First, let me wish my fellow Rwandans a happy and prosperous new year, 2016. As a nation, we couldn’t have expected to see off 2015 in a better style than we did, with President Paul Kagame’s acceptance of our sincere request to continue leading us to more progress.

The media have what they call ‘who says what.’ Well, who am I? I am just an ordinary Rwandan, one among the millions who were at the forefront of a process that pushed to have that, which we believe we needed as a people: the continuation of the current nation building under the great leadership we have now.

We ordinary Rwandans are happy with what we have managed to achieve under the excellent governance we have enjoyed in the last two decades; the hardships we have had along the way have only made our victories even sweeter.

So when the President accepted our request to stay on and continue leading us to greater heights as a nation, we were snowed under by joy which cemented our belief in the future based on a firm foundation anchored in the present that we have constructed together as Rwandans.

He said, ‘I can only accept.’ And I say ‘we can only thank you, Mr President’, and pray for natural providence to give you and all our other leaders good health and sustained wisdom to keep the nation on track.

But, like most of you, with pain, sometimes anger, I have read in the papers, heard on radio and watched on TV, the early reactions of some foreigners to our decision as Rwandans, to alter amend – not their constitution – in order to allow us have President Kagame’s service for a few more years.

Dear foreigners, kindly put the blame on us, the citizens, not the President. It was our choice, us alone and should there be any consequences as you warn, we shall endure them just as we endured what happened here two decades ago. But can it get worse? Indulge me on that.

As a nation, we have braved the mal-governance of the past regimes and defeated a genocide that was caused by the skilled handwork of foreign forces. We lost millions but ultimately won.

The nation rebuilding process has been painful, sometimes almost impossible. But it’s in our nature as Rwandans not to give up; we keep our heads high even when our spirits are low. And behold what we have achieved, a great nation! We have won awards and topped surveys.

Like the President said, we intend to continue doing that: to win as a nation. But as Rwandans, there’s a need to continue standing by our leaders, especially when foreigners arrogate to themselves the power to speak in our name. I believe it is our responsibility as a people to defend our choices as a nation against external meddling.

For the first time in our history, let foreigners allow us to make our own mistakes. I am sure we would know how to solve them better than those imported for us.

Dating back to colonial period when Rwandans suffered at the hands of the Belgians’ ‘divide and rule’ politics, dwellers of the ‘Thousand Hills’ country never had joyous life.

It culminated into the worst scenario ever in form of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi when the nation wept and the slopes of our beautiful hills flowed with blood and tears.

But as the nation teetered on the verge of collapse, a liberator emerged. The sunshine struck with the rays of hope in its wings which set Rwandans back on the highway of renaissance on which we have remained for more than two decades now.

So we Rwandans are aware of what bad leadership can do to a nation and what good governance, on the other hand, can deliver for we have lived both and we learned our lessons.

Bad or good, our history has also been our greatest teacher and we are now, more than ever, able to drive our own future devoid of outsiders’ influence, bearing in mind that at the height of the 1994 killings when Rwandans most needed outside help, we were only abandoned.

Yet even for those who have criticized our choice to change the constitution and retain a man whose leadership we owe our current gains, they agree that Paul Kagame has served us well.

The only point of departure is that while they want him to stop serving his country in the way he has diligently and consistently done, we Rwandans want him to keep going. In every democratic society, there’s consensus and it’s just in order for critics to respect the choice of 98 per cent of Rwandans.

I am the leader of ‘Happy Generation Rwanda’, an association of citizens inspired by Kagame’s leadership; on their behalf, I am thankful to all Rwandans who participated in the long process that climaxed into the December 18 referendum.

We won. Our voice was heard. Our request granted. Now we must get back to work and conquer more grounds under the great commandership of our leader, Paul Kagame.

For the triumph of the people of Rwanda and for the aspirations we as a people have for the future, we have coined this new greeting: ‘HAPPY, HAPPY. LONG LIVE TO OUR PRESIDENT.’ It’s a greeting that conveys our deepest gratitude to our hero and leader.

The writer is the Chairperson, Happy Generation Rwanda.