Ndani ya hiyo miaka 7 anything can happen.
This is my last term in power - Kagame
By David Kezio-Musoke, Daily Monitor Correspondent
Posted Thursday, August 12 2010
President Paul Kagame has said he does not intend to change the countrys constitution to extend his last presidential term beyond 2017.
Speaking on Contact FM, a local radio based in Kigali on a show hosted by Ugandan journalist Andrew Mwenda, Mr Kagame said, Personally I dont want to be involved or in changing the constitution so that I stay in power and particularly changing the constitution for that purpose. I would really hate it.
He added: I dont know why it (change term-limits in a constitution) has been made an African thing. I have seen Europeans attempt to change their constitutions. I saw it in France when (Jacques) Chirac was about to run for a third term. I dont know why in other places it is not of interest and it has become an African thing. I dont intend to change the constitution.
Mr Kagame, who the countrys electoral body officially announced the winner of Mondays presidential election, said he could have easily been president in 1994 slightly after the genocide but declined the office which Pasteur Bizimungu occupied until March 23, 2000.
I refused to be the president. And somebody was president for six years. Now people are already talking about it (succession). The same reasons I should have stayed in power (after 2017) are the same reasons I shouldnt. If you have had a Kagame around for this long and he has failed to identify one who has a capacity to take over, I would take that as a failure on my part, he added.
Mr Kagame is yet to be sworn in as the new president of Rwanda for a constitutionally provided second and last seven-year term.
Landslide win
The National Electoral Commission (NEC) yesterday announced official results of the Monday presidential elections of which Mr Kagames ruling Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) won with an overwhelming 93 per cent of the vote.
Observers from both the East African Community (EAC) and the Commonwealth said on Tuesday that the presidential elections were democratic and peaceful.
While the EAC observers said Rwandas poll, the second in post-genocide era was in conformity with international standards, the Commonwealth Observers Group said the process was well organised and peaceful.
Despite the observers submission, opponents said the three official opposition candidates were a democratic smokescreen and stooges of Kagames RPF something the president dismissed as baseless.
Uneven play field
They also said the campaign playing field had been uneven, with three would-be opposition candidates including the controversial Victoire Ingabire being prevented from registering to contest the ballot.
While responding to question from listeners of Contact FM radio Mr Kagame said, The 93 per cent has a lot to do with the context and what has happened in our country. Sixteen years ago, no institutions was functional and human life was at stake.
He added: As we built the country people identify themselves with those institutions or people who have impacted on their lives that is how the RPF and Kagame has gained a confidence of people.
On concerns raised by international human rights groups about a hostile run-up to the elections, including detention of opponents and murder of a journalist, Mr Kagame said, It is being taken for granted that the world should be divided like that. That poor Rwanda should just keep quite and they tell us what we should do.
The President added: Some of these countries were some of these international journalists operate from are responsible for some of these miseries including the 1994 genocide. Some of us Africans are determined to fight for our dignity.
Source: Daily Monitor
This is my last term in power - Kagame
By David Kezio-Musoke, Daily Monitor Correspondent
Posted Thursday, August 12 2010
President Paul Kagame has said he does not intend to change the countrys constitution to extend his last presidential term beyond 2017.
Speaking on Contact FM, a local radio based in Kigali on a show hosted by Ugandan journalist Andrew Mwenda, Mr Kagame said, Personally I dont want to be involved or in changing the constitution so that I stay in power and particularly changing the constitution for that purpose. I would really hate it.
He added: I dont know why it (change term-limits in a constitution) has been made an African thing. I have seen Europeans attempt to change their constitutions. I saw it in France when (Jacques) Chirac was about to run for a third term. I dont know why in other places it is not of interest and it has become an African thing. I dont intend to change the constitution.
Mr Kagame, who the countrys electoral body officially announced the winner of Mondays presidential election, said he could have easily been president in 1994 slightly after the genocide but declined the office which Pasteur Bizimungu occupied until March 23, 2000.
I refused to be the president. And somebody was president for six years. Now people are already talking about it (succession). The same reasons I should have stayed in power (after 2017) are the same reasons I shouldnt. If you have had a Kagame around for this long and he has failed to identify one who has a capacity to take over, I would take that as a failure on my part, he added.
Mr Kagame is yet to be sworn in as the new president of Rwanda for a constitutionally provided second and last seven-year term.
Landslide win
The National Electoral Commission (NEC) yesterday announced official results of the Monday presidential elections of which Mr Kagames ruling Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) won with an overwhelming 93 per cent of the vote.
Observers from both the East African Community (EAC) and the Commonwealth said on Tuesday that the presidential elections were democratic and peaceful.
While the EAC observers said Rwandas poll, the second in post-genocide era was in conformity with international standards, the Commonwealth Observers Group said the process was well organised and peaceful.
Despite the observers submission, opponents said the three official opposition candidates were a democratic smokescreen and stooges of Kagames RPF something the president dismissed as baseless.
Uneven play field
They also said the campaign playing field had been uneven, with three would-be opposition candidates including the controversial Victoire Ingabire being prevented from registering to contest the ballot.
While responding to question from listeners of Contact FM radio Mr Kagame said, The 93 per cent has a lot to do with the context and what has happened in our country. Sixteen years ago, no institutions was functional and human life was at stake.
He added: As we built the country people identify themselves with those institutions or people who have impacted on their lives that is how the RPF and Kagame has gained a confidence of people.
On concerns raised by international human rights groups about a hostile run-up to the elections, including detention of opponents and murder of a journalist, Mr Kagame said, It is being taken for granted that the world should be divided like that. That poor Rwanda should just keep quite and they tell us what we should do.
The President added: Some of these countries were some of these international journalists operate from are responsible for some of these miseries including the 1994 genocide. Some of us Africans are determined to fight for our dignity.
Source: Daily Monitor
