Editor,

Critics are not concerned with President Paul Kagame's legacy or about Rwanda's image should he opt to accede to our wishes and continue in office beyond 2017.

They are just so publicly desperate to see him out of office. And the reason isn't hard to divine: they want to again have a pliable leader in Rwanda, one who knows his proper place in the ranks of subject peoples and takes care never to question the orders of "the westerner”.

Instinctively, Rwandans—and many fellow progressive Africans—understand the real unstated stakes in the west's efforts to pressure Kagame to rebuff popular demand to continue to soldier. And Rwandans, and many fellow Africans, are doubling their own effort to convince him to stay on.

We have in Kagame a flag bearer Africans can again be proud of.

MK

Reaction to the letter, "Of legacy, threats and Rwanda's future” (The New Times, June 24)