Delve into David Himbara's response to the questions people always ask him based on his seven-year labour inside Kagame's powerhouse: Who really runs Rwanda and who is the real Kagame?
Himbara's memoir sharply contradicts the conventional narratives about Rwanda's power dynamics including: Rwanda is a military dictatorship; one-party autocracy; or that the country is dominated by the Rwandan business elites. Kagame destroyed all of the above.
Kagame is a lone ranger ruler reinforced by none other than his wife, Mrs. Jannette Kagame. At the helm of power for over thirty years, this family ferociously defends their power, come hell or high water.
The Kagames' power hunger is so intense that their powerhouse is unequivocally a slaughter house even for expressing a contrary thought to power. Witness the deaths of Himbara's workmates in the Kagames' powerhouse, killed while under state custody, died mysteriously, or perished in exile.
As of March 2025, however, Kagame had bitten off more than he could chew when he seized DRC's territories. The Western powers led by the US sanctioned him for driving conflict and looting DRC's mineral resources.
The response from Rwanda was classic Kagame - hauling insults at Western powers and DR Congo's leadership: Western powers steal DRC minerals but blame Rwanda; I will spit in their faces if they threaten me; I don't need their money because Rwanda is an advanced economy that doesn't beg; African leaders should follow Rwanda's example and stop begging; the Congolese leadership is infested with genocide ideology.
Meanwhile, Kagame was decapitating what remained of the top brass of his security forces. Willy Rwagasana, Ruki Karusisi and Vincent Nyakarundi were thrown into Kagame's dungeons already filled up with their comrades. Our man is finished.