As observed by David Himbara during his six-year tenure in the President’s Office, Kagame’s contradictory self-portrayal reveals a ruler whose incompetence has resulted in squandered intellectual and human capital. Himbara’s memoir demonstrates how Kagame’s actions, including exiling, mysterious deaths, and disappearances, have contributed to this situation, even within his office where tragic ends befell Himbara’s workmates. Kagame’s personalistic state controls public institutions and dominates the private sector, civil society, and the diaspora. Furthermore, Kagame heavily relies on foreign nationals, particularly from the US, to govern crucial institutions, including his office, showcasing his unquenchable thirst for fame and power, which is unequalled in Africa.

Himbara firmly argues that Kagame’s most extravagant assertion is that he turned Rwanda into a regional and global economic powerhouse. Despite this claim, the people of Rwanda continue to be among the world’s poorest and most vulnerable. Kagame’s wealth accumulation in the face of poverty and his determination to cling to power have defined Rwanda’s trajectory since 1895. History shows that the next totalitarian ruler inevitably supersedes the current rulers.