Nairobi, 10 April 2013

President Kagame today met with President Uhuru Kenyatta at the State House in Nairobi on his first day in office. The Kenyan President was accompanied by his deputy, William Ruto. The two Heads of State discussed issues of mutual interest including advancing bilateral relations as well as strengthening cooperation on regional and international matters of common interest.

Nairobi, 9 April 2013

President Kagame today morning attended the swearing-in of Kenya’s fourth and youngest President, Uhuru Kenyatta and his Deputy, William Ruto at Kasarani Sports Complex in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi.

The son of Kenya's founding father, Jomo Kenyatta, President Kenyatta served as deputy Prime Minister, Minister for trade, and Finance Minister under outgoing President Mwai Kibaki. 51 year old Kenyatta won the March election with 50.07% of the vote.

In his inaugural address, President Kenyatta said he would govern for all Kenyans.

"We will leave no community behind... Where there's disillusionment, we'll restore hope, I assure you again that under my leadership, Kenya will strive to uphold our international obligations, so long as these are founded on the well-established principles of mutual respect and reciprocity."

He promised that the new government would abolish maternity fees in its first 100 days and children starting school next year would receive laptops.

Among the other African leaders present for the inauguration were South Africa's Jacob Zuma, Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe, Nigeria's Goodluck Jonathan and Uganda's Yoweri Museveni. American civil rights activist Jesse Jackson was also in attendance.

Kigali, 7 April 2013

President Kagame and First Lady Jeannette Kagame today joined thousands of Rwandans who participated in the activities in their community for the 19^th Commemoration of the Genocide Against the Tutsi.

The ceremony began at the Gisozi Memorial Centre where President Kagame and First Lady Jeannette Kagame laid a wreath on the graves of the hundreds of thousands of Genocide victims buried at the Memorial. President Kagame and First Lady Jeannette Kagame lit the flame of hope that will remain lit for 100 days of Commemoration as a reminder to all of each day during which innocent men, women and children were killed based on their ethnic identity.

In a televised address to the nation, President Kagame called on Rwandans to ensure that Rwandans own their history and ensure that it is never forgotten: remembering Rwanda’s past remains a lesson for its future:

“We must do everything possible to make sure that we write our own history, preserve the physical evidence of genocide, including memorial sites, so that they do not get lost, but become symbols of remembrance and prevention of genocide. Remembrance of the genocide is an obligation for every Rwandan. It is also falls on us to teach and pass on that responsibility to the youth so that they, in turn, can pass it on to successive generations.”

Kigali, 4 April 2013

President Kagame today chaired the 12th meeting of the Presidential Advisory Council (PAC) at Urugwiro Village. Among other discussions, the council looked at ways of improving the economy, education and health as a way of fast tracking economic growth.

At the end of the first day of the three-day meeting, Kaia Miller, one of the members of the Presidential Advisory Council said:

“High economic growth has been sustained at over 8% over the last four years, and also equally impressive are gains in health and education in terms of enrolment and early childhood education and vocational training to give the community essential skills. Broadly speaking we have to maintain or even increase economic growth which is a challenge. We need increased investments in education and health because people are the engine of economic growth. The remarkable thing about Rwanda is the ability to think creatively about finding funding for its projects.”