Consider this country. Civil servants are required to report on duty at seven o’clock every morning. Cabinet ministers are given a modest amount by the government with which to purchase official vehicles, and an appropriate maintenance allowance; if they choose to use a large gas-guzzler, they do so with their own money.
This country’s capital city is clean, because an army of women cleaners sweeps it at dawn every day, and also because residents come out together once a month to clean it up. Plastic bags are outlawed. In this country, walking outdoors barefoot is an offence. So is the failure to maintain hygiene and proper sanitation in your home.
This is the only country in the world to have a majority of women in its parliament. The country is open for business and talent: investors and skilled workers are embraced. A universal health plan covers 90 per cent of the population. Education is a priority, and many foreign lecturers have helped to raise standards.
The internet is everywhere, as are cellphone networks. Cabinet members work on laptops when they meet. This country’s leadership deems its future to lie in technological uplift, in the acquisition of knowledge, in being an open and transparent society.
This country is enjoying 11 per cent annual growth in its economy, and its GDP per capita has tripled over the past fifteen years.
What is most remarkable is that this is an African country we are referring to, one that is just a short distance away from Kenya. This country is, of course, Rwanda. Its leader, president Paul Kagame, was present in Kenya last week and left a lasting impression on many a Kenyan - not least for his unassuming, no-frills leadership style. You might forgive a bit of swagger in a leader with all those achievements to his name. Not a bit of it: he is quiet, focused and utterly serious - a man on a mission, if ever I saw one.
Have you ever met Rwanda’s ambassador to Kenya? I have had that honour. George William Kayonga would be mistaken for a well-dressed young executive in any city - which is what he was in Kigali before president Kagame handpicked him to lead the diplomatic mission in Kenya. A more pleasant, friendly personality you are unlikely to meet - but one with all the facts about his country at his fingertips. I am told he is not unusual. Key appointments are made on the basis of what you can do, not what you are. If there is one thing for which president Kagame has no patience, it is “dull minds”. The country’s need is too big and too urgent to entertain mediocrity in key positions.
Now I have to pause there, since I come from a country where public appointments are made on the basis of ethnicity, political loyalty and personal interest. Ambassadorships, in particular, are reserved as a reward for tired and deflated loyalists, an agreeable tour of duty before they plummet into retirement and oblivion.
The personality of president Kagame cannot be divorced from what Rwanda is today. He travels around his country in a motorcade of three - one chase car ahead, one behind his official vehicle. His thinking is that his movements should be as unobtrusive and non-disruptive as possible - not causing a suspension of business for his people. He holds annual strategy retreats where key strategic goals are set and priorities defined. He pays for the best available advice: his personal advisors range from the world’s premier strategy guru, Michael Porter, to consummate networkers Bill Clinton and Tony Blair.
Kagame is one of the few African presidents to speak out against dependence on foreign aid, saying: “We appreciate support from the outside, but it should be support for what we intend to achieve ourselves. No one should pretend that they care about our nations more than we do; or assume that they know what is good for us better than we do ourselves.”
This is not a puff piece about Kagame and Rwanda. It is trying to draw your attention to the fact that great strides are being made not too far from these borders. Rwanda is not yet transformed; far from it. It is not obvious that the decades-old animosity between Hutu and Tutsi is eradicated. It is not clear that Rwanda would stay on this path even after Kagame. Rwanda remains a small, landlocked nation with few natural riches.
But there is every reason to be hopeful. Lee Kuan Yew’s Singapore pulled off a similar miracle on the other side of the world, which serves as a model for Rwanda and its leaders. It is not natural resources that transform nations; it is enlightened leadership that ignites the spirit of the people to better themselves.
Lessons for Kenya? Do you really need me to spell them out? The lessons are in every word of what I have just written. Follow Paul Kagame’s self-reliance doctrine, and work them out for yourself.
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10 Responses:
July 14th, 2009 at 6:24 pm
Kirwa:
Julius Kipng’etich is in my ‘Fast Forward’ leadership programme (details are available on this website). We are all trying to deepen our wisdom in leadership, one leader at a time…
July 13th, 2009 at 11:55 pm
Sunny, I ’stumbly’ discovered you through an article on Dr. Julius Kipngetich, current KWS CEO. I am Kenyan studying “Organizational Leadership” in the US. I am excited to read your prophetic articles on leadership and management. Kenya is sick to the core in its leadership from politicians to clergy to organizational leaders. Rwanda, a failed state a few years ago is now the darling of the region, while Kenyans are flocking there on fact finding missions. Also TZ and Ghana are stealing the show- even Egypt and Libya is now attracting the attention of the President Obama. Kenyans have lost the big ‘lottery’ to Ghana as Obama chose to put a spotlight on African states with progressive leadership. I think we need to revisit the basics of public service and servant leadership. I wonder what leadership model can be prescribed for Kenya?
July 4th, 2009 at 5:54 pm
The Chairman and CEO of a leading Kenyan company had an appointment with President Kagame recently, at 10.00 am. They received an SMS at 9.00 am informing them that the President was delayed in a previous function, and would be 30 mins late. At 10.30 sharp, Kagame walked in, full of apologies.
That is a true story. Kenyans, read it and weep.
June 23rd, 2009 at 11:01 am
Rwanda is a Phoenix rising from the ashes. And the reason is the resurrector Kagame, who calleth Rwanda from the grave, despite having been there for some time and stinging. It hearken to his call and was able to step out. Kagame ordered something to drink for Rwanda. It galloped and dusted itself and pick up the steps of life. Can Kenya do the same?. But do we need to die first before we experience the great transformation?
June 23rd, 2009 at 9:09 am
Sunny great comment,my take is that we can achieve what Rwanda is doing and even go beyond.
But for one,we need to realize that ,practically change begins with us.
You have mentioned very basic issues that touch on individual lives,personal hygiene and sanitation in our own homes!This is so basic but do we observe them at all?It starts with each one of us,building on the examples and growing them into other areas of our lives such as our social and professional lives.
Once it becomes usual it has a two way effect,it catches on and becomes a way of life,Sunny it can be done!
But Sunny how many times do you see a Kenyan spitting ,throwing away litter urinating and throwing garbage out of the car as they drive?Hey, it is us .We cannot wait till our leaders change ,i think it takes Sunny to make changes to his immediate surroundings.
But am optimistic we as a people can prevail and change the face of this nation ,we do not need our leaders ,because they have proved to be failures now and in the past.
Kenyans can prevail ,but not until they personally change.
June 18th, 2009 at 11:35 pm
I am of the opinion that Kenyans say they want the kind of government highlighted in the article but they really don’t. Everything they do and aspire for in counter to the image they project. Kenya is a country full of harlots that play church lady in the morning. Our true interest are manifested in our true behavior.
June 17th, 2009 at 6:38 pm
Reading many comments from ordinary Kenyans, one notes that Kenyans genuinely aspire to have servant leaders to guide them and manage resources on their behalf! But whatever happens during elections time, one wonders! No sooner are the elections over than we realise we have dictators as our leaders and start lamenting. If we were to conduct elections today, many current MPs would not see parliament but only to replace with other group of a similar breed! Our strength though is that we do realise we have made mistakes but how we correct the same, needs intervention, anyone with some suggestions?
June 17th, 2009 at 11:26 am
This is a very insightful artilcle, Good work Sunny. What Africa need is visionary leader and its good we have one in president Kagame. Kenyans love competition (going by how we buy fuel guzzles to “beat” our neighbours or collegues).
I hope we shall start striving to “beat” (for lack of a better word), Rwandas exemplary leadership.
June 15th, 2009 at 5:15 pm
It all starts from the top.
However, does a country have to go through what Rwanda went through to realize the importance of peace, harmony and development? No, those at the top have to (and we are all at the top of what we do). We must work on priorities with a vision of the long term, not like vampires, ready to suck the vitality of a nation for our own gain.
June 14th, 2009 at 12:32 pm
Yes Sunny, this was a good article, and yes, just one more point i noted ought to have been included in your article is about ‘muganda’ where the country takes cleaning the city very seriously few hours of every last saturday of the month,no movement of cars or bikes, business closed just to clean the city including his excellency , my hero President Paul Kagame,can this happen in Nairobi?