The President of Rwanda Paul Kagame has said that development partners should give a right to countries receiving aid to decide on how to utilize the assistance as opposed to them(donors) dictating on its usage.
Speaking during the World economic Forum on Africa-WEF Africa 2016 in Kigali on Wednesday the President said that donors tend to attach conditions on the assistance which affects their development impact.
“We appreciate partnerships but in our case even more we would like to have ownership of the very things we should own and actually be doing for ourselves,” the president said.
President Kagame said that the challenge currently lies between getting an equal ground between partnerships and ownership which he says needs more dialogue on both sides to resolve it.
“We appreciate that you can ideas as well on how those resources should work for people where you are putting those resources but that does not really substitute for the people that country to be able to make choices on what they want to do or how they want to it,” he added.
The forum hosted in Kigali from May 11-13,May has brought has brought together over 1,200 business, political, policy makers and other leaders to discuss current economic and social issues, problems, ideas and possible solutions and mainly looking at using technology to spur continent’s growth.
President Kagame also hailed the partnerships between government of Rwanda, the Howard Buffet foundation and the African Governance Initiative-AGI saying they have contributed to the country’s growth.
“These partnerships bring kind of assets that we don’t have, they bring different experience to fill the gaps that are in our systems,” the president said.
He adds, “This is a good investment as far as it also has a huge impact on the transformation of this country’s economy and has impact on the people as well,”
He also noted that such investments are key to the country’s journey to middle income economy.
President Kagame said the two partnerships create a unique investment strategy where they not only look at investment returns but also contribute to the improve the welfare of the livelihoods of Rwandans.
He says, “All investors are very good but you can categorize them in a number of ways, there is an investor who part of that mind of investment on the philanthropic side and does the combination.
Moreover, the country’s efforts to ensure stability and predictability, Howard Buffet, founder of the Howard Buffet Foundation says has contributed to its success in attracting investment for the past 22 years.
“Most investors want reasonable amount of predictability and Rwanda is exactly that,” Buffet said
Tony Blair, founder of the African Governance Initiative says that governments need to create an environment where investors will be assured of the stability as wells as the ability to minimizes investment risks.
Accordingly, the Howard Buffet Foundation has been instrumental in the development of the country’s agricultural sector where it has already pumped in over U$ 500 million while Blair’s AGI that has contributed towards capacity building.
