Author: Wycliffe Nyamasege

Speaking ahead of his campaign rally in Gicumbi District, the RPF-Inkotanyi Presidential candidate disclosed that it was the Late Fred Gisa Rwigema who was supposed to be sent to the US for military training. Kagame was meant to go to Nigeria.

Ugandan authorities had picked Fred for the opportunity but it coincided with an existing plan by Rwandan refugees serving in the Ugandan army to initiate a liberation struggle in the early ’90s.

As then, Rwigema decided to decline the opportunity and preferred to stay behind to lead the newly formed military wing of the RPF with a sole aim of toppling the Genocidal regime of the Juvenal Habyarimana.

“That’s how I ended up going to the US,” Kagame said during the interaction with various content creators at Mulindi, where RPF and its army wing, RPA, were headquartered.

Several Rwandans held senior ranks in the military at the time and the Ugandan authorities plotted to send them for training in different countries as part of what President Kagame termed as a plot to destabilize their mission to liberate their own motherland.

“It was not me who was supposed to go for that course. I remember even when I arrived, I had to change the documents because everything was registered in Fred Rwigema’s names,” he disclosed.

“When we started organizing, the Ugandans got to know about it. We were doing it discreetly and even encouraging Rwandans from other parts to join the army. Some of us had had the opportunity of being part of the struggle from the beginning,” he recalls.

According to him, the Ugandan system wanted to disorganize their initial plan by sending the top four Rwandan commanders to attend courses outside the country.

Apart from him and Rwigema, Kagame said, “Peter Baingana was destined for Russia while Chris Bunyenyezi was supposed to be sent to some other place but we all agreed to go by our initial plans otherwise we would have to wait for another five years or something,”

He noted that when his group got to know about it, they decided to act fast. “I talked with Fred and encouraged him not to go anywhere.”

After declining the offer, Rwigema had to be replaced with Kagame.

“Of course, it created a bit of trouble but in the end, he was told that since he had rejected, then I had no choice but to go. They said it had to be either him or me,” he recalls.

To Kagame, this was a clear indication that authorities in the Ugandan army wanted the two separated. They thought if they got rid of one, they would create problems for the other.

“I went back and told Fred that our secrete plans had been discovered. So to avoid a possibility of going to jail, I just accepted the offer otherwise I also did not want,” he reminisces.

He further encouraged Rwigema to go ahead with the plans, promising to find his way back once the implementation stage came.

Unfortunately Rwigema died on the second day of the liberation struggle on October 2, 1990.

His unfortunate death Rwigema forced Kagame to cut short his training in the US and returned to take on the mantle as the leader of struggle.

The RPA forces settled at Mulindi in Gicumbi District, where they established their base. It was at this location that Kagame and the content creators toured and held a conversation ahead of the RPF Inkotanyi presidential candidate’s campaign in the area on Tuesday July 9, 2024.

As a matter of fact, prominent RPF Inkotanyi politicians and senior RPA military officers all stayed at Mulindi during the liberation struggle.

During Tuesday’s engagement, Kagame described an emotional incident when he stayed with his firstborn son, Ivan, in the house for about a week to bond with him.

“When Habyarimana’s plane crashed, the boy was here with me,” Kagame recalled.

All the strategies and meetings that helped the RPA liberate Rwanda, and the ideas used in the Arusha peace talks, were conceived in the area famously known as ‘Umulindi w’Intwari’.

When the Genocide against the Tutsi began on April 7, 1994, it was from this area that the RPA forces emerged to stop it, making Gicumbi among the first districts where RPA forces halted the genocide.

To preserve the liberation history, the National Liberation Museum Park was established at Umulindi w’Intwari to honour the RPA’s fight.

The pledge translates into the creation of at least 680 jobs per day with a special focus on women and youth, according to the ruling party’s five-year manifesto.

The plan entails a stronger collaboration with the private sector to boost productivity and economic growth over the 2024-2029 period.

Available statistics indicate that the job creation rate has been on an upward trajectory over the last seven years. This is despite the measures put in place to protect the health of the population during the COVID-19 pandemic, which temporarily halted some economic activities.

“By the year 2024, a total of 1,200,000 jobs have been created, representing 80% of the planned target,” the manifesto reads in part.

To achieve the new target, the RPF party plans to continue promoting technical and language skills, improving job market readiness, and supporting entrepreneurs to access capital.

“There will be increased efforts to facilitate small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in accessing capital and enhancing project management skills to create more jobs,” the manifesto adds.

Additionally, the RPF plans to establish a mechanism to increase the number of jobs generated by large projects in various sectors, leveraging existing economic opportunities such as Bugesera International Airport, which is expected to start operations by 2028, Nyagatare Milk Plant, and the newly refurbished Amahoro Stadium.

Other efforts include the creation of a system that would simplify the exchange of information between employers and job seekers.

RPF further commits to promoting and forging partnerships aimed at increasing knowledge and job opportunities in the national, regional, and international job markets through economic diplomacy.

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The ruling party pledges to improve programs that develop technology and science projects, fostering innovation that creates jobs. The Kagame administration also commits to intensified efforts to create new jobs in cross-border services and the creative industry.

If re-elected the RPF administration also promises to enhance the capacity of professional associations and skill providers (sector skills councils) so that the private sector can collaborate with skill providers to identify and focus on job market needs.

Partnerships between the public and private sectors will also be prioritised to help the youth gain practical experience and learn on the job.

Part of the RPF administration’s plan to create new jobs includes expanding local industries with the output projected to grow by at least 13 percent annually until 2029.

To minimise expenditure on imports, plans are underway to set up a glass manufacturing plant for construction materials and bottles for beverage industries.

Further, the party pledges to increase the capacity of existing industries processing agricultural and livestock products with focus being on adding value to products for both domestic and international markets.

At least three new pharmaceutical industries producing medicines and other medical supplies will be established within the next five years.

Other projects include the establishment of a lithium processing plant to add value before export, alongside improvements in the processing of other valuable minerals like gemstones. A plant for manufacturing ceramics, tiles, and other related products is also among the pledges.

The unemployment rate in Rwanda stood at 12.9 percent by the end of the first quarter of 2024, according to the Labour Force survey conducted by the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (NISR).

The unemployment rate dropped by 4.3 per cent in the first quarter of 2024. NISR said the significant decline brought back the unemployment rate to the pre-COVID-19 estimate of 13.1 per cent.

The latest trend shows that in the first quarter of 2024, one person was unemployed for every eight people in the labour force.

According to the report, gender disparities persist in unemployment, with females experiencing a higher rate at 14.5 per cent compared to males at 11.5 percent.

Furthermore, youth face a notably higher unemployment rate of 16.6 percent compared to adults at 10.3 percent.