PRESIDENT KAGAME’S END OF THE YEAR MESSAGE TO THE NATION

PRESIDENT KAGAME’S END OF THE YEAR MESSAGE TO THE NATION

• Fellow Rwandans;

• Inhabitants of Rwanda;

• Friends of Rwanda;

On my behalf and on behalf of my family and the Government of Rwanda, I wish you all a happy and prosperous new year. May it be a year of peace, success and progress.

Last year, we worked together and achieved a lot in various facets of our country’s development: in our economy, social sector, good governance, and in the justice sector. I wish to convey my gratitude to you for that.

This way of working together, based on our development plan, is what has brought our country this far and should characterize all our future actions.

We should all be encouraged by the good level of economic growth that we have attained and the impact this has had on all Rwandans, irrespective of where they live.

 

 

 

Despite the global economic turmoil, our economy grew by 8.8% and inflation was contained at 7.4% in November last year, when inflation levels in other parts of our region were around 20%. We also managed to maintain our monetary stability.

We should also be pleased that we have continued to make it easy to do business in Rwanda. In the last three years, we moved from 143rd position out of 183 countries to 45th in the world and 3rd in Africa.

Programmes that aim to uplift the needy in our society are ongoing and have benefitted almost all of them. We shall intensify them and ensure that they reach everyone as soon as possible. We will achieve this by building on the solid foundation of peace and security in our country.

We will work on ensuring an environment where all Rwandans will be able to create their own employment or get jobs in order cater for themselves and their families; where those in agriculture are self-sufficient and even produce for markets. Those in need of health care will have easy access and all Rwandan children will be able to go to school.

I take this opportunity to thank all Rwandans, including our army and police, who participated in building classrooms for the nine and twelve-year basic education programme.

I also wish to thank all Rwandans for their continued confidence in each other and in our governance institutions. This is part of the ongoing development process in our country.

We should endeavour to promote homegrown solutions to our challenges drawing first from our own means and capacity so that this becomes part and parcel of our culture. This will surely earn us the dignity that we deserve.

Let me also say that in the last year, we continued to build good diplomatic relations with other countries, starting with our neighbours, the rest of Africa, Europe, America, Asia, and others. This is in line with our government’s policy aimed at building partnership and cooperation with the rest of the world.

• Fellow Rwandans;

• Friends of Rwanda;

Let me conclude by reiterating that we have made good progress. Let us start the new year with renewed energy, determined to work even harder and smarter, and with resolve to be permanently self-reliant.

This is my wish for all Rwandans in the coming year.

Once again, I wish you all a happy and prosperous new year, full of blessings and actions that advance our development.