{Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms, and their territories and dependencies, and head of the 53-member Commonwealth of Nations. She was born on April 21, 1926.}
{{Rwandans have joined the British in celebrating the birthday of Her Majesty the Queen. This is also a moment for the two countries to reflect on their friendly relations that have also culminated in Rwanda’s joining of the larger commonwealth league of nations which has been headed by the queen for the past 60 years.
IGIHE held an exclusive interview with William Gelling OBE the British High commissioner in Kigali during which several issues were explored.
Below is an excerpt of the entire interview;}}
{{IGIHE}}: Would you walk us through the celebration of Her Majesty’s birthday in Rwanda on Tuesday 10th June?
{{British High Commissioner}}: This is a happy day for us in the UK and here in Kigali we will be celebrating the birthday of Her Majesty the Queen, which for us is an important day.
It is also a time to remember the British and Rwandan people who contributed so much to the links between the UK and Rwanda. So we have invited on June 10, several hundred people that have played a role in improving the relations between UK and Rwanda.
Those invited include business people, charity workers, government officials, ministers, volunteers, staff of the high commission, and everyone has a role to play now.
{{How is the Queen’s birthday party going to be celebrated specifically in Rwanda?}}
I will be doing it twice this year; I will be doing it once in Kigali, one in Bujumbura. In Kigali, we are hosting a large party; I think one of the largest we’ve done. I will be making a short speech about what has been special for the UK and the UK-Rwanda relations; I will be mentioning for example that we had the birth of a new prince in the UK, Prince George, which has been an exciting time for people in commonwealth especially in the UK.
I will be talking about how previously the British economy has turned the corner, and is now going strongly and I will be saying that I hope that the British companies looking abroad to invest, would come here to look at the climate in Rwanda which we think is one of the opportunities; in addition to being a secure, stable and very positive place to do business.
{{What specific opportunities in Rwanda are you recommending to the British entrepreneurs?}}
We are helping the Rwanda government to see if there are Rwandan goods for exports that we can encourage. So things like honey, nuts and other agricultural products that at the moment are exported in all forms; if there is a way to get more value added to them, packaging them, promoting them, that kind of thing.
{{The Queen was born in April but we are celebrating her birthday in June. Why? }}
Her Majesty the Queen’s birthday is on 21st of April. But Queen Victoria, two centuries now, decided that she would always celebrate her birthday during summer, because you know the weather in the UK is unreliable, it is not as reliable as in Rwanda. It made it easier to always celebrate on a date in summer.
So in the UK now we have two weeks and all over the world, British embassies, companies and people would be celebrating the Queen’s birthday in this two weeks period.
{{There will be trooping of colours in the UK; will you do the same in Kigali?}}
Well, you need many thousands of soldiers to do that and I am afraid we don’t have any. But tomorrow we will mark it here in Kigali and on 19th in Bujumbura.
{{What does the celebration mean to us Rwandans?}}
For us it’s the celebration of a very long standing leader who has given a lifetime service to the UK, perhaps there is something that Rwandans can relate to, but the Queen is the head of commonwealth, you all know Rwanda joined the commonwealth just a few years ago, so it’s a chance for us to say thank you to her for her leadership at the commonwealth for 60 years but for the ordinary Rwandan it’s a chance to celebrate the ties between the two countries.
{{How is the birth of Prince George special for British people and the Queen’s birthday?}}
Prince George was born sometimes ago and for us it is an exciting moment because he is the next person in line to the throne after his father and his father’s father, I suppose for us it shows the future of the monarchy in the UK.
{{Rwanda and many commonwealth nations count several people who did outstanding actions and risked their lives for citizens. Do such people have rights to recognition as far as the Queen’s birthday honours are concerned?}}
Some do and some do not. You can have an honorary award and anyone is welcome to recommend someone else for that.
You can log onto the internet and go to the British government’s website and recommend someone for an honour. You can recommend anyone you think deserves an honour from the queen.
{{So you mean if nobody in Rwanda was honoured before is because nobody recommended him?}}
Exactly! You can never guarantee you will get an honour but if there is something that people have done that has particularly helped in education in Rwanda or relations between UK and Rwanda, that’s could be something.
{{What’s the current level of relations between UK and Rwanda?}}
I think there are three parts of the relations between the two countries: There is a lot investment from DFID, about £70 or £80 million a year for assisting Rwandan government in its development programs and the Rwandan people.
This money is very well spent here and we are constantly impressed with the way the government uses that money.
There is the commercial relationship, as I said I hope it will improve now, and most of my time and my deputy’s is now spent on commercial work. So we are encouraging British and Rwandans to work together.
And finally there is the political relationship, and we are very much concerned that Rwanda would be a force for stability in the region and we pay tribute to the changes that happened for the last twenty years after genocide.
And we hope that Rwanda will continue to develop including its democracy in its civil society space.
{{Some members of the royal family visited several commonwealth realms at the occasion of the Queen’s diamond jubilee on her behalf; is Rwanda receiving a special visitor for the Queen’s 88th anniversary? Or maybe sometimes in the future? }}
As far as I know at the moment there is planned.
{{When you say that you are strengthening commercial ties between UK and Rwanda, does it mean that at a particular time UK will stop aid and the country looks after itself?}}
No! That will continue. But I think what really makes a country secure in a long term is sustainable trade.
{{I asked the question because most western countries do caution African countries to be more careful about Asian grants. Would you comment on that?}}
My view on that is that some grants and some contracts cannot be reliable to some countries and more reliable with others.
It’s up to the Government of Rwanda, I think we have to be very careful about who you sign your contract with to make sure that even if it looks cheap and when it looks cheap you know it will results in poor quality of service.
{{The US always reacts politically and most of the time takes actions in global issues. It has also been giving its say on regional issues, especially on FDLR putting down their arms; why don’t we see the UK, also a super power, taking microphones on global conflicts? }}
We do make statements. It’s not for us to lecture anyone but when we feel that we want to make a point, we do it and we will do it.
{{How would you comment Rwanda’s matching in the footsteps of other developed commonwealth nations?}}
I think in sense of development, Rwanda is doing enormously well and it has made colossal progress over last twenty years. It’s a fact, when you come to Kigali you can only be impressed.
And in sense of values to the commonwealth, in many areas, it has well matched, for example education, democracy and others and we are looking forward to working with Rwanda to expand that space of democratic interaction here.
{{If you were an investor interested in Rwanda, in which sector would you put your money?}}
I wish I had money to do it, but personally I would put my money in value added agricultural products and if not that I would put my money in some kind of business services in Kigali.
{Click to watch Video interview} . {{William Gelling OBE the British High Commissioner in Kigali responding to questions from Journalists.}}
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