Paul Kagame Quotes

Moving container from Kigali to Mombasa used to take 22 days, now it takes 6 days.

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 is a need to take advantage of the change that has taken place in the Congo, however tragic that has been in its coming.

Technology has brought many possibilities in education and health that are key to women.

Infrastructure is key, but also how it's used, and that's political.

I am not responsible for creating an opposition, neither am I responsible for appointing my own successor. My job is to allow for the opposition to exist within what the realms of the law. There is space in Rwanda for political parties - if fact we have about a dozen of them - as long as their objective is not to take us back twenty two years. On that point, we are and will always be very vigilant.

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.

Human rights groups are locked in a fierce competition for big checks from wealthy donors and they need to generate big headlines.

Strong economic growth, and especially a significant increase in private sector investment, is the only sustainable path forward for Rwanda.

I do not want to be cynical, but if developing nations are kept backward by being told, again and again, you belong to the poor and you are there, where you actually belong, then nothing will change.

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.

Rwanda is a monarchy not a democracy.

Such problems are not solved in one day but there is a great step toward peace and security in the region.

We've used aid to build capacities so we won't need aid in future.

You kept quit ... When these victims wanted your help to survive, you kept quit.

The West is anything but altruistic.

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.

Rwanda is not over needing aid, but we can survive with less aid than before.

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 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 grew up in a refugee camp in Uganda, and I lived there for 30 years. That shapes one's character.

Aid makes itself superfluous if it is working well. Good aid takes care to provide functioning structures and good training that enables the recipient country to later get by without foreign aid. Otherwise, it is bad aid.

It is better for a country to have a strong leader, this applies to the United States as well as to Rwanda.

Rwanda has its own problems and never sought to blame others or cause others trouble. I advise Burundi to do the same.

The history and national interest of Rwanda and the Rwandan people dictate our national orientation.

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.

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.