Participant from Ghana: With Such Remarkable achievements can you give us some examples about what motivates you as a good leader?
President Kagame: I don’t want to pretend that I fully understand what makes a great leader. Neither will I say that there is magic that we Rwandans have used to deal with and overcome our challenges. But as they say, every dark cloud has a silver lining; some of us have been shaped by the injustice-laden lives that we have lived. Many of us grew up in the environment of poverty, statelessness and refugee life. This powers and shapes your thinking towards understanding injustice and leads you towards trying to find solutions by confronting the challenges head-on. That is how me and others came together to wage a struggle that was basically a struggle for rights and justice. Through this process a number of us are where we are today.
A struggle has to have a reason and ours was about rights, democracy, governance, justice: Different kinds of freedoms. But once you achieve all this like we have done, the challenge remains sustaining the values of the struggle; really staying the course. You have to consistently stay sober and focused on a range of issues of the day that affect not only you but other people. We are aware of situations where people have started well, fought for their rights and made progress, then succeed but then things start going wrong because something gets into their heads they change course. In general terms, I think what inspires a good leader must be based on the understanding of not only personal situation but the general situation that affects others, and how one is informed and shaped in their thinking, making the right choices in how you evolve and continue to participate to make sure that there is a sustainability in what you intend to do. and once you overcome them, you are able to stay on course all through.
Participant from Brazil: In one of your speeches you highlighted that Africa especially Rwanda needs more investment rather than international aid, that sustainability should be the aim. Can you tell us about the success of investments here in Rwanda? Do you believe that Africa is ready to stop international aid?
President Kagame: This is a very important point for people to discuss and debate, some of our views have been distorted or not properly understood . Rwanda certainly still needs development aid and still needs support. However, my point of departure is: do we need aid and support for our development so that tomorrow we need even more, or so that tomorrow we need less? I need aid and support but we don’t want to need it forever; I want to have it so that I am enabled to stand on my own feet. I am not saying anything new. we want to be supported so that we can finally stand on our own.
I am not really saying anything new; we have seen examples in history, where countries that give aid to others, have at some point in their history been in situations where they needed aid were able to receive it and moved on to be able to give aid.
The point is aid should not be one that creates dependence but one that ultimately leads to independence. Aid also has the disadvantage of eroding the dignity of the recipients; when you depend on somebody that person will dictate to you and will decide for you. Therefore, Rwandans and Africans are no less human beings and deserve no less dignity than others have. Therefore Rwandans and Africans must struggle to reach a point where they are able to be masters and deciders of their own destiny and we wouldn’t achieve that by being dependent on aid and those who donate it. I am not talking about the date or the point at which aid should stop, but are more interested in the process and the understanding that we should be moving the direction of partnering with people to give us support in the path to getting out of that situation.
Investments are very important because they unlock the energies, creativity, and innovation of people because they feel empowered and in control of their destiny. With investments there are no dictates like the ones we find in the relationship between the recipient and the donor countries, which erodes heavily on dignity. Moreover, nobody is locked out of the benefits; even an ordinary farmer in a rural setting with increasing levels of investments can get good incomes from their farm products, that is why we prefer investment to aid.
Continued....
