While Rwanda charts a clear path forward, Kenya is getting it all wrong

Kigali Convention Centre at night on cloudy evening. The facility is designed to host a variety of events and is a top attraction in the city. [iStockphoto]

This week I found myself in Kigali, often referred to as the city on the hills. It has been almost a decade since the last time I was there in 2018. Coming from Nairobi, one of the unmistakable things that a visitor quickly notices in Kigali is the discernible order and greenery.

Yes, traffic slows down there at times and there are as many boda boda riders as they are in Nairobi, but rules are rules in Rwanda. The streets are clean and their markets orderly unlike heaps of garbage at various stages of decay that are a common scenes in Kenyan urban and peri-urban areas.