Paul Kagame was born on the 23th October 1957 in Tambwe, Ruanda-Urundi, which is now Nyarutovu, Rwanda, and is a politician, best known to the world as the president of Rwanda since 2000, and president of the ruling party, the Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF).
Have you ever wondered how rich Paul Kagame is, as of early 2017? According to authoritative sources, it has been estimated that Kagame’s net worth is as high as $500 million, an amount earned through his successful career as a politician.
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Paul Kagame Net Worth $500 Million
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Paul is the youngest of six children born to a Tutsi member, Deogratias who had blood ties with King Mutara III, and Asteria Rutagambwa, a descendant from the family of the last Rwandan queen, Rosalie Gicanda. Rwanda’s ethnicity comprised three groups, Tutsi, who were the rulers of the country although a minority, then Hutu who are agriculturalist, and Twa, a forest-dwelling pygmy people, who were descendants of Rwanda’s earliest inhabitants.
Hutu and Tutsi were always in conflict, which resulted in the 1959 Rwandan Revolution, when Hutu activists started killing Tutsi people. Paul and his family escaped the country and sought refuge in neighboring countries, settling in Uganda in the Toro sub-region in 1962. There, Kagame met Fred Rwigyema, with whom Paul later formed the Rwandan Patriotic Front. He started his education process in a school located near a refugee camp, where he also learned English and was preparing to integrate into Ugandan culture. When he turned nine, Paul started studying at Rwengoro Primary School, and later attended Ntare School. However, his father’s death set back his education, as he wasn’t as much focused on school, but rather on fighting those who belittled the Rwandan population. This all resulted in a suspension from Ntare School, and he then finished his education at Old Kampala Secondary School.
Following education, Paul made a couple of visits to his native country, looking for his family, and focused on exploration of the country, its political and social status, while also making new friendships, which would eventually prove useful to him.
In the late ’70s, Paul rejoined with Fred Rwigyema, with whom he pledged allegiance to Museveni, a member of the transition government of Uganda, and as it turned out, a future president of Uganda. He then traveled to Tanzania, where he trained to become a spy, and later rejoined Museveni in his National Resistence Army, becoming a senior officer of the Ugandan army. Rwigyema then invaded Rwanda with 4,000 rebels, while Paul was in the USA taking a course at the Command and General Staff College in Fort Leavenworth. Fred was killed, and Paul returned from the USA and assumed the position of the leader of the RPF, and three years later in 1993, he signed peace treaties in Arusha, which have become known as the Arusha Accords. Paul and his party received positions in a broad=based transitional government, and also in the army.
The following year another major incident struck Rwanda, as their president Juvénal Habyarimana died in a plane crash, alongside Burundian president Cyprien Ntaryamira. After Habyarimana’s death, a military committee led by Colonel Théoneste Bagosora, took the leading positions in the country, and started killing Hutu and Tutsi opposition politicians and prominent people of the Tutsi ethnic group. This resulted in a Rwandan Genocide, but Kagame led his rebels against the military, and the same year managed to assume full control of the country. Estimates put casualties at at least 1.5 million during these conflicts. Paul then served as its Vice President and Minister of Defence, under President Pasteur Bizimungu, and subsequently assumed the position of president in 2000, and since then has been the ruler of the country. His presidential position significantly increased his net worth, while his several business ventures also added to his wealth. In 2003, first presidential elections were held, and Paul won with 95.1% of the votes. His second tenure lasted until 2010, when the next elections were held, and this time Kagame was supported by 93.08% of the voters. In 2015 he changed the constitution, giving himself a chance to run again for presidency in the 2017 elections.
Kagame is apparently genuinely popular, especially given the progress in growing the economy over the last decade. From his first term, Rwanda began to develop on key elements, education and health care system, while also putting all efforts into keeping friendly relationships with surrounding countries, including DR Congo, Uganda, Burundi, Kenya and Tanzania among other East African countries.
Regarding his personal life, Kagame has been married to Jeannette Nyriamongi since 1989; the couple has four children together.
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