Before I started writing this column last Saturday morning, I had consid­ered joining other Ugandans living in Kigali at Amohoro Stadium the next day to celebrate 50 years since my country gained political indepen­dence from Britain.

But, by the time I typed the first paragraph, I was convinced beyond reasonable doubt that I would not be part of the Amahoro celebrations. Instead I would go to church in the morning to pray for my country and dedicate the entire afternoon to re­flect on the startling statistics that de­fine the life of an ordinary Ugandan, a half a century since the colonizers handed us, the reigns of power.

Here are some of the awful figures not worth celebrating:

1. Water: Nearly half of estimat­ed 33 million (44%) of us do not have clean and safe wa­ter to drink. These Ugandans drink untreated water col­lected from swamps and un­protected springs which they share with frogs.

2. Health:  More than 435 per 100,000 Ugandan women die while giving birth- a startling figure that makes the country one of most unsafe places in the world to be a woman with ambitions of producing a child. Yet even those that manage to deliver their babies through hardships, 63 out of 1,000 ba­bies born die before their first birthday mainly from prevent­able causes such as diarrhea.

3. Employment: At least 34 out of very 100 Ugandans aged 18-35, who join the labor market each year, cannot find work—one of the highest unemploy­ment rate in Africa. With hun­dreds of thousands of new graduates churned out from the ever 20 universities and hundreds of colleges every year, this figure can, but, only grow. I ask myself, where is the future of the little ones for whose schooling many parents have invested in?

4. Electricity: A new study has revealed that on 15% of the estimated 32 million of us in Uganda do not have electric­ity in our homes. Simply put, about 25 million Ugandans, most of them in rural areas, have never seen electricity. This means that a majority of Ugandan children cannot read as soon as the sun goes down. It also means that health fa­cilities in rural areas cannot perform simply, but life-sav­ing surgical operations on patients.  Yet we are told that there had been a big improvement since 2003 when only 5% of the population was connected to the national grid.

5. As I reflected on those statis­tics, I remember that my coun­try has one of the highest fertil­ity rates in the world to date. At 6.15 live births per Ugan­dan woman (more than half of the population is female), Uganda has one of the world’s fastest growing population.

As a result, economists doubt the country will attain middle income status in the foreseeable future.

So, too many babies are born. They find no rehydration salt and die soon because on dehydration; those that are lucky to survive find a poor education system that ensures that they hardly learn how to write their names; they drop off and become child parents. So, disease and igno­rance continues to reign supreme.

Sadly, those in power say they have achieved a lot.

The President, in power for 27 years (more than half of the 50 years of our independence) says he has solved most of the bottlenecks and we now have good governance, a wonderful human resource, beauti­ful infrastructure, vibrant industry and agriculture sectors. I shudder.

I shudder because I am aware that some 22 countries in Africa recently achieved middle-income status, but Uganda is not among them. I am also told that another lot of 10 are on the road to middle-income status by 2025, but again my country is not one of them.  According to World Bank, a country is categorised as a middle income when the income per capita is a mere $1, 000. This certain­ly remains a distant dream for many a Uganda with per capita income of a paltry $300 and about 32% of them wallowing in abject poverty.

Dear Ugandans, for those of you who can gather some courage to make merry, please spare a thought for our mothers, wives, sisters, daughters and ground daughters—I mean the 435.

Uganda and Rwanda Police forces have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) meant to enhance bilateral cooperation of the two institutions.

Collaboration in management of disasters, sharing of experiences, mutual assistance in tracking, arrest and repatriation of suspects and conducting joint operations are some of the agreed upon terms in the MOU.

Speaking at the signing of the MOU, Inspector General of Police Emmanuel Gasana remarked that Rwanda and Uganda do not only co-exist geographically as neighbors but are just the same people who share the same culture, language, clans, businesses and confronted with the same challenges of negative forces and emerging crimes that affect our people and Nations development agenda.

The IGP cited today’s policing challenges of combating trans-national organized crime, which do not only require force capability but also calls for cooperation and called upon law enforcers to move from commitments to actions.

Lt General Kale Kayihura expressed gratitude for the warm and brotherly hospitality accorded to him and his delegation.

Kayihura further congratulated the leadership of the government of Rwanda for the achievements registered and attributed it to visionary leadership and national efforts in that direction. The IGP also cited the opportunities and threats that come with globalization and called for strong mechanisms to be in place to combat crime especially in the area of terrorism and cyber security.

Rwanda Police officers from Uganda and Rwanda who attended the signing on an MOU 300×157 Uganda and Rwanda Police forces sign an MOU

Police officers from Uganda and Rwanda who attended the signing on an MOU

This meeting was a follow up of the decisions made by the 8th and 7th Sessions of the JPCs held in March 2010 in Kampala and October 2006 in Kigali as well as the sub commission on governance and boarder security in Mbarara March 2010

I have covered the opening sessions of Rwanda’s annual Leadership Retreats from their early years. For those unfamiliar with these meetings, locally known as Umwiherero, they are annual forums that bring together top public officials. Of recent, representatives of the private sector and civil society as well as district mayors have come on board.

A week ago, I was invited to the opening session of the 9th Leadership Retreat taking place at the Rwanda Military Academy in Gako, Bugesera District.

Because I had not attended the last two or three retreats, I was not sure they were as lively and interesting (from a journalist’s perspective) as the ones I had covered before.

On the bus ride through the splendid lush and beauty of a resurgent Bugesera, with the other invited journalists, I kept wondering what to expect this time round.

For the first time, the leaders were not going to spend five days in the comfort of Akagera Game Lodge or Lake Kivu Serena – rather they were going to think harder and tighten the loose nuts in a military barracks! “Someone must have sensed that every saved coin can help make a difference in the life of a citizen tucked away somewhere in this country,” I thought to myself.

When we finally arrived, we went through the routine security checks, and later entered the modest meeting hall. The room was packed with excited but relaxed officials. The block had been given a facelift days ahead of the retreat, I later learned.

I was tempted to believe that perhaps the ninth retreat was likely to concentrate more on the incredible achievements the government had registered over the last few years, with declared commitments to stay the course and perhaps fix a few things here and there.

I thought that, coming just weeks after it had been announced that as many as a million Rwandans (12 per cent of the population) had jumped the poverty line and that the country had nearly achieved its targets under the Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy (EDPRS I), with a year to spare, as well as a general robust economic performance in a difficult year for many countries, including those in the region, it was only obvious that the mood was going to be celebratory.

A quick perusal through the ‘Concept Note’ that was distributed in the room showed that the organisers had sought to tie the retreat around the impressive national statistics as shown in the 2010 Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) and the third Household Living Conditions Survey (EIV3), although there was an indication they were keen on entrenching progress at the grassroots, with the unprecedented participation of district mayors.

It did not take long before I realised I was wrong. When President Paul Kagame took to the floor, his guileless talk was almost reminiscent of the statements he made in the same gatherings before the launch of the EDPRS I (in 2008), which has since changed Rwanda in many aspects. He was as emphatic and demanding with a strong conviction that his government can bring about much more results.

His speech concentrated on areas the government had failed to meet the expectations (its own targets, I must add). Yet he did not attempt to fault particular individuals, rather presenting the unachieved targets as a collective failure, even blaming himself at one point, saying he should have done better to ensure the country adequately addressed its energy challenges.

Listening to his speech, you would be forgiven to think this was a country that had registered failure in the recent past – not one that had delivered a more than 8 per cent growth rate, against all odds, last year, and achieved food security levels. You would not believe this is a country that had kept up its reputation as a top global ‘Doing Business’ reformer, a ‘clean country’ on a continent ridden with corruption, and one whose judicial system has increasingly won international community’s confidence with regard to conducting fair and transparent trials, with more countries now willing to extradite or deport suspects to Kigali, to mention but a few.

The President hardly mentioned any of these glowing achievements, rather pushing his Cabinet and other officials to go extra mile, tap into every capacity and resource at their disposal, with a view of changing the living standards for the Rwandan people.

While I’ll not delve into the other proceedings that were held in camera (although I was lucky to follow some of them), the President’s speech and tone set a new mood and a renewed sense of urgency for the Ninth Leadership Retreat. Under Kagame, Rwandans will be rest assured of a truly hard-working government, one that has no time to celebrate achievements, rather using them as a motivation to constantly raise the bar.

The Minister of youth, Jean Philbert Nsengimana, has called on the youth to implement their projects in the urban centres so as to promote employment.

He made the call while addressing various youth cooperatives in Nyamirambo stadium. The meeting was aimed at giving new strategies for youth empowerment in the country in terms of creating jobs.

“Now that the youth are the country’s engine for development, it’s high time they established their business ventures within urban centres for the development of cities across the country,” said Nsengimana.

The minister added that the government was now switching from social cluster empowerment to the economic development strategies.

“Youth have potential to develop themselves other than waiting for support. You have to develop confidence in whatever you are planning to do,” he added.

Nsengimana said the only way to create a happy new generation is for the youth to become more patriotic and innovative in focusing more on creating business opportunities like starting up companies instead of waiting for handouts from benefactors.

He disclosed that his ministry had received several projects from the youth requesting for financial support worth Rwf 800 million yet the ministry only gets less than Rwf 100 million for youth empowerment.

According to the ministry, to financially support youth projects, the ministry needs over Rwf 10 billion.

President Kagame on Saturday evening met with Rwandans from several European cities in Brussels at a festive gathering that comes four years since his last visit to Belgium. President Kagame is on a working visit to Brussels and will on Monday attend the fifth edition of the European Development Days.

Addressing nearly 2700 Rwandans and friends of Rwanda who had braved the unusually cold Belgian winter and travelled many hours to meet with him, President Kagame said that although each one of them were living outside Rwanda for various reasons, had come at different times and under different circumstances, Rwanda belonged to all of them, and what everyone seeks was a Rwanda for Rwandans, not for Tutsis, or Hutus or Twas or even foreigners – but for Rwandans.

President Kagame spoke of the values that guide the new Rwanda, particularly the rejection of the culture of corruption, and importance of self worth of every Rwandan saying

“As Rwandans we have to believe in our own worth, and not expect to get this as a gift from someone else. People who do not value themselves cannot achieve development – we have seen this in the past in our country and on our continent”.

Today, the United Nations has stripped the “Mapping Report” of all legal or historical credibility.

“The Government of Rwanda has consistently argued that the report is inherently flawed. We note that the UN also recognizes that the report omits crucial historical context, uses problematic methodology and sourcing, and the standard of proof used to justify the allegations in it is woefully inadequate”, said Louise Mushikiwabo, Foreign Minister and Government Spokesperson.

“It seems clear that no amount of tinkering can resuscitate the credibility of this fundamentally misguided process. This report is yet another attempt to distort Rwanda’s history and prolong instability in the Great Lakes Region,” said Mrs Mushikiwabo.

“Rwanda will continue to defend herself against all attempts to rewrite our history in any form and in any forum, including reserving the right to review our various engagements with the UN.”

At noon today (Thursday), the Government of Rwanda provided the United Nations with comments on the draft report of the Mapping Exercise in the DRC.

“Despite the media’s focus on sensational aspects of the leaked draft, Rwanda categorically states that the document is flawed and dangerous from start to finish,” Rwandan Foreign Minister and Government Spokesperson, Hon Louise Mushikiwabo said today.

“Our comments to the UN today center around seven specific areas of objection that clearly demonstrate how the Mapping Exercise has been a moral and intellectual failure – as well as an insult to history,” Ms Mushikiwabo said.

The seven areas of objection are:

1. The manipulation of UN processes by organizations and individuals—both inside and outside the UN—for purposes of rewriting history, improperly apportioning blame for the genocide that occurred in Rwanda, and reigniting conflict in Rwanda and the region.

2. The omission of the historical context, especially the immediate and serious threat posed by armed and ideologically charged refugees positioned right at the border of Rwanda and Zaire, as well as the nature of the conflict within Zaire at the time. This is despite the UN’s knowledge of the situation and its blatant inaction.

3. The contradiction between the report and contemporaneous accounts of the situation from the UN Security Council, NGOs and many other eyewitnesses in the region who confirmed that genocidal forces, often posing as civilian refugees, were operating under the cover of UN refugee camps.

4. The flawed methodology and application of the lowest imaginable evidentiary standard.

5. The overreliance on the use of anonymous sources, hearsay assertions, unnamed, un-vetted and unidentified investigators and witnesses, who lack credibility; and allegation of the existence of victims with uncertain identity.

6. Failure to address the glaring inconsistency that claims of genocide are directly contradicted by Rwanda’s extensive and coordinated efforts to repatriate, resettle and reintegrate 3.2 million Hutu refugees; efforts that were supported by the UN.

7. The dangerous and irresponsible attempt by the Report to undermine the peace and stability attained in the Great Lakes region, which directly contradicts the very mission of the United Nations

“Given these objections, it seems clear that no amount of tinkering can resuscitate the credibility of this fundamentally misguided process,” Ms. Mushikiwabo said.

Nicolas Muhamiriza remembers sitting atop a small hill as red rivers of molten lava crept over the city and swallowed his sprawling villa.

Muhamiriza, 47, was once the owner of a thriving bottling plant. Now he is among thousands of Congolese in the eastern city of Goma who struggle to pay rent for wooden shacks, their livelihoods destroyed nearly four years ago when lava submerged schools, hospitals and houses.

Scientists and officials fear Goma will one day be incinerated by Nyiragongo, the volcano that looms over the city. But Goma’s fertile soil and its location at the tip of Lake Kivu means people still swarm to its lively markets, for trading with nearby Uganda and Rwanda.

City officials would like to move Goma’s residents 30 miles west, to the towns of Sake and Kirotshe.

Few, however, can afford to leave, and the government doesn’t have the resources to help.

“If I had the money I would move tomorrow, but where would I go?” Caleb Kabanda asked. “Here, maybe I can find a job. Outside, it will be impossible.”

Kabanda, a 31-year-old former English teacher whose school was turned into cinders by the lava, said he got by on odd jobs now.

Some 500,000 people live in Goma, and the population will probably double in five years as more people move in despite the risks, Deputy Mayor Deo Katindi said.

“I believe that Goma will disappear from the map,” he said, sitting in an office about 200 yards from an expanse of black stones and ash where one stream of lava flowed through the city.

Katindi, who lost his house, car and all his belongings, sits on a planning committee that concluded last year that the best idea was to try to lure people away from Goma by investing in Sake and Kirotshe.

He said Goma had appealed for financial help from international organizations but had received nothing. As a result, no concrete steps have been taken toward moving.

Scientists say Nyiragongo is lively and a serious hazard.

Only Italy’s Mount Vesuvius is more dangerous in its threat to humans than Nyiragongo, which has erupted five times since 1902, said Celestin Kasereka, a volcanologist at Goma’s Volcano Observatory.

“We don’t know when the volcano will erupt,” Kasereka said. “But it could easily be worse than the last time.”

In Nyiragongo’s relatively small eruption on Jan. 18, 2002, nearly 80 percent of Goma’s economic activity was wiped out by flows of glowing lava that crept across the central markets.

Some 300,000 people fled the city, and nearly half of them lost their homes.

Most soon returned, possessing nothing more than the tattered clothes on their bodies.

Some in Goma, where the rotten smell of sulfur regularly wafts down from the volcano’s crater, believe that the next eruption may very well be their last.

“That smell is a warning,” said Pierre Muhindo, 46, father of three and a longtime security guard. “Stone after stone will fall on the earth, before we all go to heaven.”