President Paul Kagame of Rwanda Again Says He Won’t Run For Another Term
President Paul Kagame of Rwanda has stressed that this will be his last term in office, and won’t run again after serving close to 20 years.
As one of the longest-serving presidents in Africa, Kagame on Thursday while addressing at the 17th Annual National Dialogue said that he will walk away from the presidency when the current term he is serving expires in 2024.
The 62-year-old who was attending a summit in Doha stated responded to question of whether he will run for office again mentioning that he was not interested in seeking a fourth term.
“Most likely no. I want to have some breathing space but given how things are and how they have been in the past, I have made up my mind where I am personally concerned, that it is not going to happen next time,’’ Kagame stressed.
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Kagame however, did not keep back his desires as he mentioned he would love to see a woman become the next country’s president.
‘‘My wish is that one day, a woman takes up this position that you gave me. We have the constitution in place. We have term limits. I’m serving my second and last term. I’m just hoping that another suitable person will come and continue with the work we are doing and not reverse
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The 62-year old has been president of the tiny East African nation since 2000. He won his current mandate (his third term) in 2017 elections in which he scored 99% of the vote.
A controversial referendum in 2015 allowed the two-term constitutional limit to be lifted allowing him to contest in 2017. When the current seven-year term ends he could seek two more five-year terms according to the constitution.
Kagame, who also recently won a third term in 2017 has held the presidential reign for 19 years since 2000 up to date.
Paul Kagame was born in October 1957 in the Southern Province of Rwanda. His family fled pre-independence ethnic persecution and violence in 1960, crossing into Uganda where Kagame spent thirty years as a refugee.
Kagame joined current Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and his group of guerrilla fighters to launch a war to free Uganda from dictatorship. Under the new government, he served as a senior military officer.
In 1990, he returned to Rwanda to lead the Rwandan Patriotic Front’s (RPF) four-year struggle to liberate the country from the autocratic and divisive order established since independence.
Led by Paul Kagame, the Rwanda Patriotic Army defeated the government in July 1994 and the RPF subsequently set Rwanda on its current course towards reconciliation, nation-building and socio-economic development.
Kagame was appointed Vice-President and Minister for Defense in the Government of National Unity on July 19, 1994, and four years later was elected Chairman of the RPF, a partner in the Government of National Unity.
Kagame joins the list of other African presidents who have already ruled outstanding in the next term including Burundi’s president Pierre Nkurunziza, Tanzania’s John Pombe Magufuli and Kenya’s Uhuru Kenyatta.
By John Dalton Kigozi
