RWANDA VISION 20120 IS AS SICK AS ITS SUPPORTERS

Peter Urayeneza

Two days back I tried to describe a Rwandan labor basing on some statistical data published by National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (NISR) in January 2014. One day after, from my friends residing in our motherland Rwanda told me about the news broadcasted by Radio Rwanda. I tried to dig If I can get a pop cast of that news and finally I got it. As a conclusion from that, according to vision 2020, 30% Rwanda population will be concentrated in cities while the remaining percentage will be in settlements in rural areas in order to increase the agricultural area.

WHAT WE HAVE HERE? SIMPLY, ANOTHER RWANDAN ILLUSION!!!!

We are almost in the middle of 2014 and we have 5 years and a half to reach in 2020. As I am writing, the current situation of the Rwanda population is described by NISR (2014) as follows:

1) The total population of Rwanda is 10,5 millions of people 

2) The total population in urban is 1,7 millions that represent 16,5%

3) The remaining percentage of 83,5 % is found in rural area and living from agriculture of subsistence.

Reading the above mentioned statistics of Rwanda, as I have been told, Rwandan current government is simply dreaming for different reasons:

1. Kigali is the main city of Rwanda and among the expensive cities in Africa, and the poor people of Rwanda can't afford the living cost of the city.

2. Instead of integrating the population people in different cities and viable settlements, the population is thrown in rural areas (The case of Gacuriro, Kiyovu cy'abakene and now Muhima);

3. The Current Rwanda government has no capacity to provide basic services to the gathered in a city or settlement. Even in Kigali you can't find a public sewage, electricity, clean water, etc..

4. How and by which means the current government will manage to bring that people living in rural areas into the settlement? And curiously, how many settlement are found in Rwanda? A big challenge!!!!

Simply Rwanda has a lot to deal with as long as it holds that vision 2020 and better they have either to revise it as they did it in electricity sector or the extend to 2040. If not, the Rwanda Vision 2020 is a misleading impression of reality in development of Rwanda!!!!