MDC Alliance presidential candidate Nelson Chamisa has claimed a hand in turning around of genocide ravaged Rwanda which is, today, one of the fastest growing economies in the world.
Just over two decades ago, the east African country was a wreck with most facilities and services non-existent in the aftermath of the 1994 Genocide against the Tuts which killed at least 800,000 people.
Economists, historians and theorists wrote off the country and predicted it would only recover within four decades.
But like the proverbial phoenix that rose from its ashes, Rwanda – under the leadership of president Paul Kagame – has beaten bookmakers, theorists and economists to put the economy back on the track and even performed far better than many other economies around the world in under two decades.
Addressing supporters at a campaign rally in Beitbridge Saturday, Chamisa – who was ICT minister in the former coalition government – said he had helped the Rwandese leader turn his country around.
“Look what my brother Paul Kagame (Rwandan leader) is doing for his country,” he told the cheering supporters.
“I helped him on his ICT policy, on how to turn around the country when we met in Geneva, Switzerland and he was happy with my presentation.
“He (Kagame) asked and enquired about me from former president Robert Mugabe and he told him that I belonged to his party Zanu PF, but I told him (Kagame) there and there that I belong to MDC party led by the late Morgan Tsvangirai.
“So Kagame is doing a wonderful his job for his country because he started his planning from a local level and, because of that, Rwanda has never been the same; it has changed completely.”
President Emmerson Mnangagwa has also looked to learn from the east African country and recently invited to Harare Rwanda’s expert on attracting foreign investment Clare Akamanzi for meetings with cabinet ministers and senior government officials.
Chamisa however said the Zanu PF government was clueless on how to turn Zimbabwe’s crisis-hit economy around.
“The first thing we want to put to order is how the government operates and how the economy is run through the use of ICTs; Mnangagwa and his government do not understand this because they are still in the analogue era,” he told supporters.
The MDC-T leader said while Mnangagwa was looking to turn Zimbabwe into a middle-income country by 2030, his government would achieve the feat much earlier.
“Come 2023 Zimbabwe will be the Jewel of Africa under MDC government,” said Chamisa. – NewZim
