Paul Kagame Net Worth

What is Paul Kagame's Net Worth?

Paul Kagame is a Rwandan politician who has a net worth of $500 million. Paul Kagame became the President of Rwanda in 2000. He assumed office in April 2000 when Pasteur Bizimungu resigned. Kagame was born in Tambwe, Ruanda-Urundi, and his family fled to Uganda when he was two years old. He fought for Yoweri Museveni's rebel army and became a senior Ugandan army officer. Paul joined the Rwandan Patriotic Front and took control after the leader Fred Rwigyema, passed away. Kagame's military victory helped end the genocide taking place in Rwanda. He served as Vice President, Minister of Defence, and Rwanda's de facto leader from 1994 to 2000. During this time, he supported two controversial wars in Zaire.

Paul won an election in 2003, and a new constitution was adopted. He was elected for his second term in 2010. In 2012, the Financial Times released a report asserting that Kagame and his family members allegedly control the majority of the Rwandan economy through a holding company called Crystal Ventures. FT.com also claimed that Crystal Ventures owns assets that have a book value of $500 million, including a $50 million Bombardier Global Express private jet.

Early Life

Paul Kagame was born on October 23, 1957, in Tambwe, Gitarama Province, Ruanda-Urundi (now known as Nyarutovu, Rwanda). He grew up with five older siblings. His father, Deogratias Rutagambwa, was from the Tutsi ethnic group, which the royal family had come from since the 18th century. Deogratias was part of the Bega clan, and despite having family ties to King Mutara III, he chose to pursue an independent business career instead of staying closely connected to the royal court. Paul's mother, Asteria Bisinda, was a descendant of Rosalie Gicanda, the last Rwandan queen from the Nyiginya clan's Hebera branch. When Kagame was born, Rwanda was a United Nations Trust Territory, and it had been ruled by Belgium since 1916. In 1959, the Rwandan Revolution began, and Paul's family left their home and spent the next two years in northeastern Rwanda before going to Uganda. In 1962, they settled in a refugee camp in the Toro sub-region, and around this time, Kagame met future Rwandan Patriotic Front leader Fred Rwigyema. Paul attended primary school near the refugee camp and learned to speak English. When he was nine years old, he began studying at the Rwengoro Primary School. He later attended Ntare School. Kagame's father died in the early '70s, which caused a decline in Paul's academic performance. He began fighting with those who belittled Rwandans, and he graduated from Old Kampala Secondary School after being suspended from Ntare. Paul then visited Rwanda in 1977 and 1978.

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Poltical Career

From 1979 to 1990, Kagame was a member of the National Resistance Army. He was trained at the United States Army Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. In 1990, he joined the Rwandan Patriotic Front and became a commander. The Rwandan Patriotic Front was instrumental in ending the 1994 Rwandan genocide. After the genocide ended, Paul became the Vice President of Rwanda as well as the Minister of Defence, and Pasteur Bizimungu was appointed president. Kagame kept his position as commander-in-chief of the army, and he was considered the de facto ruler of the country. He served as the vice president until April 2000, when he assumed the office of president after Bizimungu resigned. Paul also served as the Chairperson of the African Union from January 2018 to February 2019 and the Commonwealth Chair-in-Office from June 2022 to October 2024. He has won four presidential elections, but international observers have not rated any of them free or fair. Kagame has been linked to several disappearances and assassinations, and after the 2013 murder of former intelligence chief Patrick Karegeya, he stated that "whoever betrays the country will pay the price." According to his official website, "The hallmarks of President Kagame's administration are peace and reconciliation, women's empowerment, promotion of investment and entrepreneurship, and access to information technology, a cause he also champions as Co-Chair of the Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development."

Personal Life

Paul married Jeannette Nyiramongi on June 10, 1989, and they have welcomed four children together. Kagame had asked his relatives to recommend a suitable wife, and after they suggested Nyiramongi, he went to Nairobi to introduce himself to her. Their daughter, Ange, attended Smith College and Columbia University in the U.S., and she has a master's degree in international affairs. Paul can speak Kinyarwanda, English, and French, and he is a fan of Arsenal Football Club. He is Catholic, and a 2000 BBC News article described him as "teetotal, a strict disciplinarian and assumed to be incorruptible."

Honors

Kagame has received the Grand Cross of the National Order of Benin (2010), Burkina Faso's Grand Cross of the Ordre de l'Étalon (2019), the Grand Cross of the Order of Reconnaissance of Central African (2019), Guinea's Grand Cross of the National Order of Merit (2016), Guinea-Bissau's Medal of Amílcar Cabral (2024), and the Grand Cross of the National Order of the Ivory Coast (2018). He has also been honored with La Francophonie's Grand Cross of the Order of La Pléiade (2022), the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Pioneers of Liberia (2009), Morocco's Collar of the Order of Muhammad (2016), the Second Class of the Order of the Republic of Serbia (2016), and Uganda's Most Excellent Order of the Pearl of Africa: Grand Master (2012).

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