• 07:08
  • Monday ,11 February 2019
العربية

Democracy and development

Article Of The Day

00:02

Friday ,08 February 2019

Democracy and development

A friend of mine suddenly decided to move to Rwanda and invest his savings in that African country assuring it is a great investment opportunity. It was an interesting turn in his life that made me curious to learn more about this country.

Rwanda is one of the smallest countries on the African mainland and has suffered from civil war and genocide in which around 1 million people were killed. 
 
However, Rwanda has changed dramatically and witnessed great development. Moreover, its economy and health services has witnessed great improvement.
 
Paul Kagame is a Rwandan politician and former military leader. He is currently the President of Rwanda, having taken office in 2000 when his predecessor, Pasteur Bizimungu, resigned. Kagame previously commanded the rebel force that ended the 1994 Rwandan genocide. He was considered Rwanda s de facto leader when he served as Vice President and Minister of Defence from 1994 to 2000. He was re-elected in August 2017 with an official result of nearly 99% in an election criticized for numerous irregularities.He has been described as the "most impressive" and "among the most repressive" African leaders.
 
Kagame has been president of Rwanda for 19 years and though he has made many achievements in several fields, democracy remains not one of them. This may show that there is a big difference between development and democracy.