Kigali, Rwanda – President Paul Kagame, 67, has urged African leaders to break free from the cycles of poor governance that have impeded the continent’s progress. 

Reflecting on his own experiences as a refugee in Uganda, Kagame wondered: “What I experienced when I was four years old (politics of bad governance)…. why should it happen anywhere on our continent?”

Kagame spoke at the official opening of the Youth Connekt Africa Summit 2024, held in Kigali on Friday 

The summit, themed “Jobs for Youth Through Innovative Skilling,” has gathered thousands of young people, government officials, and changemakers to discuss ways to create employment opportunities for African youth.

Kagame recounted his early years as a refugee and the lessons he learned outside the classroom.

“We grew up experiencing things that taught us many lessons, things that you don’t learn in school but you learn in life,” he began. 

He shared a story from his childhood, when he asked his father at age twelve, “What did we do? Why are we here?” 

Kagame continued, “We were in a refugee camp, being fed with weekly rations. My father told a long story, but it was clear that it was politics, the leaders. It was a convergence of colonial times and the times of independence. Everything was just what it should not have been. Those are the lessons we learned.”

Kagame was born in Rwanda but fled to Uganda with his family in the early 1960s due to political instability and ethnic violence in Rwanda.

This period was marked by ethnic tensions between the Tutsi and Hutu communities in Rwanda.

The Kagame family, along with thousands of other Tutsi refugees, sought asylum in Uganda, where they experienced the challenges of displacement.

Low progress 

Kagame expressed frustration over the lack of progress on the continent.

“It is disheartening that what I am talking about then, so many years ago in the sixties, some of that is still happening even now. You have people, especially young people, who are still suffering because of politics and all kinds of bad governance,” said Kagame.

“What I experienced when I was four years old, why should it be happening now anywhere? Why should it happen anywhere on our continent?” he added. 

Kagame’s address was part of an intergenerational dialogue that also featured Lesotho’s Prime Minister Samuel Ntsokoane Matekane and Mumbi Ndung’u, Founder and Chief Changemaker of the Power Learn Project.

Speakers at the event echoed Kagame’s call for impactful governance, the need to create sustainable opportunities for young Africans and leveraging digital skills to prepare the continent’s youth for future jobs.

The Youth Connekt Africa Summit has attracted more than 2,000 participants this year, all united by a commitment to youth employment, digital innovation, and social entrepreneurship. 

YouthConnekt Africa is a continental initiative aimed at accelerating the implementation of Agenda 2063 by connecting African youth for socio-economic transformation. It has been adopted and implemented by 33 African Member States.

YouthConnekt Africa operates as a platform to address critical development challenges by fostering ecosystem-building, knowledge-sharing, and continental collaboration. Over the years, it has evolved into one of Africa’s largest conveners of youth-focused policy discussions and business initiatives.