By David Himbara
On October 28, 2019, General Paul Kagame jetted off from Rwanda again — this time to Doha, Qatar. Kagame had previously landed in Rwanda on October 16, 2019, after his tour to the Central African Republic (CAR), Cote d’Ivoire and Morocco since October 12, 2019. In other words, Kagame stayed in Rwanda for 12 days before taking off to Doha, Qatar on October 28, 2019.
Recall that prior to the Morocco-Cote d’Ivoire-CAR trip of 12–16 October, Kagame was not in Rwanda from September 18 to October 6, 2019. He was outside Rwanda for 19 days, travelling to Kenya, the USA, and Germany. Before jetting to Morocco on October 12, Kagame had stayed in Rwanda for only 6 days.
All in all, in 2019, Kagame has travelled outside Rwanda 45 times as follows:
- Doha, Qatar, October 28, 2019
- Sochi, Russia, October 23, 2019
- Bangui, CAR, October 15, 2019
- Abidjan, Ivory Coast, October 14, 2019
- Marrakech, Morocco, October 12, 2019
- Bonn, Germany, October 4, 2019
- Seattle, USA, October 2, 2019
- New York, USA, September 22 — 26, 2019
- Nairobi, Kenya, September 18, 2019
- Brazzaville, Congo, September 10, 2019
- Yokohama, Japan, August 28, 2019
- Biarritz, France, August 25, 2019
- Luanda, Angola, August 21, 2019
- Windhoek, Namibia, August 19, 2019
- Lusaka, Zambia, August 11, 2019
- London, UK, July 23, 2019
- Luanda, Angola, July 12, 2019
- Niamey, Niger, July 7, 2019
- Gaborone, Botswana June 27, 2019
- Antananarivo, Madagascar, June 26, 2019
- Bruxelles, Belgium, June 17, 2019
- Abuja, Nigeria, June 11, 2019
- Libreville, Gabon, June 10, 2019
- Kinshasa, DR Congo, May 31, 2019
- Pretoria, South Africa, May 25, 2019
- Paris, France, May 17, 2019
- Los Angeles, USA, April 30, 2019
- San Francisco, USA, April 28, 2019
- Cairo, Egypt, April 23, 2019
- Saddleback, USA, April 14, 2019
- New York, USA, April 11, 2019
- Dakar, Senegal, April 2, 2019
- Luanda, Angola, March 30, 2019
- Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, March 7, 2019
- Cape Town, South Africa, March 5, 2019
- Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, March 1, 2019
- Charlotte, USA, February 28, 2019
- Munich, Germany, February 15, 2019
- Abu Dhabi, February 13, 2019
- Dubai, February 12, 2019
- Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, February 9, 2019
- Arusha, Tanzania, February 1, 2019
- Davos, Switzerland, January 24, 2019
- Addis Ababa, January 17, 2019
- Tokyo, Japan, January 7, 2019
Three Reasons why Kagame does not stay in Rwanda
So, what is going on here? There are three main reasons why Kagame barely lives in a country he rules. Here they are:
- Reason 1.Kagame is not able to fall asleep in Rwanda because he is deeply worried that someone will wipe him out. His violence has affected virtually every Rwandan, and Kagame imagines everyone is out to revenge if they have any slight chance. In Rwanda, Kagame has to keep moving and sleeping in different locations because of paranoia about his safety.
- Reason 2. Frequent travels outside Rwanda is a cash cow for Kagame via the accumulation of what is known as imprest cash. Imprest money is a petty cash system reserved for presidential travels which are replenished for each travel. This money running into millions a year is unaccounted for, and what is not used is never returned to the treasury.
- Reason 3. Kagame the president of Rwanda charters the Gulfstream 650 executive jet for his travels from Kagame the chairman of the ruling party and its business empire, Crystal Ventures Ltd. The more often Kagame travels, the richer Crystal Ventures Ltd.
Kagame is a living contradiction who is powerful but yet afraid, and supposedly Mr Clean, but yet most corrupt.
