The Rwanda must transform the present before embarking on transforming tomorrow
By Jean P Ndindamahina,21January2016
Yesterday during the Davos' economic forum "transforming tomorrow" I watched with match enthusiasm what the panel members were to say and among them was President Kagame who have ruled Rwanda over two decades and other panel members were four chief executive officers Cheryl Sandburg (Facebook), Zachary Bookman(Open Gov ), Satya Nadella(Microsoft), Annand Mahindra(Mahindra Group) and the moderator was Andrew R.Sorkin who works as columnist for the new York Times.
These four executives' officers were talking about how their companies are more involved in the work to transform the world and the people who live in it through their companies' emerging technology and mostly the use of internet that connects people together and how this can benefit the world as whole.
The Facebook chief executive officer Sheryl Sandburg explained the importance of connectivity by giving some examples of women who were able to spread their ideas, opinions and creativity through the use of technology and by being able to get informed by being connected to data. And also Sheryl questioned whether human are going to change in terms of hope or in terms of fear. Is technological innovation good for tomorrow? Is human intelligence going to be taken over by the use of technology? Does Technological revolution means all jobs are destroyed?
For those in developed world have already experienced the power of technology where human labour have been replaced by machines which really means less people in work places. There is self-services on both internet and on the counter, human interactions between people in the office and those in their homes have been taken over by automated technology, people are spending more and more time talking to man-made machines than the real people hence I think the real long-term impact of all this kind of technological innovation has to be assessed to give more hope of better tomorrow and not fear and those are challenges for those who already have that use of technology
For Rwanda, the use of technology is only limited to privileged elite as those Rwandans citizens who are unprivileged and mostly live in remote villages around the country has no access to water and electricity. They are still living in the darkness for them to understand what even tomorrow means when in fact, they are still to discover their present.
As Sheryl mentioned, for someone in United states to be able to use internet and access Facebook, it cost at least $1 and I find that to be true because in Britain I get charged at least $1.5 a day for private internet which can be even more costly when using mobile phone data or public internet where you get charged per hour which cannot be less than $6 per hour. With 89% Rwandans living under $1 a day, was the president Paul Kagame in the right economic forum that speaks on behalf of Rwandan people?
My question has been the balance between income and connectivity. How do Rwandans will be able to access the world class technology when in fact they still earn less than $1 a day. Will they be able to use all their income to access data on internet? The answer is no hence I think the rwandan people are still far behind for them to benefit from cloud technology, only those elites who are already rich which means in Rwanda and may be in other some African states, rich people will continue to be rich while poor people continue to sink further into poverty because unlike rich elites, majority Rwandans are not connected to the outside world, they only understand their village and their leader.
When President kagame was asked on the failure of connectivity in emerging market such as Rwanda, he rather looked defending his "I don't know the answer" as he said " Failing people will continue to fail" I wondered how this matched with the objective of the forum which was to giving hope to industries and societies through the transformation of tomorrow! He started going out of the topic talking about government policy which he understands a little to give more incoherence argument on the influence of emerging technology.
The president Kagame rather became a boring member among those in the panel and those in the room felt it and even may be the moderator felt that actually president Kagame was in the wrong economic forum as he was watched by those in room and those who were sat next to him talking about what he does not really understand and when he was asked by the moderator whether the failure was the only way to go, he responded "Absolutely, struggle will be there, support will be there…" come on, what this is to do with emerging technology? If it was job interview he would not have passed but well for him, he has managed to change constitution to allow him more years in office and office that he still holds today since 2000.
In all economic revolutions and based on the fact that the developed world is about to embark on fourth technological revolution, Rwanda is skipped at all time. Rwanda as a country is still to achieve fist revolution which is political revolution which makes me wonder why president of Rwanda was among those who were discussing the pros and cons of this fourth technological revolution which would be facilitated by strong economic and political stability –finally I don't blame President Kagame for him struggling to give competent answers to all questions that were put before him! I rather blame those who have booked a place for him as a member of the panel not a member of audience.
When President Kagame was asked whether technological transparency is the one that makes Rwanda have more women in parliament and the cabinet, President Kagame responded "It is a question of choices" simply because Rwanda's policies don't need necessary to have to depend on technology and instead of answering the question he rather revealed the truth that actually Rwanda women are in the government for political reasons because it is not women in parliament who advocate some rights, ideas and causes and they are in the government to defend them but rather women who are in the parliament for political reason of strengthening cult of personality of President Kagame and his government and some of these women are happy in the government or in cabinet because they need work in order to overcome all life burdens in Rwanda.
The truth was put out by Cheryl Sandburg when she talks about women issues in government or in other organisations that are there but can't make decisions and that is the fact for Rwanda. In Rwanda 64 % Women in the government and in the parliament looks very impressive but the truth is that; any decision making is still out of their hands and even if they would think of an idea they would not bring it out in case it is considered to be against an aggressive leadership.
The current Rwanda as President Kagame said during the forum is under an ideological driven leadership that is not open for democratic processes and shockingly, those women in Rwanda's parliament have no access to data and most of them if not all, are mediocrely educated. Majority of those women are those who studied in 70s when computers were not readily available as today, their ability to access the world technological data and information is limited hence majority of these women have no connectivity to the world and having these majorities of women in parliament allows the dictatorship to flourish with fewer struggles.
President Kagame also requested a question directed to Sheryl Sandberg that she would have responded to well about Facebook investment in people if it was not advertising their company rather than helping and once again President Kagame did not have a clue why he felt he was more fit to answer the question than Sheryl Sandberg and other CEO as he struggled to match his people's income, capability to today's technological use triggering the moderator to give him a left hand shake at the end of the forum panel.
It is true in Rwanda; people use Facebook data on their mobile phone free of charge. In the UK I fear to use my mobile phone because it is more expensive option as I get charged by per data I use while in Rwanda, a person can be on his or her mobile phone all day using Facebook and communicating with the rest of the world which is helping the people of Rwanda to connect to the rest of the world and more people in Rwanda are now starting to join Facebook in mass as a way to connect with friends, family and the rest of the outside world but still, their connection on Facebook is still heavily controlled by the government that closely monitors individuals' communication on his or her social media.so everyone in Rwanda becomes rather more careful of what they say and how they say it. They are not free to express their ideas and opinion freely on any social media and some of them chose not to connect to the internet in case, they become attempted to break the silence or in case their ideas and opinion are wrongly perceived by the elites in the government.
Rwanda should embark on political change and seek political stability before anything else. As we speak right now, the Rwanda's constitution has been demolished and replaced by the constitution which would allow President Kagame to keep being booked in the wrong forum in the name of Rwanda for life. With political revolution Rwanda will move on in the best economic direction but for now, for Rwanda to participate in the world forum on current and future technological issues and challenges, it is just increasing the number of the panel members and to allow President Kagame to keep lacking an answer to questions put before him and ofcurse that can be embarrassing especially when in front of well up to date audiences.
Read the new constitution as it is published by IGIHE
Posted by: Nzinink <nzinink@yahoo.com>
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The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish.
I have loved justice and hated iniquity: therefore I die in exile.
The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.
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