By David Himbara
General Paul Kagame disappeared from the public for months. He spent 5 months without holding a press conference. For months, Kagame only gave taped statements. Kagame’s disappearance from the public view soon led to rumours that Covid19 had killed him. Some opposition groups became obsessed with the idea that Kagame had died. Someone even produced a Kagame death certificate from London. When people called me for my opinion and I told them Kagame was hiding somewhere in Rwanda, I was told that I was covering up for my former boss.
Then, Kagame the autocrat reappeared in his first press conference since Covid19 struck Rwanda. And he was as bombastic as ever, answering the questions he likened and ridiculing the questions he did not like. For example, when a French correspondent asked about Kizito Mihigo’s death, Kagame would have none of it.
Fellow Rwandans, I do not wish for Kagame’s death. Every Rwandan dictator that came to power since 1962 was killed by the next dictator. My wish is for this history to stop. My wish is to see Kagame in the court of law to account for the pain he unleashed on the people of Rwanda and beyond. Meanwhile, opposition groups should not be in the business of producing crude rumours. They should be figuring out how to remove the cancer of dictatorship from the Rwandan society.
