you became Kagame’s loudspeaker. Please find a independent researcher to supply you credible economic data on Rwanda, if that is possible under a totalitarian state that controls anything that moves.

Yours Sincerely,

David Himbara

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Steve Jobs's Top 10 Rules For Success

Steve Jobs

He's considered the "Father of the Digital Revolution," a "master of innovation," and a "design perfectionist."

He had a net worth of over $8 billion in 2010.

He's one of my personal favourite entrepreneurs of all time.

He's Steve Jobs from Apple and here are his top 10 rules for success.

* Join my BELIEVE newsletter: http://www.evancarmichael.com/newslet...

1. Don't live a limited life

2. Have passion

3. Design for yourself

4. Don't sell crap

5. Build a great team

6. Don't do it for the money

7. Be proud of your products

8. Build around customers

9. Marketing is about Values

10.Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish

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Kagame’s Debt — Is it Building Productive Capacity or Delusional Fantasies?

David Himbara The Author of Kagame’s Economic Mirage

Kagame's Ministry of Finance has debt data that goes only up to 2014. In 2014, external debt was US$1.7 billion, while domestic debt was US$562 million. Total public debt in 2014 was in other words US$2.3 billion.

For the year 2015, the Joint Staff Rwanda Debt Sustainability Analysis (DSA) by the IMF and the World Bank reported Rwanda's external debt to be US$2.1 billion.

I do not have the figure for domestic debt for 2015.

For 2016, we are aware of the African Development Bank loan of US$163 million, World Bank loan of US$90 million, European Union loan of US$20 million, and IMF loan of US$204 million. That is a total of US$477 million loans borrowed in 2016.

I do not have the domestic debt for 2016.

We therefore know for sure that Rwanda debt in July 2016 is US$2.5 billion - excluding domestic borrowing for 2015, and 2016. We nonetheless estimate Rwanda's current total debt to be US$3 billion that would include domestic borrowing for 2015 and 2016 as well as foreign loans we have not capture.

Let us be very clear. Debt in itself is not necessarily a bad thing. True, public debt means a government is spending more than domestic tax revenues combined aid grants in the case of Rwanda. But if debt is not building some kind of productive capacity and is instead building white elephant projects, then we are in trouble.

For those friends who asked me to write this, address this question: is Kagame's US$3 billion debt building productive capacity to render Rwanda prosperous or he is lost in delusional fantasy land?

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David Himbara

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Eid Mubarak - Twagiramungu Faustin

Twagiramungu Faustin's Message on Eid al-Fitr 2016

As Muslims in Rwanda and around the world meet with family, friends, and community to spot the end of Ramadan, I would like to extend my sincere wishes for a joyful holiday.


Let me take this chance to consider those Muslims around the world who are unable to enjoy a peaceful Eid with family, friends, community and loved ones.

On behalf of the RDI-Rwanda Rwiza Party. I have the desire to Send my best wishes to all those celebrating Eid al-Fitr in Rwanda and around the world; may your sacrifice and commitment delight Allah.


Twagiramungu Faustin
President of RDI-Rwanda Rwiza Party

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facebook.com/MyTwagiramunguFaustin

Twagiramungu Faustin

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Rwanda in the top 10 countries that use child soldiers in the world.

(New York) – The Obama administration should require foreign governments receiving United States military aid to immediately end their use of child soldiers, Human Rights Watch said today. On June 30, 2016, the US State Department issued a new list of countries implicated in the use of child soldiers as part of its annual Trafficking in Persons report. The list of 10 countries includes Burma, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq, Nigeria, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen.

Child soldiers put down their guns in a disarmament and release ceremony in Jonglei state, South Sudan, February 10, 2015. 

© 2015 Sebastian Rich/Corbis/AP Images

The 2008 Child Soldiers Prevention Act prohibits certain forms of US military assistance to countries that either use child soldiers in their national armed forces or support militias or paramilitaries that recruit and use child soldiers. The president can waive the prohibition for national security reasons. Since the law went into effect in 2010, the Obama administration has issued such waivers in 26 of 33 cases, allowing governments using child soldiers to receive hundreds of millions of dollars in US military aid.
“Many of the governments listed by the State Department receive US military aid year after year despite their continued use of children as soldiers,” said Jo Becker, children’s rights advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. “President Obama should make clear that countries using child soldiers are going to lose US military support.”

President Obama must decide by the end of September whether to waive the law’s military sanctions for any of the listed governments for fiscal year 2017.

Iraq was added to the list for the first time this year. The Popular Mobilization Forces, a government-recognized paramilitary force under the prime minister’s command, has recruited children as young as 11 to fight against the Islamic State, also known as ISIS. Human Rights Watch has documented that children as young as 15 have been killed while fighting with one of the militia forces making up the Popular Mobilization Forces.

Nigeria was included for the second year in a row, based on the use of child soldiers by the Civilian Joint Task Force, a government-allied force used to fight the armed group Boko Haram. Rwanda, which had been included in 2013 and 2014 but removed in 2015, reappeared after officials recruited child soldiers from a refugee camp. The other countries have been included for at least four years in a row. Several – Congo, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen – have been named every year since the list was first published in 2010.

Afghanistan was omitted from this year’s list, despite evidence that the Afghan Local Police, a government-backed militia engaged in combat operations against the Taliban and other insurgents, recruits and uses children as soldiers.

“The United States has paid hundreds of millions of dollars to support an Afghan militia that recruits and uses children to fight the Taliban,” Becker said. “Afghanistan should also be on this list and subject to military sanctions.”

Afghanistan was excluded because the State Department determined that the Afghan Local Police fell into a gray area not covered by the Child Soldiers Prevention Act. That decision appears contrary to the plain meaning of the law, Human Rights Watch said. The law covers “governmental armed forces or government-supported armed groups, including paramilitaries, militias, or civil defense forces, that recruit and use child soldiers.” The Afghan Local Police was established under the Afghan interior minister by presidential decree in August 2010, and according to the US Defense Department, is an “integral part” of the Afghanistan security forces.

“There’s no gray area concerning children and the Afghan Local Police,” Becker said. “The Afghan government has failed to rein in the militia’s recruitment of children while the US turns a blind eye.”

In 2015, President Obama gave full or partial waivers to four of the five countries listed that were scheduled recipients of US military aid. Withholding at least a portion of US military aid would provide foreign governments with an incentive to curb child recruitment, Human Rights Watch said.

“President Obama should take a much harder line, and insist that countries that receive US military aid end their use of child soldiers,” Becker said. “Unconditional military aid sends a terrible message that the US knowingly supports countries that use children to fight.”

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www.hrw.org

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Kagame Should Step Down When his Term Ends, We expect you to go in 2017 - Samantha Power

Samantha Power, U.S. Ambassador To United Nations

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Kagame’s Singapore In Deep Economic Trouble

Paul Kagame

President Kagame’s Singapore needs urgent help from donors. As indicated in my book Kagame’s Economic Mirage, the already tiny export base has shrunk, tax base not expanding, foreign reserves almost depleted, and donor-dependency not declining — against massive imports.

Here is how the Kagame regime itself describes the crisis, in a letter to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) dated May 25, 2016:

As a result of this crisis, the IMF approved US$204 Million Stand-by Credit Facility for Rwanda —of which the first disbursement (about US$102 million) was made “available immediately” as of June 8, 2016.

So what will the US$204 million IMF credit achieve? According to the IMF, its credit to the Kagame regime “will help bolster reserves.” More importantly — says the IMF — the Rwandan authorities will accelerate “policies to diversify and promote higher value exports, which should help strengthen the country’s medium-term growth prospects and its resilience to future shocks.”

Will these these things happen in the Singapore of Africa? Dream on!

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David Himbara

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Rwanda: A vulcano to erupt any moment

“Let’s continue with rebuilding Rwanda together”, states president Kagame during the Umaganda, a national public service every last Saturday of the month. All Rwandans are obliged to help build and repair roads, houses and schools. Even the president himself is participating.

In front of dozens of cameras he throws cement into the groundwork of a new building, which has to become a community center for genocide survivors. Later, when he gives a speech from a small stage, built the same day, a crowd of people obviously convened for the occasion singing just too exuberantly how the Umuganda develops and unites their country.

Critics argue, however, that as long as history can’t be discussed openly and honestly, Rwandans will never fully recover from trauma of the genocide, they won’t be able to fully reconcile with each other and the hilly country will remain a volcano to erupt any moment.

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While Kagame is Hunting for Medals, The US Congress has included his Regime in Totalitarian States.

President Kagame was decorated by His Majesty King Mohammed VI with the Grand Collar of Wissam Al-Mohammadi, Morocco's highest national award of honour

King Paul is finding new medals - not in USA or UK anymore. The medals from the USA/UK have dried up. Kagame is getting medals from the Arab world these days. The hunt for new medals is on. Kagame just landed a new medal from Morocco.


Meanwhile a new US Congress "national security white paper" places his regime in the company of tyrannical regimes around the world. http://abetterway.speaker.gov/_assets/pdf/ABetterWay-NSTF-PolicyPaper.pdf

According to the White Paper, "the historic expansion of freedom worldwide has been eroded by democratic backsliding. Many of the democratic transitions that marked the end of the Cold War and were sustained over the following decade have stalled or reversed.

Freedom House reports that 72 countries experienced a decline in freedom in the last year, while only 43 countries posted gains, continuing a decade-long decline in global freedom...In Rwanda, a constitutional referendum on presidential term limits will effectively allow President Paul Kagame to stay in power until 2034. In Venezuela, the regime has cracked down on the opposition and imprisoned itsleaders such as Leopoldo Lopez.

The regime in North Korea likely has the worst human rights record in the world. Over 140,000 North Koreans are kept in forced labor camps where many are worked to death. Yet for years, the global community, including U.S. administrations, largely ignored this barbarity in a failed attempt to arrest North Korea’s nuclear development."

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In Pictures, Kigali Experiencing Increase of Street Children In Numbers.Who Cares?

Kigali is peaceful today because the street children are still children. Today they are begging, practically requesting their donors to willingly handover the loose change in their possession. When the sense of frustration develops, they may use ‘reasonable force’ so to say in police speak.

Throughout the year, hundreds of men, women, and children—many of them street children, commercial sex workers, or street hawkers—were detained unlawfully, without charge or trial, in very poor conditions in an unrecognized detention center commonly known as Kwa Kabuga, in the Gikondo area of Kigali. Many were beaten by police, or by other detainees in the presence of police.

Although no official statistics have been collated, it is estimated by various NGO’s that there are between 10,000 and 15,000 children who live on the streets in Kigali, Rwanda’s capital. Most of these do not actually sleep on the streets at nighttime, because there is a high risk that they will be killed, or beaten. Many live in underground big pipes, or share a small mud hut with some older street children.

Rwandan authorities have come under fire for forcibly rounding up hundreds of street children in the capital, Kigali, ahead of an African leaders summit.
Below are few images of Kigali steet Children and the video of Human Rights Watch World Report 2015 - Events of 2014

Numbers of street Children in Kigali in Increasing, 

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