Kagame's Priorities for Rwanda: First Prosperity, then Freedom of Expression

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Even before the official election results were announced, supporters of Rwandan President Paul Kagame were already cheering his victory. For two nights they celebrated the triumph of their idol in Monday's presidential election, a win that had never been in question.

On Wednesday the official results were finally announced: Kagame had attracted 93 percent of the Rwandans' votes. It was an impressive victory in an election which, in reality, provided little choice.

Kagame had faced three relatively unknown candidates, all more or less linked to the president. The real challengers were either dead, in prison or sitting at home watching the election from their sofas.

One possible challenger might have been André Kagwa Rwisereka, the deputy leader of the Green Party, but he was found murdered in the middle of July. His party had already been excluded from the election, as had the UDF (United Democratic Forces), the party of 46-year-old Victoire Ingabire. She was one of Kagame's most dangerous opponents, but shortly after returning from exile in Holland she was detained and placed under house arrest. Kagame had publicly called her a "hooligan" and claimed she was backed by foreign critics of Rwanda.

'We Are a Country in Motion'

The 52-year-old Kagame will now lead the country for another seven years. He will hope to build on the successes of his previous term which included: rapid economic growth; a booming capital in Kigali; an agricultural system that produces goods for export; a population in which 90 percent have health insurance; and a markedly improved school system.

"We want to establish Rwanda as a service platform," says Deputy Finance Minister Pichette Kampeta Sayinzoga, who dreams of seeing her country compete with the Kenyan capital Nairobi as the region's conference and service provision hub.

Sayinzoga is one of the many women that give Rwanda its strength. The clever and ambitious 29-year-old studied in South Africa, Belgium and England, and was supported by a government that seeks to promote talent. Like many of her compatriots, Sayinzoga decided to return from abroad, despite promising career prospects in Europe or America. "We are a country in motion," she says. "Rwanda is a brand and we are moving forward."

Her success story is the product of a government that has clearly defined goals. It wants to get away from development aid, from donations and gifts. Many African countries have become geared to a cozy global system of give and take. The regular arrival of aid from abroad has become a matter of course. Yet, Rwanda yearns for something different. "We want to get people out of poverty and get them paying taxes," she says.

Challenges Ahead

Word of such dynamism spreads fast. African neighbors like Kenya also regard Rwanda as a "model state," while the World Bank declared it to be the "top reformer country" of 2009. Kagame even received the Energy Globe Award recently for his environmental work. Hardly any other African nation receives as much aid per inhabitant as Rwanda.

And the president, a man who has been known to get out of his car to pick up litter, continues stubbornly on his course. He has set agreed targets with 30 district leaders on the construction of schools, hospitals and roads, and the results are reviewed annually. Anyone who has not delivered has to have a good reason for the delays -- or they are out of a job.

Such stringent oversight has made the job a difficult one. Of those original 30 district bosses, 26 have already been replaced and it has become difficult to find new applicants for a position that was once so coveted.

Another huge challenge is the issue of over population. Seven million people lived in Rwanda before the genocide reduced the population by almost one million. Today the country has close to 11 million inhabitants, and the challenge of curbing this population growth is one of Kagame's most pressing tasks.

For all that this former officer and intelligence agent works hard at pushing his country forward, he has little interest in freedom of opinion or democratic rights. He has no problem banning newspapers, journalists occasionally disappear and even critics living abroad can no longer feel completely safe.

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• Part 1: First Prosperity, then Freedom of Expression
• Part 2: 'We Have a Particular History'