The Long Form Podcast

The Government’s investment in building a world class conference and sporting ecosystem is obvious. It has spent a reported 300 million dollars on the Convention Center, 104 million dollars on the BK Arena and is spending around 130 million dollars on renovating the Amahoro Stadium. This is in addition to the close to a billion dollars that has been spent on upgrading Kanombe airport and increasing the Rwandair fleet. 

Some people will say, that that was money that could have been better spent building roads, schools and health centres.  Others on the other hand believe that the money being spent is well-worth the investment. 

 To bring to life the second argument, we are joined by Kyle Scofield, Co-founder & Managing Director of QA Venue Solutions. QA Venue Solutions signed a 7 year agreement with the Government of Rwanda to manage BK Arena in 2020. 

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Produced by LF Media 

On the morning of the 26th of July, a group of Nigerien soldiers from the presidential guard detained president Mohamed Bazoum and his family. This action was then followed by Presidential guard commander General Abdurahaman Tchiani proclaiming himself the leader of a new military junta.

The events that followed included presidential guard forces closing the country's borders, suspending state institutions, and declaring a curfew.

This is the fifth military coup d'état since the country gained independence from France in 1960, and the first since 2010. 

The coup has been widely condemned by Western powers and some African nations. In fact, the West African regional bloc ECOWAS, led presently by Nigeria, is currently considering military intervention in the country, leading to the 2023 Nigerien crisis. If a military confrontation is to happen, it will pit 57,000 Nigerien soldiers on one side and potentially 245,000 ECOWAS troops on the other side.

To help us understand why a coup in one of the poorest countries in the world is such headline news, we are joined by Fred Golooba-Mutebi. Fred is a Political Scientist and researcher with a special interest in Political Economy. 

He will also share his thoughts on the news that the World Bank has suspended all new loans to Uganda due to its anti-gay laws. 

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Produced by LF Media 

The concept of sheer luck giving us access to untold wealth is a tale as old as time. The other tale that is as old as time is, a fool and his money will be easily parted. The gambling industry is at the nexus of these two concepts. 

The multi-billion-dollar gambling industry is probably the lucrative in the world. In fact, gambling is the foundation of entire cities like Las Vegas, Monte Carlo and Macau. The bright light of the gambling halls and the money they generate hide a darker side. They hide the misery and poverty that gambling addiction creates in the many, many people who simply cannot resist their lure. 

Rwandans are not immune to these challenges and my guest this week, Adam Bradford, is doing what he can to push back against the ills of the gambling industry.  

Adam is a Director at Crucial Compliance Africa , a gaming and gambling compliance company, that aims to promote safe gambling in Rwanda. He is also the Chairperson of the Adam Bradford Agency. 

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Produced by LF Media 

When we are asked to identify the East African region’s big brother, we look to Kenya. It’s the richest country in the 8-nation East African community, its home to the biggest metropolis, Nairobi, it’s the regional manufacturing hub and its currency is the strongest. Its Gross Domestic Product in 2021 was slightly over 110 billion dollars. In comparison Rwanda’s was just over $11.5 Bn. Its city of Mombasa is an absolutely important port of entry into and out of East Africa

 A nation with such strategic value has no choice but to be stable because if it sneezes, the rest of the region will catch a cold.  Unfortunately, it seems like Kenya is in the midst of a sneezing fit. 

To help us make sense of the fast moving and complex events, I am joined by Kenyan veteran journalist Eugene Anangwe.

Currently based here in Kigali, Eugene is currently the country manager of CNBC Africa. Before that he was the founding Chief Executive Officer of Cape Media Ltd, the owners of TV 47 Kenya and Radio 47. He has also been a Senior Anchor and Producer in Standard Media Group. 

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Produced by LF Media 

The never-ending crisis in Eastern DRC is often in the news. We watch the terrifying scenes of war and carnage on our tv screens, then read stories of rape and killing in our newspapers. And on social media, we see images of the EACs heads of state meeting in different East African capitals to discuss the insecurity that has bedeviled Eastern Congo for close to 30 years.  

If you only listen to what the DRC the UN, the NGOs and the human rights groups are saying, you’ll think that the M23 is the cause of every conflict in the region and that they have no legitimate grievances.   

Why? Because rarely do we get to hear from someone who has visited their territory and spoken to them. All the information we have about them is courtesy of Congolese and international media as well as NGO reports. 

 This week, we host Marc Hoogsteyns, a veteran journalist who just got back from M23 Controlled territory.

Marc is a Belgian freelance journalist who has been living and working in Africa for 25 years. He has made reports for BBC, ABC-Australia, TV5 and Reuters. He also manages Kivu Press Agency

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Produced by LF Media 

For 4 days, from between 17- 20 July, Rwanda’s capital will welcome thousands of guests from around the world who’ve come to attend the Women Deliver 2023 Conference. With its slogan ‘Where the world comes together to advance Gender Equality’ the Women Deliver conference will host the great and the good of the global gender equality movement. 

Choosing Rwanda as the host nation was, in my opinion, an easy decision. Not only did it have the capacity to host the event due to its investment in the MICE industry, the country itself was at the forefront of the gender equality conversation. 

 Rwanda’s leadership made the strategic decision to turn its back on its misogynistic past and place equal rights for all its citizens, regardless of sex, at the heart of its governance model. Because of that decision, today women are at the forefront of everything that is Rwanda. They are in the security services, they are in the halls of parliament and they are well represented in the private sector. 

 The success that Rwanda is enjoying in the journey towards gender equality is not a fluke. It all started with overturning laws that were discriminatory and replacing them with better ones. 

 To help us understand just where Rwanda came from, legally speaking, to where it is today when it comes to the legal protections that women enjoy, I am joined by Dr Usta Kaitesi. 

 A PhD in law, Dr. Usta is the CEO of the Rwanda Goverance Board and a commissioner in the Rwanda Law Reform Commission. She was formerly a law professor in the National University.  

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Produced by LF Media 

On the 30th of June, the Rwanda Biomedical Center (RBC) released the second Rwanda NCD Risk Factors Survey, to quite a bit of media fanfare. 

The study surveyed 5,676 people from across the country, the majority between the age of 30 and 44. And while the study included findings about tobacco smoking, physical activity, and food choices, the findings that seemed to have worried everyone, including the President of Rwanda, was the finding on alcohol consumption.

 So, what were these findings? That, national alcohol consumption was up 7% since 2013. 

 Alcohol is part and parcel of Rwandan culture. It is part of our wedding ceremonies; it is what we gift our elders and joining other men for a drink is a rite of passage for many young men. However, while our forefathers drunk plenty of ikigaji, a traditional sorghum beer, I doubt whether they ever envisioned their descendants would be drinking booze with 45% alcohol content!

Because of these new drinking patterns, there is a general belief that the effects of drinking are creating disarray in our community, and most especially when it comes to young people. 

To discuss whether this is true or not, I’m joined by probably the youngest member of cabinet,  Dr. Yvan Butera, Minister of State in the Ministry of Health 

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Produced by LF Media 

What is it like being ambassador to the DRC representing Rwanda? What are the motives of the political class in Kinshasa when it comes to the violent escalation of the conflict in Eastern DRC? Will it rope in Rwanda? Or is it all part of the Congo’s election process?  

Former ambassador to the DRC, Vincent Karega, joined me last week to answer my questions on the history of Banyarwanda in Congo. This week we shall try to unpack what is happening today

 If you didn’t listen to last week’s episode, I would encourage you to before you listen to this weeks. 

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Produced by LF Media 

Once again, the decades long conflict in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, and its myriad of players in in the news once again. 

This time because of the UN Group of Experts Report that was leaked to media at the start of last week. The Report details the arming and financing of the FDLR by the DRC Government, M23 activity and makes allegations about Rwanda’s involvement in the conflict. These allegations were rubbished by the Rwandan government in a statement that was released on Thursday. 

The M23 is just the latest manifestation of what is the historic tension between the Congolese state and the Kinyarwanda speaking people of North and South Kivu. 

What is this tension about? When did it start and will it ever end? How did Rwanda get roped into Congolese internal affairs?

To answer these questions, I am joined by Vincent Karega, Ambassador-Designate of Rwanda to Belgium. Once Rwanda’s ambassador to South Africa, his last diplomatic posting was to the DRC in 2019. His posting was cut short after a mere three years as relations between the two countries soured. 

Amb Karega stint in DRC’s capital wasn’t his first taste of Congo. In fact, he was born in 1963 in Walikale in North Kivu and left Zaire (as DRC was then know) for the first time as a 27-year-old as a naturalized Zairean citizen. 

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Produced by LF Media 

The Minister of Finance and Economic Planning on Thursday revealed that Rwanda’s national budget for the year 2023/2024 is 5.1trillion Rwandan francs. That is slightly above 4.3 billion US dollars. 

This years budget is a 6% increase from last years. My biggest takeaway from the budget reading the fact that foreign aid was only 13% of the total budget. While still high, we have to remember that there was a time overseas development assistance was the majority of the budget.  We are slowly but surely weaning ourselves as a nation from the scourge of foreign aid. 

 Due to the different challenges that Rwanda has faced over the last few years, whether it was the covid 19 pandemic, high petroleum prices, national disasters and the Russia-Ukraine conflict, our economy hasn’t grown as fast as we would like it to. 

 So the question is, Will this year’s budget help jumpstart the economy? 

 To help us answer that fundamental question and more, we are joined this week by budget expert,  Victor Omurunga, an Associate Director at PriceWaterhouse Coopers Rwanda. Victor is a Certified Public Account with 13 years of experience with a specialty in government and public sector accounting. 

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