Hate Speech in Rwanda: A Way of Life under President General Paul Kagame and Chair of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF)
By
Dr. Jean-Marie Vianney Higiro
Professor of Communication at Western New England University
On Saturday, July 26, 2025, President Paul Kagame said that Rwanda in 1994 was about to be eaten up by dogs had he and the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) not intervened to save it.
He made the statement at a sumptuous wedding held in Kigali. Dr. Vincent Biruta’s son, a military officer in the Rwanda Defense Force (RDF) married a young woman named Samantha. The best man was Major Ian Kagame, Kagame’s son. Both officers wore their military uniforms. Dr. Biruta has held political responsibilities in the RPF regime since 1994. As the most prominent guest, Kagame delivered an impromptu speech during which he asked the audience to be ready to defend the country from being torn apart by people he called “dogs.”
Here is the most important excerpt of the speech as circulated online.
“When you die, when you lose your life, the country goes through that loss as well. You die so the country can resurrect. Overall, there is Edmond who exchanged wedding vows with Samantha. I see that Edmond is dressed in a military uniform. The uniform that he wears has a meaning. (Applause). If everything goes well, their offspring will wear it as well if they want. Wearing it aligns with what I said about the desire to have one’s country become beautiful, to keep it alive because there were individuals who strove to tear it apart. That is the duty of everyone; be the person wearing the military uniform, be another person wearing something else with the purpose of ensuring the well-being of the country. Without that mental attitude, what happened to us (the genocide against the Tutsi is implied), the country was about to disappear, to disappear as it was being eaten up by dogs. It (the genocide against Tutsi) might happen again. You, all who are here, do not let our country be eaten up by dogs again.” (Applause)
Video of the Biruta wedding ceremony. Kagame`s full speech is available on social media
Kinyarwanda is a complex language where meanings are implied. Knowing the historical context President Kagame is referring to, is critical to extracting the full meaning of his speech.
Kagame’s impromptu racist speech omits the responsibility of Kagame and the responsibility of the RPF in what happened to Rwanda from October 01, 1990 when the descendants of the Tutsi aristocracy overthrown by a Hutu elite in 1959, deserted the Ugandan army and invaded Rwanda killing every human being to their conquest of power in July 1994
- It omits the opposition to the implementation of the Arusha Accords signed in August 1993 between the Rwandan Government and the RPF whose implementation was obstructed by the RPF
- It omits the shooting down of the plane carrying the President of Rwanda, Juvenal Habyarimana, and the President of Burundi, Cyprien Ntaryamira on April 06, 1994
- It omits the infiltration of the Hutu militia Interahamwe by the RPF
- It omits the crematoria set up by the RPF to hide its large scale massacres of Hutu, Tutsi, and Twa;
And it omits the protection Kagame and the RPF military officers have received from Western countries particularly the United States of America and the United Kingdom.
The impunity granted to Kagame and the RPF have allowed them to construct a one-sided narrative of good versus evil.
There is no acknowledgement that Hutu died defending democratic values or defending their Tutsi neighbors. There is no acknowledgement that evil doers can be found among Hutu and Tutsi. Are RPF soldiers who committed war crimes and crimes against humanity from October 1, 1990, to July 1994 innocent? Who is the dog? Who is not?
“It (the genocide against Tutsi) might happen again,” said Kagame. As the descendant of the clan of Abega, he knows that the history of Rwanda consists of a cycle of violence.
At Rucunshu in 1896 the clan of Abega violently removed the clans of Abanyiginya and Abakono from power. His clan of Abega, achieved power by almost wiping out the two clans, so ruthless were they.
In 1959 a Hutu elite overthrew the Tutsi aristocracy. From exile the descendants of the Tutsi aristocracy successfully plotted their return to power in 1994. Kagame and a clique of confidants has since ruled unchallenged, killing whomever they want, taking over property as they see fit. Who knows what will happen in the future maybe a Hutu elite will join forces with a Tutsi elite and oust the RPF. Violence and counter violence has been the hallmark of the history of the Nyiginya kingdom ever since King Ruganzu Bwimba founded it on the hill named Gasabo on the shore of Southern Lake Muhazi.
During the speech, Kagame also alluded to the offspring of the newlyweds. The leadership of the RDF ( Rwandan Defence Force) includes mainly Tutsi from the aristocratic families that ruled Rwanda until 1959.
The RDF is an exclusive body in which Hutu serve as foot soldiers and are used as cannon fodder in eastern Congo. The military and police academies are almost a no-go area for the members of the Tutsi clans of Abanyiginya and Abakono,who are the Tutsi clans decimated at Rucunshu in 1896 when Kabare, Ruhinankiko and their sister Kanjogera removed King Mibambwe Rutalindwa from power and enthroned Kanjogera’s son, Yuhi V Musinga.
Kagame, the former high school dropout and street thief of Kampala, turned General, President of Rwanda, and international star, will die in office as a Tutsi supremacist. He conquered and ruled exploiting ethnic divisions. The New Times, the mouthpiece of the Rwandan government published an article on July 11, 2025, comparing him with Ruganzu II Ndori (1510-1543) and Cyilima Rujugira (1770-1786) (Athar, 2025). What the writer omitted is that Ruganzu II Ndori killed Nzira, son of Muramira, the king of Bugara whose kingdom was in northern Rwanda; took captive women and girls and looted his residence. Nzira, son of Muramira and the King of Bushi, Nsibura Nyebunga had defeated and killed Ndahiro II Cyamatare, Ruganzu II Ndori’s father. Thus, he vindicated his father. Ruganzu II Ndori went on to expand the kingdom by conquering neighboring kingdoms ruled by abahinza (plural of umuhinza).
Umuhinza was the derogatory title the royal court of Rwanda gave to the kingdoms inhabited by farmers as the title umwami (meaning king in Kinyarwanda) was reserved for the Tutsi Nyiginya king. Ruganzu II Ndori killed abahinza such as Nzira, son of Muramira; Gisurere; Nyakarashi; Mpandahande; and Nyaruzi to extend the kingdom (Byanafashe, 2016). These kings and their subjects were farmers who later became known as Hutu.
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Hutu or Tutsi
An explanation of the meaning of “Hutu” is needed here to understand Rwanda’s political developments. Until the end of the eighteenth century, the label “Hutu” related to a social class: a “Hutu” meant a person performing menial jobs at the Royal court, a noncombatant, or a foreigner while the label Tutsi meant the political elite from the herders. A herder or farmer could be a Hutu.
The meaning of Hutu changed in mid nineteenth century; the meaning of “Hutu” as foreigners became applied to the farmers and their leaders living in north or west of central Rwanda. The introduction of “uburetwa”, an economic system pertaining to land management created clear social categories. Around 1870, the Royal court appointed a chief in what is today northwestern Rwanda who imposed on farmers a type of economic exploitation known as uburetwa. This system consisted of requiring farmers to work on the chief’s land two days a week and providing him with a portion of their crops in return for using the land he declared his. At the time, the Rwandan week was four days. Uburetwa affected farmers only as the herders whose lifestyle was like that of the Royal court were spared from it. The farmers revolted against uburetwa and the revolt spread across the kingdom forcing the royal armies to intervene to quell violence. According to Vansina (2024) “From this point on, “Hutu” and “Tutsi” would no longer designate a relative category with respect to class or dependency or occupation but became an absolute one.”
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Thus, the comparison between Kagame and the two Tutsi Nyiginya kings proves the lack of political sensitivity. Celebrating the heroism of a king whose expansionist policy killed abahinza that Hutu believe to be their ancestors who ruled independent kingdoms until Ruganzu II Ndori defeated them, signals that national reconciliation in Rwanda after 1994 is hollow.
Also, labeling Hutu as dogs is a recurring racist statement used by Tutsi supremacists in the public and private spheres of Rwanda. In an article published by African Agenda I wrote:
Let’s be honest, the genocide against the Tutsi is a divisive racist ideology pervading the public discourse in Rwanda. In September 2023, during a discussion moderated by Egidio Bibio Ingabire, a journalist at the Rwanda Broadcasting Agency (RBA), an RPF activist using the alias Marie Marie, said:
“Who are those who negatively criticize our head of state? Who are they? What are
they? Personally, I know some of them because I live with some of them in the Americas,
I know them. When it is not the child of a perpetrator of genocide against the Tutsi, it is
people who came from the refugee camps of Tingitingi; others came from the camps of
that place, they are called the camps of Benaco. It is those. Their fathers are old, some
died in foreign places in the forest of Kongo [meaning they did not receive a dignified
burial; it is an insult in Rwandan culture].
So, do not be disturbed by those people who say things when insulting the head of state;
that is how they were raised, that is the baby milk they were fed. You cannot take a
puppy (umwana w’imbwa) and transform it into a calf (inyana). They have lived four
hundred years as dogs. I personally say it; I am not afraid of saying so. Do you hear me?
When you gave a servant power; the Belgian gave power to a person whose job is to
carry big jars of beer or wine [In precolonial Rwanda Hutu offered jars of banana wine or
sorghum to their Tutsi masters carrying them on their head or lifted them as their Tutsi
masters sipped the content], and made him a human being, those are the results one
should expect. I personally say so with pride. I am very clear about it.”
It is very disturbing that the younger generation of Rwanda has embraced hate and Tutsi supremacy. In June 2025, a panel of RPF activists held an online discussion to quell rumors about Kagame’s death. Here is an excerpt from their exchanges:
“Something else that is relevant to such people (Hutu who claim that Kagame is dead); it is better for them to pray that he does not die since if he dies, we are going to carry out a genocide of epic proportions topping theirs, so greater that it will be enshrined in the history of the world. I hope they continue to be fortunate because he is without any doubt a caring person, it is he who advocates for them. (The speaker is interrupted.)
Normally, they must continue to praise him saying that “Long live Kagame who treated us with magnanimity.” (The speaker is interrupted) You (Hutu) must praise him saying after the genocide perpetrated in Rwanda, you did not seek revenge, you treated us with magnanimity, you brought unity to Rwandans. Seriously, every Rwandan with magnanimity comparable to Kagame’s, you idiots, you were in a bad predicament, it is Kagame who saved your lives otherwise the boys who were enraged by the genocide might have wiped you out. (A speaker interrupted)
Let me tell you a joke. There is a time when people ( Hutu) give birth to babies with bloated bellies and bloated cheeks and see that malformation as a way of raising a child; then they realize that people (Tutsi) give birth to two children only, a small number but the children are well taken care of; they are able to raise them, they grow up with good manners , they grow up with energy, they eat to their satisfaction, they avoid giving birth to malformed babies who look like frogs (imitubu). Can you hear me? The quantity of ale yeast does not make a good sorghum beverage (umusururu). No. Their (Hutu) sheer size (in reference to the size of the Hutu population) does not mean anything. They (Hutu) should be ready when they (Hutu) hear that Kagame has died. We will not bury him alone. We will bury him with other things that we must lay under him in the grave. Can you hear me? They (Hutu) used to say that if Habyarimana were to die, they would lay in his grave dead people (Tutsi) under his coffin. As far as we are concerned, we (Tutsi) would lay seven times more dead (Hutu) under Kagame’s coffin. Can you hear me? (Interruption)
Mom Wilson? Mom Wilson? Did they (Hutu) say that if Habyarimana were to die, they would lay dead people under his coffin in his grave?
Yes. They (Hutu) used to sing it, there was a song. At the beginning there were political parties, then there was what was called PSD (the Social Democratic Party) which was the party of the “bakombozi” (a Swahili word that means saviors or liberators), the MRND (the National Revolutionary Movement for Development), finally the CDR (the Coalition for the Defense of the Republic). (A speaker interrupted)
Here is a question we should consider, “Did they really lay dead people under his coffin in his grave?” Yes! Yes! Seriously, you (Hutu) really laid dead people under Habyarimana’s coffin! Laugh? Can you hear me? Laugh.”
The racist language used by these RPF activists and their distorted knowledge of Rwanda’s history are indicators of a bleak future for the country. Celebrating hate and the economic inequalities affecting the Hutu population serve as a reminder that ethnic tensions are still alive despite 31 years of Kagame’s rule.
Today, the modern technologies of communication allow observers to check the public statements of the RPF dignitaries. Rwandan progressive forces including Tutsi, Hutu and Twa can counter Tutsi supremacy as soon as it appears on social media. Kagame and his racist followers can no longer monopolize the conversation over the future of Rwanda. The entire world is watching.
References
– Athar, Aman. Ruganzu, Rujugira, and Kagame: The leaders who secured Rwanda’s survival in The New Times. July 30, 2025.
– Ruganzu, Rujugira, and Kagame: The leaders who secured Rwanda’s survival – The New Times
– Byanafashe, Deo et alii. (2016) History of Rwanda. From the Beginning to the End of the Twentieth Century. Kigali.
– Message to the Rwandan Youth | African Agenda – A new perspective on Africa
– UMUGAMBI W’INTORE ZA FPR KAGAME NAPFA ZIZAMUSASIRA IMITUBU (ABAHUTU) IMISEGA INYANAZIMBWA.
The beginning of this video (2:33 minutes) contains hate discussions that were carried out online by RPF activists. I translated the 2:33 minutes from Kinyarwanda into English.
– Vansina, Jan. (2004) Antecedents to Modern Rwanda. University of Wisconsin Press.