It is Kagame again who won the presidential elections with 99.15 percent according to National Electoral Commission (NEC) partial results. Frank Habineza of the Green Party who came second with 38,301 votes conceded defeat and congratulated president Kagame. The win is no surprise because the mammoth crowds of hundreds of thousands of supporters of RPF who turned up during the campaign rallies in all parts of the country indicated the strength compared to the attendance of supporters for the other two candidates. Ironically, as millions of Rwandans were in jubilation mood during campaign rallies and now celebrating Kagame and RPF win, critics and naysayers are claiming that Kagame can't get 99.15% of votes, citing that's in such a case there is no democracy, as if there is a minimum set percentage of votes for any election to qualify as democratic. Some foreigners have called it a sham election. Election observers have been in Rwanda and followed each and every detail of the elections. They are the witnesses rather than critics and foreign media who write and speak from their office hundreds of miles away and chose to see nothing good with a Kagame led government. But most important is the fact that the elections were about the choice of Rwandans and the results speak for themselves. Whether western critics are unhappy Rwandans can only say we are sorry this is our business. If in other countries getting 99.15 percent for a presidential candidate is impossible, instead of foreigners criticizing Rwanda’s democracy and choices, they should go to Rwanda and be curious and learn, but they do not want to. Each country has its uniqueness. In the US for example, the candidate with majority votes does not necessarily become the president. This means that the president lacks majority approval. There are many ways of killing a rat in the same way as democracies differ. This is their choice of democracy and Rwandans do not criticize them and call their elections sham. Civility calls for respect for what others consider good for them. There is a question usually asked by foreigners of how long Kagame has been in power suggesting that it is long overdue for him to leave office for another person. Others say that he is a dictator. The question would rather be, what has Kagame done during the long time he has been in office? Rwanda is a beacon of hope, a country that has succeeded against all odds where others have failed. Rwanda is a young nation just 30 years old that has made Africa proud where all things work smoothly under Kagame. Africa in general has a governance deficit struggling to put in place functioning systems, to curb corruption, to put in place citizen centered governance, but the small country called Rwanda under president Kagame can offer learning experiences on how African countries can turn around and make Africa great. Probably by doing this, Rwanda could be stepping on the toes of some foreign powers that prefer weak governance in Africa to keep siphoning their resources. Rwandans have realized that in Kagame they have a rare leader who is effective and results oriented. They are still holding the helm of his cloth so as not to let him go. In the 1940s when it was convenient for Americans, President Franklin D. Roosevelt served four terms instead of two terms. When it was convenient for the Germans, Angela Dorothea Merkel served as the Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021 a record sixteen years and western media and human rights organizations never questioned her long stay. In the same way, it is still convenient for Rwandans to continue their trust in Kagame to keep the transformational journey he started. What is good for the goose is also good for the gander. The question by critics about Kagame’s longevity is therefore null and void. Foreign media called Kagame a dictator but one wonders how millions of people turned up to vote for a dictator. One social media user in Uganda on seeing thousands of voters who turned up at the Rwandan embassy to vote wrote that, “Scientists should research this. Why do Rwandans living outside Rwanda, whose government is supposed to be a “terrible dictatorship”, go to vote in large numbers, in elections that are easily dismissed by “experts”? Indeed as another social media user put it, “the secret Rwandans carry has eluded foreigners,” and as such foreign “experts” who claim to understand Africa, have failed to explain the reality of what happens in Rwanda differently from other countries. The generalization by western “experts” that all African countries are the same has been proved wrong by Rwanda. There are foreign voices claiming that the representatives of real opposition were not allowed to run. They single out a woman called Victorie Ingabire. Her popularity in Rwanda is not known and only exists in western media. When Ingabire returned to Rwanda from the Netherlands, She immediately went to the genocide memorial at Gisozi where said that she could see only graves for the Tutsi and none for the Hutu. Ingabire in Rwanda is no different from Höcke in Germany who in 2017 called the Holocaust memorial in Berlin a memorial of shame. In May 2024, a Germany Court found Höcke guilty of knowingly using a Nazi slogan in a speech. Why is Rwanda expected to act different from what other countries do? When Foreigners doubt the competence of Rwandan courts when they do exactly what happens in their countries, it’s a reflection of double standards and lack of respect for other countries’ independence. Where does Rwanda’s uniqueness come from? When colonialists invaded Africa, they found Rwanda to have a highly organized administrative structure that made it difficult for them to penetrate and exploit. Rwandans were united by the same language, culture and beliefs. The colonial divide and rule policy culminated into the genocide against the Tutsi in 1994. Kagame and RPF did not only stop the genocide but also put in place policies that united Rwandans to live again as one people. Rwandans cherish their values, their dignity (Agaciro), they have taboos such as betraying their motherland (kugambanira Igihugu). Rwandans are a resilient people with unbreakable spirit (Inkotanyi). The history, culture and aspirations and choices shape what Rwandans are. However, the forces of evil that committed genocide are still a threat not only to Rwanda but to the entire great lakes region. To many Rwandans, Kagame and RPF represent life. Those who are not happy with Kagame and RPF win are foreigners; they are free to do so, but Rwandans have self-determination to decide their destiny. The author is a media consultant and a former head of Media Development Department at Rwanda Governance Board (RGB)
