Kigali, 7 August 2013
Today, President Kagame received over fifty staff of the Africa Governance Initiative gathered in Kigali for a week of learning, sharing and training referred to as “Govstock”.
Asked about the meaning of technical assistance, President Kagame emphasized the role of ownership:
“If a country does not know what it wants and where it is trying to go, people will be coming from all corners of the world to do the wrong thing. We must insist on ownership. This means being accountable both for failure and reaping the benefits.”
Speaking Rwanda’s story of progress, President Kagame explained that Rwanda’s determination to achieve was a result of lessons learned from a difficult past:
“We have been made to learn hard lesson to achieve more with less because the situation demands it. It has taught us to defy convention and to think outside of the box.”
President Kagame also shared his vision for Africa’s future:
“Blaming others for our problems is in the past. The opportunities are here and we have no excuse to miss them. It is time to leverage Africa’s position to insist on having a fair deal.”
Since its founding in 2008, AGI advisors have grown from a staff of 10 to a team of over 50 with project in seven countries. AGI describes its partnership with Rwanda as its flagship project and as instrumental in the growth and development of the organization.
Founded by Tony Blair, AGI works in Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea, Malawi and South Sudan. AGI staff is based permanently in each country and work to complement the work going on across Africa to improve governance and strengthen the government’s capacity to deliver programmes that will lead to economic and social transformation.