Current Events > Rwanda aims to be 'smart nation' says they must combat 0 resources with science.

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With hardly any mineral wealth to talk of, Rwanda is aggressively pursuing science and information technology (ICT) to fill the gaps in its trade deficit.

Delivering his state of the nation address at the 15th annual national dialogue (Inama yigihugu yumushyikirano) at the magnificent Kigali Convention Centre (KCC) recently, President Paul Kagame said in order for Rwanda to reach the high income status, Rwandans have to be creative and innovative in information technology.

He said his government has a strategy to attract innovators and young Rwandan creative investors will be supported.

The president said his government which has won a seven year term in August, wants to turn to conference tourism into one of the vehicles for economic growth. Already in this year, the country has hosted 169 international conferences.This strategy alone will spur the growth of the hotels sector. Last year Rwanda launched the KCC, built at about US$ 300m.

Another device devised to reduce the dependence on exports is the made in Rwanda campaigns. Rwanda officially banned the importation of used or second hand clothes.

Instead Rwanda is backing up Chinese investors to produce garment locally. The garment industry imports cotton from Mwanza in Tanzania. The Chinese investors are also involved in silk production. The president told the same conference that relying on home made products (made in Rwanda) has reduced the trade deficit by 20 percent.

In order for Rwanda to develop into an efficient and advanced business hub, it must have both a sophisticated socio-economic framework and the physical structure to complement it. Rwandas desire to create the regions first Smart Nation highlights the emphasis placed on infrastructure by the government.

President Kagame revealed that his government had spent $1.5 billion on infrastructure development including the construction of a new international airport at Bugesera, 35 kilometres from Kigali.

Kagame said his government intends to harness technology to the fullest to improve the lives of citizens, create more opportunities, and build stronger communities. Utilizing technology to better serve citizens manifests itself in many innovative creations such as video conferencing to conduct national dialogue. Different people participate in the umushyikirano via video conference where they share their views with other participants gathered at KCC.

Claire Akamanzi the head of Rwanda Development Board (RDB), a government agency responsible for attracting investors said a highly sophisticated infrastructure is only worthwhile if the workforce that utilizes the systems and structures is equally efficient. She said the country needs to have the right mindset to embrace a smart nation concept.

"The workforce has to be disciplined. It must love work. It must produce quality work, she said.

Rwanda wants to create a Singapore in East Africa. The difference though, Singapore is a port city, Rwanda is landlocked. But Kagame says investments in technology will unlock Rwanda.

Full Article: http://observer.ug/news/headlines/56467-rwanda-aims-to-be-smart-nation.html



80/80

It makes me sad that so many people haven't seen Hotel Rwanda. It's a great film but because it has no laser battles or special effects and conservatives don't like it, it's kinda been forgotten about.
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Great now western companies will fill their vacancies with Rwandans for Rwandan wages in the west and any recently grad STEM graduate will earn around 20k a year

UnfairRepresent posted...

It makes me sad that so many people haven't seen Hotel Rwanda. It's a great film but because it has no laser battles or special effects and conservatives don't like it, it's kinda been forgotten about.

I had a professor in college who was a Rwandan genocide survivor. He had memory problems because his brain kind of shut down in certain areas to let him forget things he'd seen.

Or that was his excuse to not have to remember everyone's names, but I sure as shit wasn't going to challenge him on that one.
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r4X0r posted...

I had a professor in college

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHVR485txX8
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UnfairRepresent posted...

to talk of

The absolute state of public universities
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PhD in comp sci? 30k pay

Doe posted...

UnfairRepresent posted...

to talk of

The absolute state of public universities

,?
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that's pretty cool
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UnfairRepresent posted...

Paul Kagame

that's my persona 4 character name OC

FLUFFYGERM posted...

that's pretty cool

Seems pretty anti-capitalist to me.

Idk why they can't just let the invisible hand fund science.
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Kagame's brought Rwanda a long way since 1994 when the country almost ceased to exist after one of the worst catastrophes of the 20th century and was left with practically nothing to rebuild itself with (even the bank vaults had been emptied), and its transformation into a major power in the Great Lakes region in less than 20 years has got to be one of the most remarkable success stories ever. But my fear is that his style and philosophy of political governance has wound the clock on another ticking timebomb.
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UnfairRepresent posted...

r4X0r posted...

I had a professor in college

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHVR485txX8

lmfao
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Funkdamental posted...

Kagame's brought Rwanda a long way since 1994 when the country almost ceased to exist after one of the worst catastrophes of the 20th century and was left with practically nothing to rebuild itself with (even the bank vaults had been emptied), and its transformation into a major power in the Great Lakes region in less than 20 years has got to be one of the most remarkable success stories ever. But my fear is that his style and philosophy of political governance has wound the clock on another ticking timebomb.

What does that mean?
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MacadamianNut3 posted...

UnfairRepresent posted...

r4X0r posted...

I had a professor in college

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHVR485txX8

lmfao

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my family's from Rwanda, and I've been hearing a bunch of stuff like that.

like for example, they're gonna be using drones to deliver blood since the country is really hilly (it's known as "the land with a thousand hills), and it'll save on time and manpower, and drones are relatively cheap.

the country also funds the education of a lot of its people so they can go to school in different countries to gain skills in stuff like engineering. in the US, there's like an agreement with a college in Arkansas for petroleum engineering, or something like that
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boxington posted...

(it's known as "the land with a thousand hills),

Not very poetic..
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UnfairRepresent posted...

Funkdamental posted...

Kagame's brought Rwanda a long way since 1994 when the country almost ceased to exist after one of the worst catastrophes of the 20th century and was left with practically nothing to rebuild itself with (even the bank vaults had been emptied), and its transformation into a major power in the Great Lakes region in less than 20 years has got to be one of the most remarkable success stories ever. But my fear is that his style and philosophy of political governance has wound the clock on another ticking timebomb.

What does that mean?

The silencing of political dissent (if you're an expat Rwandan critic of Kagame and you live abroad, you'd better keep looking over your shoulder for the boys from the ESO, the External Security Organization), the blurring of party and state, and the marginalisation of Rwandan Hutus whose own sufferings during the genocide -- whether at the hands of Hutu Power extremists or of Kagame's RPF -- can't even be acknowledged without risking arrest on charges of "genocide denial".
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Funkdamental posted...

Rwandan Hutus whose own sufferings during the genocide -- whether at the hands of Hutu Power extremists or of Kagame's RPF -- can't even be acknowledged without risking arrest on charges of "genocide denial".

What?

Who the fuck has ever died that both the Hutus and Tutsis suffered? IT's globally accepted that approx 1 million people died and approx 200,000 were Hutus, not to even mention displacement.

It's just also accepted that the Tutsis suffered more.

It was a shitty situation all round
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UnfairRepresent posted...

Who the fuck has ever died that both the Hutus and Tutsis suffered?

An August 13, 2008 amendment to the Rwandan constitution specifically added the words "against the Tutsi" after the word "genocide" in Article 51; it might be said this put an official stamp on a narrative of the genocide that framed it solely in terms of Tutsi victimhood. Critics of the government who have pointed out that Hutus as well as Tutsis suffered during the genocide and therefore do not deserve to be treated as collectively guilty, have been whacked under Law no. 47/2001 of December 18, 2001 (which forbids "divisionism") and Law no. 18/2008 of July 23, 2008 (which makes vaguely defined "genocide ideology" a criminal offence). Under those circumstances, it's harder to have an honest, open discussion about the subject inside Rwanda than outside it.

Again, I'll make the point that Kagame can rightly point to an extraordinary transformation of his country since 1994 -- a success story that, I think, has few parallels in modern history. But I'm worried that he's priming conflicts for the future by being pathologically sensitive to criticism of himself and the RPF.
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UnfairRepresent posted...

boxington posted...

(it's known as "the land with a thousand hills),

Not very poetic..

sorry, I meant "land of a thousand hills"
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An August 13, 2008 amendment to the Rwandan constitution specifically added the words "against the Tutsi" after the word "genocide" in Article 51; it might be said this put an official stamp on a narrative of the genocide that framed it solely in terms of Tutsi victimhood.

tbf, Tutsi were killed due to their ethnicity, while Hutu were killed for their "moderate" views
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boxington posted...

An August 13, 2008 amendment to the Rwandan constitution specifically added the words "against the Tutsi" after the word "genocide" in Article 51; it might be said this put an official stamp on a narrative of the genocide that framed it solely in terms of Tutsi victimhood.

tbf, Tutsi were killed due to their ethnicity, while Hutu were killed for their "moderate" views

I understand that. But it would seem like an unnecessary amendment to make. The Batwa people of Rwanda lost roughly a third of their entire population during the genocide, and there's little or no official recognition of it; refining the wording of the constitution in this way to put sole emphasis on Tutsi suffering is unhelpful.
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I dunno, there were communities where the average Hutu were (in)directly complicit in the murders of Tutsi - the aim was to exterminate the Tutsi

that's why I can kinda understand the distinction. but yea, it should also recognize the Twa
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