Kagame Runs Rwanda From Abroad Via His Cellphone. Between Overseas Conferencing And Basketball, Kagame Convened His So-Called Cabinet Only Twice In Five Months.

Paul Kagame, Jeannette Nyiramongi Kagame, and their daughter Ange Ingabire Kagame at her graduation ceremony, Columbia University, New York, May 19, 2019.

By David Himbara

Since 2019 began five months ago, General Paul Kagame convened and attended cabinet meetings only twice — on January 28, 2019, and March 3, 2019. Kagame did not attend the March 26, 2019 cabinet session which was merely to approve the Budget Framework Paper for the 2019/2020.

Which begs two questions: First, what has Kagame done in the past five months? Second, how does he run Rwanda if he convened cabinet only two times in nearly half a year?

Kagame has been mostly conferencing and having fun outside Rwanda

Kagame watching the NBA game at Oakland, California, USA, April 29, 2019.

Kagame has attended 27 meetings/events abroad in the past five months as follows:

  1. Attending his daughter’s graduation at Columbia University | New York, USA 19 May 2019.
  2. Meeting with Young Presidents’ Organization Paris Chapter | Paris, France, 17 May 2019.
  3. Attending VivaTech2019 | Paris, France, 17 May 2019.
  4. Attending 22nd Milken Institute Global Conference | Los Angeles, USA, 30 April 2019.
  5. Attending World Economic Forum Center for 4th Industrial Revolution Business Roundtable | San Francisco, USA, 29 April 2019.
  6. Attending Broadband Commission meeting for Sustainable Development | San Francisco, USA, 29 April 2019.
  7. Watching Basketball |Oakland, USA, 29 April 2019.
  8. Visiting Tarana Wireless Offices | San Francisco, USA, 28 April 2019.
  9. Attending AU Troika Summit on Libya and Sudan | Cairo, Egypt, 23 April 2019.
  10. Visiting Saddleback Church | California, USA, 14 April 2019.
  11. Attending UN reflection on the 1994 Genocide in Rwanda |United Nations Headquarters | New York, 12 April 2019.
  12. Attending NBA Board of Governors Dinner | New York, USA, 11 April 2019.
  13. Attending swearing-in of President Macky Sall of Senegal | Dakar, 2 April 2019.
  14. Working Visit to Angola | Luanda, 21 March 2019.
  15. Working visit to Tanzania | Dar es Salaam, 8 March 2019.
  16. Attending Young Presidents’ Organization | Cape Town, South Africa, 5–6 March 2019.
  17. Attending Fespaco 2019 | Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, 2 March 2019.
  18. Meeting with Business Leaders hosted by Hiinga | Charlotte USA, 18 February 2019.
  19. Attending All-Stars Baseball | Charlotte USA, 17-18 February 2019.
  20. Attending Munich Security Conference | Munich, Germany, 14 February 2019.
  21. Attending Milken Middle East and North Africa Summit | Abu Dhabi, 13 February 2019.
  22. Attending World Government Summit | Dubai, 13 February 2019.
  23. Attending Ordinary Session of the African Union | Addis Ababa, 11 February 2019.
  24. Attending the 20th Ordinary Summit of the East African Community Heads of State | Arusha, 1 February 2019.
  25. Attending the World Economic Forum | Davis, 22–24 January 2019.
  26. Attending High Level Consultation Meeting of Heads of State on the Situation in DRC | Addis Ababa, 17 January 2019.
  27. Official visit to Japan | Tokyo, 8 January 2019.

Kagame runs Rwanda from overseas via his cellphone

At a basketball game, Charlotte, USA.

Here is a ruler who has convened his so-called cabinet only twice in five months while attending 27 meetings/events overseas. These include three basketball events — two games and a board meeting — and the daughter’s graduation. Kagame averaged 5.4 overseas meetings/events a month. He evidently runs Rwanda via his cellphone. Through the phone he sends orders that terrifies, overpowers, and manipulates especially his military to keep an eye on things, while self-aggrandizing overseas as a man who transformed Rwanda into an economic lion. There can be no worse absentee totalitarian ruler than this.

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