What Rwanda Got Right That Kenya Keeps Getting Wrong

In 1994, Rwanda experienced one of the worst genocides in human history. In 100 days, over 800,000 people were killed. The country was destroyed — its institutions, its economy, its social fabric, everything.

Thirty years later, Kigali is one of the cleanest cities in Africa. Rwanda has universal health insurance. Its economy grows at over 7 percent annually. Corruption is near zero. Foreign investors line up to do business there. The World Bank consistently ranks it among the easiest places to do business on the continent.

Kenya had no genocide. Kenya has fertile land, a coast, tourism, tea, coffee, flowers, geothermal energy, and a young, educated population. Kenya has had peace and stability for most of its independent history.

So why is Rwanda pulling ahead?

The Uncomfortable Comparison

Kenyans do not like this comparison. It bruises our pride. We are the regional hub. We have the biggest economy in East Africa. We hosted the world at UNEP. We have Silicon Savannah.

But pride does not build roads. Pride does not reduce maternal mortality. Pride does not put food on a farmer's table.

When you strip away the slogans and look at outcomes — actual, measurable outcomes for ordinary citizens — Rwanda is doing things that Kenya only talks about.

And the reasons are not complicated. They are just painful to admit.

Discipline, Not Slogans

Corruption Has Consequences

In Rwanda, corruption will end your career. Not figuratively. Literally. Ministers have been fired and prosecuted. Senior military officers have been jailed. The message from the top is unmistakable: steal from the public and you will pay.

In Kenya, corruption will get you a mention in the audit report. Maybe an investigation. Probably an acquittal. Possibly a promotion. Our anti-corruption framework is elaborate on paper and useless in practice.

The difference is not the law. Both countries have anti-corruption legislation. The difference is enforcement. Rwanda enforces. Kenya does not.

Public Services Actually Work

Rwanda's community health insurance scheme, Mutuelle de Santé, covers over 90 percent of the population. It costs about 3,000 Rwandan francs per person per year — roughly 200 Kenyan shillings. And it works. People actually receive treatment.

Kenya's NHIF — now SHA — has been plagued by inefficiency, corruption, and broken promises for years. Kenyans pay more and receive less. Hospitals turn away patients despite their insurance. Claims go unpaid for months.

This is not a resource problem. It is a management problem. Rwanda simply manages its public services better because it demands accountability at every level.

Infrastructure Is Built to Serve, Not to Steal

In Rwanda, when a road is budgeted, a road is built. On time. To specification. Because the procurement process is transparent and the consequences for cutting corners are severe.

In Kenya, infrastructure projects are opportunities for extraction. Roads are built and collapse within a year. Budgets are inflated. Timelines are ignored. Projects are started, abandoned, restarted, and abandoned again — each restart a fresh opportunity for someone to eat.

Rwandans expect their infrastructure to work. Kenyans have been conditioned to expect it to fail.

Unity Is Not Optional

Perhaps the most remarkable achievement of post-genocide Rwanda is the deliberate construction of national identity over ethnic identity.

Rwandans do not identify as Hutu or Tutsi on official documents. Ethnicity-based politics is constitutionally prohibited. The national narrative is aggressively unifying: we are Rwandans first, everything else second.

Is this approach perfect? No. Critics point to limitations on political freedom and press independence, and those concerns are valid. But on the specific question of ethnic unity, Rwanda has achieved something Kenya has never seriously attempted.

In Kenya, every election is an ethnic census. Every appointment is analysed through a tribal lens. Every development project is evaluated by which community benefits. We have institutionalised tribalism and then wonder why national cohesion remains elusive.

You cannot build a Singapore or a Rwanda when every decision is filtered through the question of "which tribe gets what."

Umuganda: The Power of Collective Work

Every last Saturday of the month, Rwandans participate in Umuganda — a mandatory community service day. The president participates. Ministers participate. Everyone from the CEO to the farmer picks up tools and works on community projects.

Roads are maintained. Trees are planted. Public spaces are cleaned. Community issues are discussed in open-air assemblies afterward.

It is not just about the physical work. It is about building a culture where every citizen takes responsibility for their community. Where service is not optional. Where the gap between leaders and the people shrinks, at least for one day a month.

In Kenya, the idea of a governor cleaning a drainage ditch or an MCA planting trees on a Saturday morning seems absurd. And that absurdity is part of the problem. Our leaders have become too important to serve. They only lead upward — toward Nairobi, toward power — never downward, toward the people.

What Kenya Can Learn Without Copying

I am not suggesting that Kenya should become Rwanda. Our contexts are different. Our histories are different. Our political systems are different.

But certain principles are universal:

Corruption must have real consequences. Not hearings. Not commissions. Consequences.
Public services must be measured by outcomes, not budgets. It does not matter how much you allocate if nothing reaches the citizen.
National unity must be deliberately built. It will not happen by accident while politicians exploit ethnic divisions every five years.
Leaders must serve visibly. Not from behind tinted windows, but in the communities they represent.
Citizens must demand more. Not more handouts. More accountability. More results. More dignity.

The Question for Kericho County

We do not need to look to Kigali for answers. We can start right here in Kapsoit Ward.

Can we demand that every development project in our ward is completed on time and to standard? Can we insist that our bursary funds reach the students they are meant for? Can we organise community clean-up days without waiting for the government? Can we elect leaders based on competence rather than connections?

If Rwanda — a country that was literally destroyed — can rebuild itself into a model of African development, then Kericho County has no excuse.

None of us do.

The best time to start building was thirty years ago. The second best time is today. Let us stop admiring other nations and start building our own. Share your thoughts — I am listening.