When Rwandan President Paul Kagame delivered the first State of The Nation address on February 14, the conciseness of it surprised many observers.

In just about 30 minutes, Kagame not surprisingly used the opportunity to outline the background of what was previously termed a failed state characterised by bad governance, divisionism, conflict, and extreme poverty and how his government had led a remarkable recovery in just 16 years.

Amendments

Amendments to the 2003 Constitution last year provided among others things a constitutional obligation for the president to appear at least once a year before legislators to give the state of the nation address and for the prime minister to appear regularly and answer questions from lawmakers.

Speaking before a joint session of parliament he ignored the legions of critics who include former ruling party top official that despite the progress claimed by government in the speech, no new ground in the governing agenda has been unveiled; instead the president emphasised the resoluteness to achieve set targets.

This is, to observers, because the president already addressed most of his agenda in recent speeches and news conferences.

Prof Rwanyindo Ruzirabwoba, head of the Institute of Research and Dialogue for Peace (IRDP) told The EastAfrican that he concurred with the president’s speech as regards to achievement in the areas of national healing following the 1994 genocide.

Kagame underscored his government’s beginnings from scratch and how it managed to restore the justice system and end the culture of impunity at a time when a few foreign countries had written it off.

Mr Rwanyindo said research proves that social cohesion is taking root with most Rwandans saying that they have confidence in national stability.

In a survey conducted last year, 53 per cent of the respondents said social cohesion was very good, 40 per cent said there were still limits while 6.9 per cent said social cohesion was bad.

The spokesperson of the Civil Society platform Rwibasira Eugene said the president reflected what Rwandans in all sectors including the civil society, private sector and public service have contributed towards achieving.

Mr Rwibasira added that it was right for Kagame to be optimistic about the future because of the trends of the recent past.

The Rwanda government has been keen to emphasise its ability to deliver social services with the limited resources.

President Kagame highlighted what was delivered: Increased health insurance coverage from 7 per cent in 2003 to 96 per cent in 2010.

The decrease of the incidence of malaria to 16 per cent in 2009, down from 40.6 per cent in 2000.

The increase to 77 per cent of anti-retroviral treatment in 2009, up from only 35 per cent of people who needed them in 2005.

Better life

The number of citizens with access to clean water went up to 80 per cent from 41 per cent in 2003, and access to electricity rose 13 per cent of households from 4 per cent 10 years ago though it was noted that improvement is needed.

Asiimwe Arthur the director of the Health Communications Centre said that this was possible because “every penny is put to proper use” adding that creative interventions like the health insurance policy — Mutuelle de santé — and rollout of health centres to every sector helps.

Mr Asiimwe said that it was proper that the president spent his time addressing issues that directly affected the common citizens other than responding to his critics.

With the economy continuing to record positive growth, per capita income has increased to above $500; tourism is improving with 666,000 tourists arrivals last year who spent more than $200 million in 2010.