Success or Failure: How Rwanda is Becoming the Singapore of Africa

By: Megan Sieroka

Rwanda’s Singapore-modelled development is advancing the country towards a path from a third-world nation to a developed country. Paul Kagame, the President of Rwanda, is intent on turning Rwanda into a technology capital akin to Singapore. Mr. Kagame announced the mission to follow Singapore’s growth model in 1995, and Rwanda has adopted tremendous changes ever since. Rwanda is the only country in sub-Saharan Africa that has come close to emulating Singapore’s success strategy. Yet, during Rwanda’s climb to democratic and economic development, it has come with significant human rights abuses. While the globe continues to become more interconnected, international awareness is still not sufficient for protecting human rights abuses. The first section of this paper will analyze the Singapore-modelled growth model, the second section will follow with an analysis of the reliability of Rwanda’s progress statistics. Rwanda’s Singaporean-modelled development strategy is instrumental in its advancement in the global economy but has come at the expense of human rights.

In less than a lifetime, Singapore has gone from an extremely poor country to one of the world’s strongest economies in the world. The country is intent on becoming the business hub in Asia. Currently, 15 of the world’s 20 largest countries have operations in Singapore. Three factors have led to Singapore’s success, and Mr. Kagame intends on paralleling each one: geographic centrality, political stability, and ease of doing business. Rwanda is developing its economy by reducing its trade deficit and becoming a tourist hub in Africa. Since 2015, exports have increased by more than 69% and Rwanda’s trade deficit has been reduced by a third. Rwanda’s National Export Strategy hopes to increase the country’s global competitiveness and reduce dependency on primary commodities. Moreover, in 2017, Rwanda counted 1.2 million visitors, twice as many as in 2008. According to the national statistics of Rwanda, the country is on track to developing akin to Singapore.

According to the government of Rwanda, not only has the economy improved significantly, but the quality of life has improved across the board for Rwandans. Since the inception of the Human Development Index in 1990, Rwanda has seen a 30-year increase in life expectancy.

While internal news sources are optimistic about Rwanda’s progress, external news agencies and nations are highly critical. For example, we can observe the Gikondo Transit Centre, wherein street vendors, sex workers, homeless people, and street children have been held against their will. According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), the Gikondo Transit Centre is promoted as a rehabilitation centre but has been likened to an unofficial detention centre. In opposition to the reports by HRW, Mr. Kagame claims that one million Rwandans have been lifted out of poverty between 2011 to 2014. Some methods the president has used to manufacture fictional progress have been to change the rural and urban classifications and change definitions of poverty. Many of the collection methods and classification techniques used to measure progress in Rwanda have shifted dramatically during his presidency. Additionally, Mr. Kagame amended the constitution in 2015 to allow for him to run for a third term. The election results showed a 99% approval rating for the Rwandan leader, but this does not paint a picture of the full story. His opposition is suppressed from running, suffers from a lack of resources, and faces numerous barriers enacted by the current regime. In contrast to outside reports, city residents are highly supportive of Mr. Kagame’s government and his current COVID-19 measures. Rwanda is becoming increasingly globalized yet the country remains highly corrupt and mostly unchecked by the international community. The case of Rwanda demonstrates that globalization does not equal greater global accountability. In the growing debate between nationalism versus globalization, the international community needs to be critical of whether globalized development strategies can protect both the economy and human rights. This begs the question if globalization is a model for the future of development across the globe.