London, 22 October 2014
President Kagame ended the second day of his visit with an interactive discussion with hundreds of Rwandans living in the UK and neighboring nations. The Rwandans gathered at Grange Hotel welcomed President Kagame to London and thanked him for the continuous inclusive relationship.
Thanking the participants for their support, President Kagame called on Rwandans to continue standing up for their dignity:
“If you are unwilling to fight for what you believe in, you are worth nothing. A nation and the dignity of its citizens are worth fighting for.”
“No one should decide how our citizens live, ration how much they eat or how much they get out of their lives. Those who have lived through it should never experience it again. Those who have not experienced it should never have to. This proves that we should not wait for anyone to do us a favor.” President Kagame added.
President Kagame called on Rwandans to learn from Rwanda’s history and own their future:
“If you can, do a favor to others but don’t be the people that will wait for a favor from anybody. Favors come disguised and by the time you realize it is very expensive, you have already lost everything,” President Kagame urged.
“We waited for people to do us a favor, and we lost one million people,” President Kagame added.
Concluding his address, President Kagame reiterated Rwanda’s commitment to transformation:
“What we want is for every citizen to be self reliant, to compete on the global market and live a decent life. Our willingness to fight for dignity has not subsided in the last 20years. It has increased.”
During the interactive discussion, participants shared their vision for Rwanda’s future, asked questions on Rwanda’s path to economic self reliance and thanked President Kagame for leadership based on equality.
President Kagame will end his three day visit with the Rwanda-UK business forum bringing together leaders in the private sector of both nations to discuss investment opportunities.