Rwandan President Links Technology to Development

Rwandan President Paul Kagame stressed the need for using science to accelerate Africa’s socioeconomic transformation in a speech at MIT’s Kresge Auditorium on Friday.

The former commander of the Rwandan Patriotic Front, a guerilla army that helped end the 1994 genocide in the country, spoke of “the tremendous and positive impact” that technology has had on Africa, allowing the region to “sidestep” some of the development challenges caused by a lack of infrastructure.

Kagame gave several examples of the benefits of mobile phone technology in Rwanda, including TRACnet, a joint public-private partnership that allows decision-makers in the health-care sector to use wireless technology to respond in real time to the treatment needs of AIDS patients.

“Even the remotest areas of the country without electricity are linked to the system by solar-powered mobile phones,” he said.

But Kagame said that while these transformative technologies have facilitated upward mobility among micro-entrepreneurs, Africa still lacks the critical mass of scientists necessary to lead the propagation of science and technology.

“I would argue that this is the single most challenging task facing contemporary Africa,” he said, adding that Africa needs to invest heavily in all areas of education.

Speaking as part of the Compton Lecture Series, whose past speakers have included Senator Ted Kennedy ’54-’56 and nuclear physicist Niels Bohr, Kagame ended with an invitation to MIT to work with Rwanda in overcoming its challenges.

“The innovation, entrepreneurial energy, and the interplay between knowledge centers, business, and the government that has become synonymous with MIT and Boston in general is a model that we in Africa should emulate,” he said, drawing a second standing ovation from the crowd.

In the ensuing question-and-answer session, President Kagame addressed topics ranging from Rwanda’s female-majority parliament—the first in the world—to Chinese and Indian investments in Africa.

“Africa has fallen prey to many others before the Chinese came,” Kagame answered, eliciting ironic laughter from the audience.

“I’m not worried about China, or anybody for that matter,” Kagame said, adding that Africa needs serious investment partners. “But if people come and find you sleeping or not knowing what you want, they rip you off. They just take all the clothes you have and by the time you wake up they have helped themselves. So why don’t we simply wake up—”

A third standing ovation drowned out the end of his sentence.

Attendees said they were impressed by Kagame’s vision and optimism.

“It excited me to consider the American analogy in the cases of Africa and African countries,” said Matthew R. Tierney ’09 “What if there are these foundations [set up] to allow people in the developing world to network together and share ideas?”

—Staff writer Hee Kwon Seo can be reached at hkseo@fas.harvard.edu.