Rwanda: Kagame not sure about being on the ballot come 2024

Author: Samson Kasujja

• 2023-03-08 05:16:00

Rwanda is scheduled to hold presidential elections in August 2024. While critics have been complaining that the incumbent, President Paul Kagame, will leave no stone unturned to stay in office, he is not sure of the upcoming polls.

During a press conference on March 1, in Kigali, one of the journalists asked Kagame whether he has prepared someone to take over.

“Why not prepare myself as well? I think someone needs to prepare himself or herself and then if they need my support I give it to them. But it’s not a big challenge for me, with time. I’m increasingly prepared to go home and have some rest. About what happens next year for elections, I’m not so much worried. I’m at peace with myself and with everything that will happen in regard to that next year,” Kagame responded.

The Pan-Africanist, as many call him, announced that the upcoming election is not one of the things that takes much of his time.

Later on, another journalist asked: “Clearly talking, won’t you Mr President re-candidate yourself next year?”

“To be honest, I don’t know. But when I say I don’t know, it means it is either way. It could be, may be it won’t be. So, go home with 50-50,” Kagame replied.

In the previous elections, Kagame was overwhelmingly voted for. It was Rwandans who decided that he be the President all this time.

It was their choice in the past and it will be their choice in future.

In the aftermath of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, Rwanda was devastated. Kagame is very appreciated by his people and the world in general for reconstructing the country from all sectors of life.

When Kagame became Rwanda‘s president in 2000, he inherited a country that had been torn apart by genocide and even the most optimistic of analysts doubted his chances. But he proved many doubters wrong.

Twenty three years later, the country is stable, prosperous, unified and, in large part, reconciled. Social services, such as education, healthcare, housing and livestock are provided to everyone with no discrimination based on ethnicity or region of origin – two forms of discrimination that characterised the governments leading up to the genocide against the Tutsi in 1994.

According to official statistics, Rwandans are living longer and healthier, with life expectancy increasing from 51.2 years in 2002 to 69.6 years in 2022.

More than 82 per cent households have access to good drinking water, while nearly 80 per cent of Rwandan households have access to electricity.

Rwanda is ranked 11th globally and 2nd in Africa with over 87 per cent of citizens saying that they feel safe and confident in the security organs.

Rwanda is participating in restoring peace and security in other countries - Mozambique, Central African Republic, and South Sudan among others.

Kagame and his government made Rwanda one of the most successful and fastest growing economies in Africa.

The country is ranked first in Africa and 42nd globally in adherence to the rule of law, according to the World Justice Project's Rule of Law Index 2022.

These are few achievements among many others which make Rwandans wish that Kagame stays in office.

Ninety-two per cent of Rwandans wanted Kagame for third term, according to a survey conducted by Ipsos, a global research firm, that was released in December 2015.

For many Rwandans, Kagame is a hero and statesman. Has that view changed? Rwandans will soon tell.