Africa-Press – Malawi. On September 19, Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame confirmed that he would stand for re-election in his country’s August 2024 presidential election, and attempt to win an unprecedented fourth term in office.
“I am pleased with the confidence that Rwandans have placed in me. I will always serve them, as long as I can,” the 66-year-old was quoted as saying in an interview with Jeune Afrique, a French-language news magazine.
It is not surprising that Kagame is gearing up for another presidential contest. After all, it appears that, over the years, Rwanda’s president has developed an effective blueprint not only for winning elections, but also for doing so with seemingly universal public approval.
Indeed, the former army general, who has led Rwanda since June 2000, won the 2010 and 2017 presidential elections with 93 percent and 98.6 percent of the votes, respectively. And, before that, in his first presidential election in 2003, he had gained the support of 95.05 percent of Rwandan voters.
According to constitutional amendments approved via a referendum in December 2015, Kagame can seek a third seven-year term next year, and has the right to run for further two five-year terms thereafter, meaning he can theoretically remain in power till 2034
On the face of it, seeking another term in office seems to be a reasonable way forward for an incredibly popular and successful head of state. Rwanda has certainly made significant socio-economic strides since the 1994 genocide that killed at least 800,000 mainly ethnic Tutsi and moderate Hutu civilians, with many observers describing the country as an African success story.
However, this commendable progress does not erase the fact that Kagame is a ruthless despot and a major obstacle to true democratic progress. Indeed, elections in Rwanda have been marred by extensive government crackdowns on free speech, independent media and political opposition since the very beginning. And it is highly suspect whether Kagame would have been able to secure the support of almost all Rwandan voters repeatedly over the years if he had faced his rivals in truly free and fair elections.
The Rwandan government, under Kagame’s guidance, has long engaged in reprehensible lawfare to eliminate those who have sought to challenge Kagame at the polls. Authorities thwarted attempts by presidential hopefuls Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza and Diane Rwigara to stand against Kagame in 2010 and 2017, respectively, for example.
Kigali has also reportedly abducted and assassinated dissidents and opposition leaders, both at home and abroad. Suspected state agents allegedly killed Patrick Karegeya, the former external intelligence chief and co-founder of the Rwandan National Congress, in South Africa in January 2014.
So, as proven time and again, Kagame is not a true democrat. Thus, it is impossible to determine with any degree of certainty whether a significant percentage of Rwandans really have “confidence” in his leadership and want to see him run for office once again next year. Rwanda, after all, is not really a democracy.
Sure, it has all the elementary structures of a democracy and it seems to be able to hold elections on a regular basis. Under this democratic facade, however, Kagame is actually ruling Rwanda like his personal fiefdom. His is an undisputedly authoritarian, anti-democratic regime – and one that many other despots in the region look up to.
In April, for example, while hosting Kagame for a two-day visit in Conakry, Guinea’s military ruler, Colonel Mamadi Doumbouya – who overthrew former president Alpha Conde in a September 2021 military coup – expressed great admiration for Kagame’s de facto dictatorship and even said he “draws inspiration from the Rwandan model” describing it in a presidential statement as an “African reference”.
Fast-forward to September 21, it was not surprising to hear Doumbouya criticise democratic governance as a Western imposition at the 78th United Nations General Assembly.
“Africa is suffering from a governance model that has been imposed on it… a model that is good and effective for the West but is difficult to adapt to our realities, our customs and environment,” he told world leaders gathered in New York, the United States. This is an old trope that Kagame himself has long been using to deflect attention away from his atrocious human rights record.
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