Top 77 Quotes & Sayings by Paul Kagame
Explore popular quotes and sayings by a Rwandan leader Paul Kagame.
Last updated on September 17, 2024.
You requested me to lead the country again after 2017. Given the importance and consideration you attach to this, I can only accept.
Sometimes our partners from other countries ask us why we have not got further with our reconciliation, as if we possess a magic to just get rid of this tragic history of ours.
I don't think anybody out there in the media, U.N., human rights organisations, has any moral right whatsoever to level any accusations against me or against Rwanda. Because, when it came to the problems facing Rwanda, and the Congo, they were all useless.
To be effective at delivering a decent life for all, the U.N. must treat all the people it serves with impartiality and respect.
The judicial system of Rwanda is not subordinate to France or France's interests.
I would be very happy for a woman to succeed me.
Let no one think that flexibility and a predisposition to compromise is a sign of weakness or a sell-out.
In a state of poverty, illiteracy, people just remain exposed to all kinds of manipulation. That's what we have lived. It's easier to tell a poor person, 'You know what, you are poor, you're hungry because the other one has taken away your rights.'
There is a need to take advantage of the change that has taken place in the Congo, however tragic that has been in its coming.
Our world faces difficult challenges, but no more so than in the past. Working together in a constructive spirit, we can assure our children the future they deserve.
The political, the economic, the social are tied together like the strands of a rope. The social and economic, if they are firm, tend to strengthen the other.
I don't think that what we need is an eternal leader.
I have no regrets about being who I am and being what I am in my country for my people. No regrets at all.
We want to develop this can-do mentality.
I get newspapers from Britain and other countries twice a week and read them almost page to page. Sometimes I find I'm reading things I don't even need to read, because my mind is still hungry.
Nothing would catch me off guard, because I understand the world I live in. I understand it very well. And the world I live in is not necessarily a fair or just world. I have dealt with these injustices for the bigger part of my life.
I've told Rwandans it's not just what you think of for yourselves, but what others think of us.
The U.N. must be a good steward of the funds entrusted to it. Abuse and waste are therefore not a mere public relations problem. Institutional reform is not a one-off event, like applying a fresh coat of paint.
I said, maybe you need to take a risk with someone else. But they kept saying no, we want you to stay.
In Africa today, we recognise that trade and investment, and not aid, are pillars of development.
There are some who are scared by unity and by building a country on the basis of ideas.
I grew up in a refugee camp. Thirty years. This so-called human-rights world didn't ask me what was happening for me to be there 30 years.
We must create economic opportunity, build a culture of entrepreneurship, get people to take responsibility for improving their lives, rather than putting them in a position where they sit back in their poverty and blame others for it.
Africa should not just wait to be exploited or influenced. No. We should be part of the conversation. We should raise ourselves to a level where there are certain terms we dictate in the conversation because we have a lot to offer.
I try to look at problems very clearly and think, 'How do we get out of this? What will work? What will be the consequences for the people involved?'
I'm not British. I'm not American. I'm not French. Whatever thing they practise, that is their business. I am an African. I am Rwandese.
You can be up there, talked about, appreciated all over the world, with people singing a lot of songs about you. But if you don't measure up and you are not really connected with your people... it will explode in your face, no question about it.
We cannot turn the clock back nor can we undo the harm caused, but we have the power to determine the future and to ensure that what happened never happens again.
We cannot just be a corridor to smuggle minerals out.
Some are short, others are tall, others are thin, others are stocky. But we are all human beings. Can we not live together and happily within one border?
You kept quiet... When these victims wanted your help to survive, you kept quiet.
Such problems are not solved in one day but there is a great step toward peace and security in the region.
Human rights are not the preserve of Western activists: The definition must extend to encompass the right to the dignified life; the right to send your kids to school, for that child to get health care, for access for greater prosperity for generations to come and to have a say in the destiny of your community and country. Under that definition, Rwanda has nothing to learn from advocacy groups who think they own the copyright on what constitutes human rights under all conditions in every corner of the world.
The West has institutions that can punish the misconduct of individuals. What drove Rwanda and Africa into decline was the fact that certain people weren't held accountable. When we move to make corrupt mayors or officers answer to the courts, people always immediately say that we are repressive. But should we allow these people to continue to get away with it?
Politics is not only about personal choice. That one also needs to take into consideration what the people want because in the end, they are the ones who decide.
The history and national interest of Rwanda and the Rwandan people dictate our national orientation.
I grew up in a refugee camp in Uganda, and I lived there for 30 years. That shapes one's character.
A strong leader is not necessarily a bad leader.
The new Rwanda is about building an economy that delivers prosperity and opportunity for our citizens based on a robust private sector. Foreign adventures would be costly and counterproductive distractions from these challenging objectives.
Democracy holds little appeal for people who are struggling to survive.
The efficiency of a President at the beginning of his term depends on their capacity to get everything under control. That was my case. But once the institutions have been put in place, and the responsibilities delegated, the leader becomes a reference, a referee, a symbol and unifying figure for the nation. The issue is how and when to recognize the moment when staying in power becomes counterproductive.
I often wonder why the West is much more interested in aid deliveries than in fair trade, for example. The fair exchange of goods would place far more money into the hands of the affected people than relief operations.
In Rwanda, we have a society that has experienced a very serious rupture and you can't expect all of a sudden that things will be perfect. Even so: You cannot find any more areas where any segment of the population would be afraid to go, like we used to have before. But there is always a lot more to do.
I had to fight hard for everything. I wanted to get out. I want to take my destiny into my own hands and escape the vicious cycle of retaliatory violence. This struggle has shaped who I am to this day.
My own experience from a decade ago taught me I cannot trust the UN. But it is a world body and we have to live with it and tolerate it. But I can't hide my feelings about its inefficiency and its not being productive.
I know that the fact that I am candidate to my own succession in 2017 can be perceived to be a bad thing by some part of the public opinion outside Rwanda and I don't mind because I know that I am doing it for a good cause. It really doesn't matter to me that my name is associated to those critics as long as I know that I am doing the will of the people.
Africa’s story has been written by others; we need to own our problems and solutions and write our story.
The West is anything but altruistic.
Aid leads to more aid and more aid and more aid and less independence of the people that are receiving aid.
My purpose is to develop a country, to empower its population. It's from that same population that will emerge the man or woman who will succeed me. And they will be chosen based on the consensus that they have the capacity to lead the country.
It is the population which decides when it's time for a leader to leave, not foreign powers.
Strong economic growth, and especially a significant increase in private sector investment, is the only sustainable path forward for Rwanda.
We've used aid to build capacities so we won't need aid in future.
National security is vital for economic and social progress.
Rwanda is rebuilding itself once again as one nation and that is the reason why we are making progress. Now many Rwandans are making their ends meet and others are able to do better than they have before.
Israel and Rwanda both play an active part in international organizations, including the U.N., but I think it's true that our unique experiences as nations have shaped a fierce independence that we will not relinquish.
There are things I admire, for example, about South Korea or Singapore. I admire their history, their development and how intensively they have invested in their people and in technology.
Listen more to the one who criticizes you and less to
the one who praises you. Learn from them and do
something about it.
Reconciliation has taken place here in Rwanda and was successful because Rwandans reconciled themselves internally. If the tribunal had taken place in Rwanda, it might have helped. People could have watched justice being done.
Rwanda is a very open and free country. Key to our recovery as a nation has a range of grassroots, citizen-centered polices we call "homegrown solutions." The idea that Rwanda is highly controlled from the center belies the reality, which is that citizens in every village have a powerful say in how things get done. We prize accountability and Rwandans are quickly adapting themselves to the possibilities of a digital economy.
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