Varsity students welcome referendum

University of Rwanda’s College of Arts and Social Sciences students say they are ready to exercise their civil rights in the referendum with many of them saying they would vote in favour of amending the constitution. They were speaking as Members of Parliament Gabriel Semasaka and Justine Mukobwa visited the Huye based campus on Wednesday which was the last day of Parliament’s outreach exercise to explain to the people about the provisions in the amended constitution so that they vote for what they understand. Prof. Dieudonné Sebashongore, a lecturer in Chemistry department and the dean of the Faculty of Sciences at the University of Rwanda, encouraged students to participate in the vote, stressing that the referendum is for the common interest. “On December 18 (today), you should turn up at the polling stations to vote. This is a civic duty that does not only affect your present, but also your future. The step that our country has so far made and the good achievements realised during the leadership of President Paul Kagame must be safeguarded by ensuring that he continues to lead us,” said Sebashongore. He urged the thousands of students resident at the campus to vote not based on sentiments but the tangible achievements the country has realised in just a few years. ‘‘Foreign nations are looking at us and you are the ones to answer them. And, your answer should be; ‘we have the liberty to choose democracy and leaders that we think can lead us toward achieving our goals’,” he said. Jean de Dieu Nsengimana, a second year student in Biology, said they wrote to Parliament requesting for the amendment of the Constitution so that President Kagame can be able to stand in 2017, saying that participating in the referendum is the only way they will have their wish fulfilled. “We wanted the achievements registered to be sustained. Schools have increased. There is no regional, ethnic discrimination, nor any other form of divisionism in the education sector as it was in the past. These are some of the factors that motivated us to write seeking for the continued leadership of President Kagame.’’ MP Semasaka said Parliament carried out the assignment handed to them by Rwandans when about four million Rwandans petitioned the House to amend the Constitution, mainly its article 101 so that they get the chance to vote for President Kagame to lead the country for another term. He, therefore, said the students and all the university community should vote the revised Constitution through the referendum because they are among those who filed the petitions in question. He said Parliament had traversed all the sectors of the country to explain to Rwandans about the amended constitution. At least 6.4 million Rwandans are expected to vote today while those in the Diaspora cast their ballots yesterday. editorial@newtimes.co.rw

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Varsity students welcome referendum