Rwanda's Stillborn Middle-Income Economy

About the Book

Rwanda’s Stillborn Middle-Income Economy shows how Rwanda’s head of state, Paul Kagame, and his international backers, Bill Clinton, Tony Blair, Jim Yong Kim, and the World Bank failed to create prosperity in Rwanda, their claims to the contrary notwithstanding. Vision 2020, under which Rwanda was to become a middle-income economy, was a fiasco. Rwanda remains appallingly poor, unable to provide food security for its people. The book offers a lens into the Rwandan ruler’s manipulative power by examining a range of false or dubious proclamations and the myriad ways in which he misled the world into believing that he had turned Rwanda into a prosperous African nation. The book also reveals how Western politicians such as Clinton and Blair ruthlessly promote themselves while immorally benefiting from fighting poverty in countries such as Rwanda. Clinton and Blair need Kagame, just as Kagame needs them. They are in mutually beneficial relationships of opportunism and greed in which poverty is a valuable commodity.

About the Author

Himbara is an educator, author, and professor of international development. He has lived and worked in the several countries, including the United States, Canada, South Africa, and Rwanda. He taught in universities and headed strategic consultancies for governments and leading organizations including development banks and UN agencies. Himbara was the team leader of Knowledge Management Africa on behalf of the Development Bank of Southern Africa, established and led the Strategy and Policy Unit in the Office of the President, Rwanda, and was the founding chairman of the Rwanda Development Board. A Rwandan-Canadian, Himbara holds a PhD in political economy from Queen’s University, in Canada.