President Paul Kagame has challenged religious and political leaders to play a more active role in nation-building by helping families live in harmony, warning that broken families threaten Rwanda’s social and economic gains.
Speaking at the 2026 National Prayer Breakfast held under the theme “Building Resilient Families: A Leadership Call for National Transformation,” Kagame said the state of family life in the country shows worrying signs of breakdown that could undermine the nation’s future.
The President attended the event alongside First Lady Jeannette Kagame and hundreds of political and religious leaders from Rwanda and abroad, including visitors from Pakistan, Australia, Kenya, Mali, Uganda, the United States, and Zimbabwe.
Kagame emphasized that resilient families are the foundation of a resilient nation and a way of honoring Rwanda’s heroes. He pointed to rising divorce rates as a key concern, urging leaders to support families in staying together and raising children with strong values amid modern challenges.
According to national judicial statistics, 2,674 divorces were recorded during the 2024/2025 judicial year, a slight decline from 2,833 cases in 2023/2024. However, gender-related disputes remain among the most common civil cases in Rwandan courts.
Referring to an article about three young couples who divorced within a year of marriage, Kagame said failed marriages have far-reaching consequences for society.
“How can two people fail to live together? Maybe if it was a group of people, but just two?” Kagame asked. “They can be patient with each other. Even when one offends the other repeatedly, they can work on it.”
He stressed that marriage is manageable and that harmony within families naturally extends to the nation. Kagame called on religious leaders, in particular, to use prayer and guidance to address family breakdown.
“If you believe in God and prayer, why don’t you pray for this as a matter of fact?” he said. “Sit and pray to find solutions if what you teach and believe in is true.”
The President noted that Rwanda’s development depends not only on economic progress but also on strong values upheld by both political and religious leadership.
“If we put effort into this, the country and its citizens will develop on the right path, and the lessons we learned from our past will not be in vain,” Kagame said, adding that Rwanda cannot become a prosperous nation without shared values rooted in strong families.
