Kagame to referendum critics: Respect choice of Rwandans

The mood, shortly before the President’s media briefing, was one of excitement. An opening question from The New Times set the ball rolling when Kagame was asked to respond to external criticism against the referendum, condemned and rejected in sections of the international press as a ‘manipulation of democracy to breed a dictatorship.’ In his response, the President pointed to the contradiction of calling for democracy while criticising the overwhelming choice made by majority of Rwandans under a process that has been described by credible international election observers as ‘free and fair.’ “Rwandans chose to do what they did and they seem to be happy with it – good for them, they should be happy with what they choose to do; for outsiders, they may also continue being unhappy about what majority of Rwandans chose to do,” he said. The President said there is a lot of contradiction in the criticism being directed at Rwanda’s democratic processes, citing a media report that claimed ‘majority of Rwandans had chosen a dictatorship’ in Friday’s referendum. “I think that is giving dictatorship a good name,” he said. The President added that if a dictatorship amounts to the people making independent choices like security, stability, women empowerment and general national progress, then critics were making a mistake, perhaps, blindly. “If you tell me that Rwandans are mindless, heartless and outright foolish then you can say people have made a choice that is not founded,” Kagame said “But we all have our lives to live and we have the right to choose how we live our lives, Rwandans are not going to live their lives according to the choices of outsiders.” ‘Term limit not Africa’s biggest problem’ The result from last week’s referendum has been viewed by critics as a free-way for Kagame’s administration to remove presidential term limits and allow him to overstay his current second and last term in office. But the President scoffed at those claims and stated that it was a mistake to reduce Africa’s problems to mere presidential term limits. “Term limits may be part of a bigger problem but they are not the biggest problem for Africa,” said the President. According to Kagame, the continent’s biggest problem is ‘lack of good governance’ to help leverage on the natural resource wealth of Africa. “You need to answer the question that has been there for too long, why has Africa remained the poorest continent, meaning its people are the poorest, yet the continent is the richest?” The President said fronting term limits as the problem for countries was just being diversionary, noting that it is possible for a leader to lead for a single term and they are a mess and that while they may get a prize for ruling one term, no one rebukes them for leaving behind a mess. “I don’t understand that kind of politics in my view...so, how long or how short a leader has ruled, I don’t think is the problem although it keeps coming up as the major problem for Africa,” he said. Journalists kept getting back to the President hoping for a straight answer regarding whether he would stand again after his current term. In one response, Kagame dismissed claims that he is seeking to be President for life. “When I was in the bush, I gave all I had, including risking my life. It was not because I wanted to be President. I did quite a lot before I was President. I can still contribute to the well being of my country in or out of office,” Kagame said. He added that there was still plenty of time to 2017 and said he still had enough time to give his answer. “However, to those who are requesting me to stay, I am yet to say no to them, we are still together,” Kagame said, adding that though this debate is of interest, Rwandans should not allow it to distract from moving forward and working towards Rwanda’s development. Kagame also commented on the situation in Burundi, calling on the people of Burundi to take responsibility for addressing the current situation. “This is not a problem that we wanted, we cannot benefit from a neighbour’s problem. Accusations against Rwanda have political motivations. It has become about politicking as if that provides a solution. There is need for Barundians to sort their own affairs,” Kagame said.

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Kagame to referendum critics: Respect choice of Rwandans