Kagame made the remarks on August 25, 2026, during the Africa Mindset Reset Forum held at the Kigali Convention Centre.
The two-day forum was organized by the African School of Governance (ASG), an institution founded by a group of leaders including President Kagame. It brought together more than 2,500 participants, including Ghana’s Vice President Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang, former South African President Thabo Mbeki and former Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn.
The forum aims to examine some of the mindsets and practices that Africa needs to change in order to achieve sustainable development.
Speaking at the event, ASG Chief Executive Officer Francis Gatare said Africa needs to move away from several deeply rooted mindsets, including excessive dependence on external assistance.
“For example, the mindset of depending on others can become deeply entrenched when someone receives continuous support and eventually begins to believe that others owe them assistance, until the situation reaches a point where that support can no longer continue,” Gatare said.
He called on participants to use the forum as an opportunity to rethink such attitudes and commit to a new approach to Africa’s development.
“These two days should go beyond being just a forum. Let us commit ourselves to beginning a journey of changing Africa’s mindset and ensure that nothing stands in the way,” he said.
During a panel discussion with other African leaders, President Kagame acknowledged that although Africa continues to face significant challenges, the continent has also made important progress over the past decades.
“Africa has gone through different challenges, but Africa has also made progress in different areas. There is no doubt about that,” Kagame said.
“Africa today is not where it was 50 years ago, including in terms of mindset. Of course, there are things that have not gone well here and there, but progress has been made.”
Kagame, however, questioned why Africa, despite possessing human resources, natural wealth and a long history from which it could draw important lessons, has not yet achieved the level of development it desires.
“The major question we have to confront is that Africa has everything required to achieve development. It has people, it has resources and it has a history from which we should have learned many lessons,” he said.
The President said Africans should move beyond repeatedly discussing their problems and ambitions and instead focus on implementing the solutions they already know.
“There is this phrase that has been repeated many times: ‘The Africa We Want.’ Yes, there is an Africa we want, but why are we unable to reach that Africa when we have everything we need?” Kagame asked.
“That means there is something we must identify that continues to make us fail, and then confront it.”
Kagame said one of Africa’s major weaknesses is the failure to implement strategies and commitments that leaders themselves have already agreed upon.
He stressed that Africa cannot transform unless Africans are also willing to change their attitudes, behaviour and ways of doing things.
“We have to transform our continent, but we cannot transform our continent without transforming our behaviour, the way we do things and the way we conduct ourselves,” Kagame said.
“We should not continue talking about what we are supposed to do and then end up doing something else. We must align what we say, what we want and what we do in order to achieve results.”
The President warned that when people remain trapped in endless discussions without taking action, they may eventually realize years later that they have remained in the same place or even moved backwards.
His message echoed the central theme of the Africa Mindset Reset Forum: that achieving the continent’s ambitions will require not only new ideas and strategies, but also a fundamental shift in mindset and a stronger commitment to turning decisions into concrete action.
