The Silicon Valley of Africa

                                                             Mr Emma Nsekanabo, PR, RDB - IT Kigali

Ali Balunywa in Kigali, Rwanda

Rwanda has been touted as a country whose government has deliberately invested resources in ICT. The government IT department is one of the directorates under the Rwanda Development Board (RDB).  Formerly it was called the Rwanda Information and Technology authority (RITA). Today it is called RDB – IT.

RDB is a government parastatal made up of 4 directorates; IT, Business operations, Tourism and conservation and Business operation services under whose portfolio lie investments, enterprises, company registrar, environmental impact assessment, entrepreneurship development, one stop centre, human capital and institution capacity development and privatization.

I got an opportunity to speak to Mr. Emma Nsekanabo, the RDB – IT Public Relations and Communication specialist. They are housed in a new building called RDB building in Nyarutarama, an up market suburb of Kigali just after the parliamentary buildings. 

Emma explained to me that RDB – IT is mandated to lead the government vision to transform the economy into a knowledge based and information rich society. The name changed from RITA to IDB – IT in late 2008 when about 8 government institutions were merged. 

Its agenda is to fulfill the National Information and Communication Infrastructure (NICI) plan, which is aligned with vision 2020, which is now in its second phase, that is 2010 – 2015. The first phase 2005 – 2010 had many challenges and it involved creating public awareness. 

The second phase 2010 – 2015 is focused on laying infrastructure and laying out the various applications. It is fully funded by government. The government spent US $ 8 million to complete the Kigali Metropolitan Project. It involved laying optic fibre wires using the latest technology from Southern Korea in the whole of Kigali city and its surroundings. The government has now secured US $ 40 million to extend the fibre optic cables to the borders of the country to form the national backbone.

All civil works like digging the trenches, laying the cables is being done entirely by the government of Rwanda. The government hopes to use the private public model to manage the project for sustainability and usage. Operators will just lease the cables to ensure a low price for users. 

The Regional Communication Programme (RCP), which is funded by the World Bank to the tune on US $ 24 million, will oversee the laying of the cables from the sea to Kigali. Once ready, Rwanda will break off from the satellite service, which is very expensive.

Rwanda has an edge over the rest of the countries in the region. It is small and can easily achieve 100% coverage of cable. It can therefore realize its dream of being the regional hub.  All schools, government institutions, district headquarters and all the borders will be covered. The government will provide a telecentre for every district with an objective of popularizing ICT in the communities. It will also facilitate training in IT basics for the people. It will no longer be necessary to travel to Kigali for computer training. 

Rwanda has also embraced Negroponte’s One laptop Per Child (OLPC) project and has so far bought 100,000 laptops which have been distributed. It hopes to be able to buy many more until all pupils have one.