{UAH} Kagame’s World Bank Friends Say 38% Of Rwandan Children Suffer Chronic Malnutrition

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Kagame's World Bank Friends Say 38% Of Rwandan Children Suffer Chronic Malnutrition

The latest World Bank's Rwanda Economic Update exposes President Paul Kagame — 38 percent of Rwandan children suffer chronic malnutrition. The silent killer known as child malnutrition is still rife in Kagame's Rwanda. This is in sharp contrast to Kagame's loud proclamation that Rwanda is Africa's developmental success story. His other favorite line is that Rwanda is the "fastest growing economy in Africa."

According to the Rwanda Economic Update dated June 2018:

"chronic although malnutrition or stunting (Kugwingira), which signals that children are growing too slowly, has declined from about 50 percent (2005) to 38percent (2014/2015) of children under 5, is still a major outlier. Stunting tends to be an invisible problem in Rwanda, depriving children of their right to grow, thrive, and reach their full potential. Stunting delays cognitive development and lowers educational attainment and lifetime earnings. Children who are stunted are trapped early in a vicious cycle of poverty…Stunting also deprives the economy of quality human capital that is critical to attaining Rwanda's aspiration to become a middle- income country."

On the occasion of signing the US$55 Million support to Rwanda to address this crisis, the World Bank had the following to say in February 2018:

"Stunting is a social injustice that hides in plain sight. In Rwanda, it is estimated that undernutrition is the underlying cause of 22 percent of all child mortality, 13 percent of primary school repetition, and lower adult wages leading to the annual loss of 11.5 percent of GDP."

The Rwanda Economic Update provides other useful news — for example:

• Foreign direct investment in Rwanda in 2017 was US$245 Million (Rwanda Development Board claimed that it registered over US$1.6 Billion in foreign investment in 2017).
• Net portfolio flows was negative "after a Rwanda Social Security Board investment abroad."
• Foreign reverses stood at US$1.2 Billion enough to cover 4 months imports.
• Rwanda Franc deprecated against currencies of trading partners other than the USA (15.7 percent against the Euro, 12.3 percent against the British pound, and 6.3 percent against the South African rand).

Perhaps, the most telling World Bank giveaway about Kagame's development model is the poor performance of the private sector. Says the World Bank:

"The private sector's lower-than-expected response to the improved investment climate is also a concern for long-term growth. The recent growth slowdown, after several years of a public investment-led boom, has illuminated the limitations of the public-investment-led model and the importance of the private sector. A lack of private sector responsiveness and failing to increase the private investment rate over time would make it very difficult to sustain a high growth rate in the long run—as is envisioned in the National Strategy for Transformation and Vision 2050. Sustained growth rates will require considerable efforts in boosting private and public investment financed by domestic savings and capital inflows in the medium- as well as long-term.

So, Kagame, what kind of development success is this — why are 38 percent of Rwandan children suffering from malnutrition? Shame!

• Politics
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• Kagame

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