{Mohamed Adan, a native of Marsabit and a US based human capacity development consultant has outlined key lessons Kenya can learn from Rwanda after being amazed at the remarkable achievements that this tiny, landlocked nation of ten million people has accomplished. }
He said “Over the last decade, poverty rate has been halved; GDP per capita doubled; and the economy has averaged per capita growth of around eight percent.”
In his opinion published on Standard media website, Mohamad commended Rwanda’s Health Sector saying that its statics are even more impressive.
He wrote “Over the years, Rwanda has dramatically accelerated the trend of progress on all key indicators including infant mortality, under-five mortality, maternal mortality and immunization coverage. It has one of the highest numbers of people on AIDS treatment in Africa, and their multi-drug resistant TB treatment approach is held up as a model that other countries come to learn from.”
But many challenges remain. Agriculture is the mainstay of the economy but over-population, small land sizes, inefficient farming techniques, and poor post-harvest handling and storage facilities make the productivity and growth of the sector problematic. Public sector expenditure and economic diversification are also constrained by lack of access to energy, insufficient human capital, and high transportation costs.
He continued by saying that external funding still accounts for more than 40% of the government budget. But, over the years, Rwanda used the steady and generous inflow of domestic and external resources to strengthen the country system, including public finance and procurement, social and financial protection mechanisms for the poor, improving food security and the health system.
“In doing all this, Rwanda often designed its own brand of reforms and customized models, staying away from donor funds and looking realistically at how best to balance sustainability and equity. Most of these reforms focused on results, and results attracted more funding, both domestic and external.” Read a part of his opinion
But what lessons, if any, can we learn from Rwanda?
Perhaps the most important lessons are in the realm of servant leadership, discipline and transparency in public governance, taming corruption, promoting citizen participation and putting people first, and a relentless focus on results.
Mohamed told Kenyans that in Rwanda, villagers are empowered to hold government and civic administrators accountable, and it’s all planned and conducted in public.
He said Politicians, civic administrators and public servants have clear performance targets that they need to meet and report on, and they are given resources for implementation.
Mohamed, an admirer of President Paul Kagame, said despite critics against Kagame under his leadership: life expectancy has doubled in the past decade, the vaccination rate for children stands at about 90%, and health facilities are spread to villages and it takes six hours to obtain a license to open new business.
A similar report on Kenya would make you think twice about even passing through the airport.
He said President Kagame has worked hard to stamp out corruption, an immoral practice that is increasingly being condemned across the world adding that Kenyans know what corruption is doing to the fabric of Kenyan society, including his own native County of Marsabit that hogs the headlines for all the wrong reasons.
“In this respect, it’s important to point out that transparent governance works best when citizens have a clear idea of what their national or county government is doing and how they are spending tax revenues.” Mohamed said
He concluded by saying that Kagame is a leader steering a steady course. He drives the changing culture of discipline, honesty, hard work and accountability that is growing roots in Rwandan society.
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