Kagame does it again

What Rwanda’s bid to host Formula One tells us about its president’s personal qualities as a leader

THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | This December President Paul Kagame announced that Rwanda was bidding to host the world’s most iconic racing competition, Formula One. It is unfathomable that Rwanda would be the one bidding for this. Every factor about the country makes it an unlikely candidate; and yet it has. It is Kagame’s nature to dream the impossible and then work to make it possible. He is the kind of guy who will stretch his arm to touch the sky.

I am always against scholars, historians, analysts, activists, journalists who reduce the history of a country to the biography of its president. I have severally argued against the oversized role attributed to Lee Kuan Yew in the transformation of Singapore and Julius Nyerere to the unity of Tanzania and the use of Swahili. Instead, I locate their success in structural and historical factors. I have done similar with leaders accused of ruining their countries: Milton Obote in Uganda and Mobutu Sese Seko in Zaire. While I agree leaders are important, I think their contribution to a country’s destiny is marginal.

Yet Kagame’s personal role in Rwanda’s post genocide reconstruction defies my attitude. True, the genocide destroyed old centers of power leaving Kagame and RPF better positioned to pursue their agenda without serious resistance from other societal forces. The RPF faced an existential threat which imposed upon them discipline and the zeal to succeed. Rwanda’s shared language and culture makes it possible for its leaders to communicate their vision to citizens in an understandable way. Because it is geographically small with a compact population, it is cheap to broadcast state power.

While these factors explain success at post genocide reconstruction, they do not explain Rwanda’s star status as a player, not just in Africa, but also on the world scene. By every factor, Rwanda should be an obscure country stacked in hills in central Africa attracting little or no attention in Africa, leave alone the world. It is economically poor with a nominal GDP of $14 billion, $52 billion in PPP. It has no rich mineral resources (like Kuwait) coveted by the world and no highly skilled human resource (like Switzerland) to give it advantage. Its population is 14 million people. It has little or no geostrategic value in terms of global trade or global military importance.

The straits of Malacca give Singapore a decisive advantage because a significant share of global trade passes there and so is Egypt’s Suez Canal and South Africa’s Cape. Turkey sits on a strategically valuable piece of real estate, providing the link between the Mediterranean, the Aegean and the Black Sea through the Bosporus and the Dardanelles. If the Russian Navy wants access to freshwater seas, Turkey is the gateway. If NATO wants to choke the Russia Navy, Turkey must be an ally. Even Uganda has the source of the Nile as a geostrategic asset for the control of Egypt.

What does Rwanda have? Kagame! He has singlehandedly pulled it from its naturally assigned geostrategic obscurity and irrelevance and made it a global superstar. And he has done this across a diverse range of platforms – in sports and entertainment, in the economic and administrative spheres, in power projection by its military and police, in skillful diplomacy and intellectual intercourse. Rwanda today is Africa’s gem, its shining star on the global scene because of no other factor than Kagame.

Rwanda’s name sits on the jerseys of Arsenal and PSG, top soccer clubs in the world, advertising the country. Rwandair is spreading its wings across Africa, Europe and Asia. Rwandan coffee is sold in Starbucks with the country’s brand on it. Rwanda has hosted CHOGM, the AU, WEF, etc. when much better candidates should have taken the prize. Global political leaders bypass the major countries of Africa and visit Rwanda. The world’s leading personages in business, entertainment, religion, sports and academia do similar.

From Xi Jinping to Nerenda Modi, Matt Damon to Leonardo DiCaprio, Messi to Grogba, Bill Gates soon to Elon Musk, great academics like Michael Porter, leading preachers like Rick Warren are personal friends of Kagame. There is nothing in Rwanda to attract all these things and visitors but its president. All the leaders of the rich gulf states are on first name basis with him. Some of the world’s leading CEOs – like Jammie Damon of JP Morgan Chase and Howard Schultz, outgone Starbucks CEO are his personal friends. Leading figures in entertainment, sports, television, etc. love, respect and interact with Kagame. Retired statesmen like Bill Clinton and Tony Blair, Thabo Mbeki and Olusegun Obasanjo are all his friends. Every new and old leader in Africa looks to Kagame for inspiration and friendship. There are no structural factors that have made Kagame do all this. It is his personal charm and drive.

I have, for a long time, been meaning to write a book about Kagame – his vision, his skills, his tenacious zeal to transform Rwanda. Every time I sit on my laptop, I fail to find a place to begin. His ability to see opportunities where everyone else sees nothing; his relentless pursuit of his vision, his capacity to connect with people in all classes and in every field of human endeavor, his tendency to multitask with success, his keeping abreast with global trends in technology, entertainment, politics, diplomacy, military, security, sports – in everything. And yet still spend quality time with his family and characters like me. How does one tell this story?

Kagame is an all-rounder. He loves sports especially soccer, basketball, tennis, racing – hence his attraction to F1. But it is not just the entertainment part of the sport that he is versed with like most people. He is voluminous about the technical management of teams to produce results. He knows a lot about the business of the clubs that run sports teams. He is sharp with the economics of sports. And before you are done with him, he tells you the role of sports in politics. How does he do it?

Yet his biggest specialty is warfare. While his country is small and poor, Rwanda has the most formidable military in Africa. Many countries would have to spend $100 to get the results Rwanda gets by spending $10. When Mozambique needed help from its rebels, SADC was not able to help. They turned to Rwanda for rescue as did the Central Africa Republic. Even AU heads of state called on Kagame to lead its reform. This is a man who defies the odds. His story is yet to be told.

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amwenda@ugindependent.co.ug