{"id":54763,"date":"2025-07-04T17:52:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-04T17:52:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/president-kagame-s-stance-on-recent-speculations-about-his-health\/"},"modified":"2025-07-06T16:04:17","modified_gmt":"2025-07-06T16:04:17","slug":"president-kagame-s-stance-on-recent-speculations-about-his-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/president-kagame-s-stance-on-recent-speculations-about-his-health\/","title":{"rendered":"President Kagame\u2019s stance on recent speculations about his health"},"content":{"rendered":"

In response to a question about recent rumors concerning his health, President Kagame questioned the logic behind the public scrutiny of personal health matters, stating firmly that illness is a natural part of the human condition.<\/p>\n

“How do people want to account for someone’s personal health? Is there an exception in this world?” Kagame asked rhetorically. “There\u2019s nobody who lives forever. Whether life is short or long, you have to manage all these issues as human beings.”<\/p>\n

The president acknowledged the physical toll of leadership, noting that even his own health challenges may be linked to the pressures of governance. <\/p>\n

\u201cSome of my personal health problems might originate from managing you people, the amount of stress,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He dismissed the notion that leaders are immune to common illnesses or human fragility, saying, \u201cPeople get COVID, the flu, a cold, or just collapse because of a heart issue. Isn’t that human? What do people want me to account for \u2014 that I’m not human?\u201d<\/p>\n

Kagame also criticized what he described as malicious political rhetoric that capitalizes on or even celebrates health concerns of public figures. <\/p>\n

He called such attitudes \u201cbeyond stupidity,\u201d adding, \u201cYou can rejoice even when they’re carrying somebody in a coffin, going for burial. You can have that moment of rejoicing and say, we got rid of him, and so on. And by the time he gets into his car, one kilometer, he has followed the other one. I don’t understand the logic, the politics or anything at all\u201d<\/p>\n

Kagame urged for more rational public discourse, saying such narratives are not only senseless but also run counter to the values Rwanda has worked hard to uphold since its liberation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the kind of politics we liberated ourselves from,\u201d he said. \u201cAt least, you asked the question. Rest assured, it is me sitting here with you.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Liberation Day commemoration honors the end of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi and the beginning of Rwanda\u2019s rebirth under new leadership.<\/p>\n

\"President<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President Paul Kagame has pushed back against speculation surrounding his health, calling out what he described as senseless and politically motivated rumors. The Head of State was addressing journalists during a press conference held in Kigali on Friday, July 4, as the country marked the 31st Liberation anniversary.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":2000090359,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[75],"byline":[160],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-54763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-homenews","byline-theophile-niyitegeka"],"bylines":[{"id":160,"name":"Th\u00e9ophile Niyitegeka","slug":"theophile-niyitegeka","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":3}],"contributors":[{"id":160,"name":"Th\u00e9ophile Niyitegeka","slug":"theophile-niyitegeka","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":3}],"featured_image":{"id":2000090359,"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/spe.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":0,"height":0,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/spe.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/spe.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/spe.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/spe.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/spe.jpg","width":0,"height":0}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54763","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/62"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54763"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54763\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000090359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54763"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=54763"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=54763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}