According to his biography, David Himbara studied political economy at PhD level. He has in the past taught international development according to the same bio. Yet surprisingly whenever he attempts to address Rwandan economic development issues, his arguments appear pedestrian. Why?
Could it be that since Himbara is ultra committed to the sinister cause of tarnishing the image of government back in his motherland he ends up blind to glaring facts? Often he tends to take the people reading his stuff for being as less discerning as primary school drop-outs? Take as typical example his extremely reactionary statement below on the recent approval by IMF of a $ 319 million facility.
“According to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, in 2021, Rwanda’s public and publicly guaranteed debt was 73.3 percent of GDP or $7.4 billion. Comparatively, Rwanda’s public and publicly guaranteed debt was 35.4 percent of GDP in 2015 against 19.5 percent of GDP in 2010. In other words, Rwanda accumulated debt sharply in the past decade. The new $319 million loan from the IMF will obviously add to Rwanda’s debt of $7.4 billion.” Ballocks!
It baffles me why a scholar like Himbara decides to spend precious time saying the obvious? He says the “loan from IMF will obviously add to Rwanda’s debt…” Did he really think anyone needed to be told that? Borrowed funds, if adding to an already existing debt will definitely raise it. But that is not necessarily a problem. The truth he shies away from admitting is that in the first place the loan actually is acquired to address prevailing economic challenges. At least that’s what he should have picked from the elaborate statement released by IMF.
“Rwanda is the first African country to secure access to the RSF, which was created this year with the aim of helping low-income and vulnerable middle-income IMF members address longer-term structural challenges such as climate change with longer-term, low-cost financing.”
From an elder you would expect more in terms of analytical skills. Not with this son of his father. Some men age like fine wine. Other men like David Himbara age like milk. And he has no shame of urging his readers to stay tuned to his crap.
