 Paul Kaga May, a force to reckon with. Since the year 2000, Paul Kaga May, a politician and former military officer from Rwanda, has served as the country's fourth president. He was born on October 23, 1957. He previously held the position of commander of the Rwandan Patriotic Front, RPF, a rebel force with roots in Uganda that invaded Rwanda in 1990. The RPF was also one of the parties to the Rwandan Civil War and the armed force that put an end to the Rwandan Genocide. When he served as vice president and minister of defense under President Pastor Bizamungu from 1994 until 2000, when the position of vice president was abolished, he was regarded as Rwanda's de facto president. Kaga May participated in Yori Musfini's rebel army during the 1980s, rising to the rank of senior army officer when Musfini's military triumphs propelled him to the president of Uganda. When former leader Fred Wigima passed away on the second date of the 1990 invasion, Kaga May joined the RPF and assumed leadership of the organization. In Rwanda, the RPF had significant territory under their control by 1993 and talks for a ceasefire had begun. Juvan al-Habbi or Amana's murder in Rwanda sparked the genocide, which resulted in the deaths of an estimated 500,000 to 800,000 tutses and moderate Hutus by Hutu extremists. Kaga May reopened the civil conflict and won a military victory to put an end to the genocide. If you have ever wondered how Paul Kaga May rose to power in Rwanda and what kind of a ruler he is, stay with us as we see how he has become a force to reckon with over the years. Please do us a favor by liking this video as we ride on. Kaga May started vocally opposing Bizamungu and the Hutu-led government in Rwanda in the late 1990s. While Bizamungu believed he had no control over cabinet nominations and that the transitional national assembly was merely serving as a puppet for Kaga May, Kaga May accused him of corruption and poor management. Up March 2000, Bizamungu handed in his resignation as president. The consensus among historians is that Kaga May compelled Bizamungu to quit after he attacked the national assembly and tried to sow strife within the RPF. However, Kaga May informed Kinzer that he was astonished by the occurrence and said that a friend had called him with the startling news. The Supreme Court decided that Kaga May should take over as president in the wake of Bizamungu's resignation until a permit replacement was appointed. Since 1994, Kaga May has served as the country's de facto leader, but he has prioritized the military, international relations, and national security over daily administration. When Bizamungu resigned in 2000, the threat posed by cross-border insurgents had diminished and Kaga May made the decision to run for president himself. Since the transitional constitution was still in force, the president was chosen by the transitional national assembly and cabinet ministers rather than through a general election. Kaga May and RPF's secretary-general Charles Miragand were the two candidates chosen by the RPF. Kaga May was chosen by ministers and parliament with 81 votes to three against. President Kagam took the oath of office in April 2000. Around the same time as Bizamungu, a number of Kutu leaders, including the Prime Minister Pierre Celestin Wichima, resigned the government, leaving a cabinet predominated by individuals close to Kagam. In 2001, Bizamungu founded his own political party, but Kagam's administration outlawed it on the grounds that political campaigning was against the provisions of the interim constitution. The government's tolerance for Bizamungu's continued involvement in party politics was not infinite. Kagan warned him in a public statement the following year. Bizamungu was arrested two weeks later and found guilty of corruption and inciting ethnic violence, charges that human rights organizations claimed were politically motivated. He was incarcerated until 2007 when Kaga May released him. In addition to being a despotic leader that violates human rights, President Paul Kaga May also enjoys a large number of allies. Kaga May, who is credited with leading the rebel army that ended the genocide in Rwanda 20 years ago, has established himself as a household name. He is praised by Bill Clinton as one of the greatest leaders of our time. Blair refers to him as a visionary. He collaborates closely with Bill Gates. Kaga May has spoken at Harvard and been awarded honorary doctorates by several institutions of higher learning in the US and Europe. Ban Ki-moon, the former Secretary General of the UN, is also a supporter, telling Kaga May and May that he hopes other African countries will follow Rwanda's example. I'm quite proud of you. Even more gushing praise is being given within Rwanda in the media and public forums. When we ask Rwandans why their president is not being criticized, they respond that there is nothing to condemn. There are discussion of soon repealing the constitution's two term restriction for presidents so that Kaga May could run in 2017 for a third time. But the political opposition was made up of parties that remained silent about Kaga May even during elections. Being Kaga May's opponent might be fatal for Rwandans when Patrick Karegia, a former spy chief for Kaga May and a close friend who later turned into one of his harshest critics, was discovered dead in a hotel room in South Africa in January 2017, the Rwandan Foreign Minister tweeted. This man was a self-declared enemy of my government and my country. You expect pity. When you decide to live like a dog, you will die like a dog. The Rwandan Minister of Defense continued. And in a speech, Kaga May said, shouldn't we have done it? The president was telling his detractors that forsaking Rwanda had repercussions in addition to defending a murder. In truth, more than a dozen notable dissidents have been killed, imprisoned, banished, or subjected to torture throughout Kagan's 20 years as the nation's de facto leader. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International claim that over the past few years, a number of prominent investigators, journalists, and opposition politicians have also been discovered dead in suspicious circumstances. One of these deaths occurred six months ago and involved a Rwandan employee of Transparency International who was looking into police corruption. Nevertheless, after 50 years of fruitless foreign aid in Africa, international governments, including those of the United States, Britain, Germany, and the Netherlands, are standing up at Kaga May's door with praise and cash. Kaga May's administration receives around $1 billion in total annually in officially acknowledged foreign aid, with the United States contributing about a fifth of that amount. That these Western nations and international organizations like the World Bank consider Rwanda to be one of their best prospects in the area is not surprising. Successes that seem even more remarkable in a country still recovering from the 1994 genocide, which killed nearly a million people and brought the economy to a standstill, are claimed by Kaga May's government to have lifted 1 million people out of poverty between 2008 and 2012, and that the nation's economy grew at a remarkable 8% clip during the global economic crisis. Kaga May exercises a harsh dictatorial hand in managing the Rwandan government's foreign-funded aid initiatives. Politicians who speak out against harmful government policies have been sent behind bars. For instance, a preacher received an 18-month prison sentence in 2011 for criticizing a national housing initiative to abolish thatched roofs because it left thousands of people homeless. Under pressure from the government, human rights organizations, foreign-funded media outlets, and programs administered by organizations like Lawyers Without Borders, Transparency International, and the Rwandan lead for the promotion and defense of human rights have all shut down or become ineffective. The people of Rwanda are aware that in order to thrive in such conditions and to get any government or foreign-funded aid, they must be devoted to their president. The outcomes 95% participation rates in everything from elections to government health programs are hard to duplicate in other nations. The false optimism is echoed by foreign donors, who applaud the effectiveness of these programs and hail Kaga May as a progressive leader. He is praised, for example, for promoting gender equality in the Rwandan parliament, where women outnumber men despite the body's limited authority. Kaga May is a visionary leader who has developed his country and improved health standards and education, not forgetting the cleanliness of the country. Thanks for watching. Do well to subscribe to Africa Reloaded for great content. Also leave a comment if you feel like you have any questions or contributions.