RPF-Inkotanyi presidential candidate Paul Kagame has told voters in Northern Province’s Gakenke District that they can expect to see more development and improved lives under his leadership.

Campaigning in the district yesterday, the candidate said the RPF never lies to citizens and promised that his government for the next seven years, once he is re-elected to the top office will be consistently focused on inclusive development.

"We never tell lies; we say things the way they are truly are. We always deliver on what we promise and it is on record. We can’t come here and ask you to vote for RPF’s candidate while lying about what we will do for you,” he said.

Among other things, he pledged to scale up access to electricity in the district from the current 20 per cent or so up to 40 per cent in the medium term and up to 100 per cent in more years to come.

"When people are working together nothing is impossible. No fight can frighten us,” Kagame said.

Pledging to sustain security, development, and unity for all citizens, Kagame added: "We want to leave the bad history behind and instead continue with activities geared at developing our country.”

Welcoming the incumbent President in the district, a successful businesswoman who hails from the area, Christine Murebwayire, said that the candidate has helped the district’s residents develop in many areas that include health, agriculture-based economy, and general welfare.

"You are our friend. You did a lot and we know you are going to do more,” she told the candidate as she also urged the cheering residents at the rally to vote for him on Friday.

She reminded the over 250,000 supporters gathered at Nemba grounds that for years, during the immediate aftermath of the Genocide, the district was besieged by infiltrators while other areas of the country progressed.

"We were helped out of this by none other than President Kagame and we are now counted among the luckiest districts, with three major hospitals and other facilities in our midst,” she said.

The hundreds of thousands of supporters, through songs, commended the President’s policies and pledged to reciprocate by voting for him in the forthcoming presidential elections.

They mainly praise him for having brought back security in their area after the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, empowering women, building roads and hospitals, as well as connecting them to electricity and building schools for their children.

Some of them told The New Times that they want to vote for Kagame because they have hope he will bring them more development such as connecting more people to a reliable source of potable water and extending electricity to the region’s remote areas that are still in the dark.

"He has my vote. Why would I vote for anyone else while I have seen what we have achieved under Kagame’s leadership?” posed Christine Namahoro, 32.

Virginie Bavugamenshi, her 54-year-old neighbour from Rusasa Sector, concurs and says that she was impressed at how the RPF candidate managed to bring back peace and stability in the country after so many years of violence.

"We wouldn’t be sitting here without security. That alone is enough for me to vote for him,” she said as she waited for the candidate to arrive in Nemba.

Kagame’s rally in Gakenke was his second of the day after campaigning in the Northern Province’s Burera District.

He will remain in the Northern Province for today’s campaigns, holding rallies at two sites in Gicumbi District.

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