Who is Kagame to Rwandans?

On September 14, President Paul Kagame launched the 4th edition of Rwanda Integrated Household Living Conditions Survey (EICV4 2013/14). It appears that from 2006 to 2014, poverty has reduced by 17.6 per cent (from 56.7 per cent to 39.1 per cent) and that Rwanda has broadly met the MDGs (poverty, education, gender equality, water and sanitation, maternal and children health in terms of mortality etc..). The EICV4 findings confirm the desire of the 3.7million Rwandans, through petitions to Parliament, requesting the amendment of the article 101 of the Constitution so they can be able to maintain Kagame in power. Their position on the third term is becoming non-negotiable and unstoppable, and in fact, many consider the ongoing debates as preposterous. It is obvious that some don’t know or understand yet what Kagame stands for among Rwandans. There are some well-known facts about him, such as being a freedom fighter who, with the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA), ended the Genocide against the Tutsi, then went on to transform Rwanda from a very poor country to a safe, clean, prosperous and least corrupt in the region etc...in short, a good President. But Kagame is more than just a good President. He is unique. Only Rwandans know. Every day, all of us, both living in and outside Rwanda, including the so-called opponents of President Kagame, wonder what would have been Rwanda’s fate without Kagame after the 1994 Genocide in which more than a million Tutsi were killed? The most likely scenario would have been a large scale revenge of Tutsi survivors against Hutu who committed Genocide, an ethnic war would have led to the fragmentation of the country into Hutu-land and Tutsi-land as once advocated by the late President Gregoire Kayibanda. This would have been possible since Rwandans had been assaulted by the racist ideology for years. Rwanda would have become a failed State. What is happening now is the opposite of what some expected. Throughout the history of the country, Rwandans have never felt as united, safe, confident and close to each other and to their leaders as they have been under the leadership of President Kagame. This transformation, to us Rwandans, is his biggest achievement. It is because of that transformation that Rwanda’s economy has been growing steadily at about 8 per cent since 2011, business increased by 38.1 per cent in rural areas in the last 3 years, more than 70 per cent are covered by health insurance. 19.8 per cent of households have electricity, 63.6 per cent own a mobile phone and19.5 per cent of the population has been lifted out of poverty in the last eight years. Rwandans are now more than convinced that at this rate, they are likely to eradicate extreme poverty by 2020. Rwandans know very well they never had those opportunities before President Kagame. Furthermore, Kagame is a simple man and close to his people. He frequently visits and discusses with them, listens to critics and finds solutions to their problems. He personally responds to letters, emails and even tweets. It is certain that neither Washington D.C., London, Paris, the statements issued by some politicians nor the Western media will deter the Rwandan people from deciding on their own future by amending their Constitution to allow President Kagame to lead them as long as they want him. The people of Rwanda consider President Kagame a great leader, a good friend and a guarantee of the future. The writer is a political commentator based in Rwanda

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Who is Kagame to Rwandans?