Africa-Press – Rwanda. <\/strong><\/span>Our very own trusted and treasured The East African weekly, why do you stoop so low as to ape Western thinking? Or is it actually its thinking? No, methinks it\u2019s its way of trying to influence our thinking.<\/p>\nIn which case, our weekly informer should be \u201cnot-for-the-turning\u201d, in the words of a one-time \u2018iron\u2019 lady, Margaret Thatcher, British PM,1979 \u2013 90.<\/p>\n
Last week, The East African headline was a shrieking \u201cThe 4th\u201d! Simply said but screeching to anyone \u2013 meaning every global reader of the paper \u2013 who understood its message. Screaming because we know that the weekly was not proclaiming this in exhilaration. It was pronouncing this in incredulity and horror, the way the West does.<\/p>\n
Horror that President Kagame is going to stand for elections for the fourth time. From 2000 as head of the Rwandan state to 2029 is too long, that is. If we have him for longer, say up to 2034, when he\u2019ll be a mere 77 years old (younger than current US President), what are they all going to do? Scream blue murder?<\/p>\n
So, another term not good for Rwandans, says who? Says a so-called Western influential voice, Phil Clark, who posits: \u201c[President Kagame] will want to avoid being seen as….an old man without a coherent vision for the country, still clinging on power.\u201d Well, dear Phil, if you think that time will come to pass, however long he may stay, perish the thought!<\/p>\n
The coherence, alertness, and dexterity of the man\u2019s mind, which Rwandans know well and is the reason they opt to cling to him, are no doubt neither infallible nor indefinite. But Rwandans are more than certain that when that time comes and he pleads against their insistence, they will quickly understand and be ready to pick another Kagame.<\/p>\n
Fears of his clinging to power are therefore misplaced. For it\u2019s the other way round, Rwandans doing the clinging. And it\u2019s they who will understand and appreciate that it\u2019s time for a change. And for that, no sweat. For, unknowingly, President Kagame has been incubating many Kagames. And, bet on it, that incubation is not bounded by borders.<\/p>\n
When you see Islamist terrorists in Mozambique vanish in the face of a joint Mozambican-Rwandan force, many Africans are taking notes. When you see West African countries gripped in house-of-cards political tremors……pick your opinion! No, not mine!<\/p>\n
Dear The East African, listening to opposition leader Frank Habineza\u2019s point of view, \u201cWe did not support the constitutional amendment……in 2017 but lost our case in court, so he has a right to run for the next two terms.\u201d, maybe should tell you something. That he can also imbibe and internalise what the Rwandan leadership entails and in the end win over our hearts.<\/p>\n
As for picking the views of Victoire Ingabire as an opposition leader, as the West does, that will always draw a blank suit. And she says it herself: \u201cI cannot run for elections unless I am rehabilitated.\u201d<\/p>\n
Of course, presidential clemency and rehabilitation have ever happened for genocide ideologues and defenders before, with Ingabire already being a beneficiary of the former. But even with rehabilitation, how will she escape our vigilance as the citizenry?<\/p>\n
We\u2019ll definitely put her under the microscope. And, who knows, it may turn out that she has grown to realise that what\u2019s good for the goose (us, citizens), is good for the gander (her) and only then win us over! Pardon the misplaced idiom (a gander is male!), but what the heck!<\/p>\n
Anyway, what these Western commentators do not seem to remember is that the decision-making pillar in this land is the citizenry. When we choose our leader we have made our choice, period. The East African, our EA influencer, pray, make them understand that! Then you\u2019ll be on the side of Africans, as you should be, and all will be well with us.<\/p>\n
When Rwandans want a leader for as long as they do, it\u2019s because they know what he or she represents. And no Western Power, however big, will convince us that they know better than we, what\u2019s good for us. And so we chose consensual democracy that ensures we do not espouse the lopsided Western winner-take-all type of democracy. Rwandans made a choice and chose President Kagame to be its face.<\/p>\n
In a word, he or she will be head of this Rwandan state who leads Rwandans in overseeing improved general economic performance, education, health, hygiene, infrastructure, investment, tourism, integration, global diplomatic entente, and so on and so forth.<\/p>\n
He or she will be our Kagame who will lead Rwandans in driving this land towards the status of developed countries. Don\u2019t be surprised if that leader comes from \u2013 wait for it! \u2013 the next group of refugees dispatched by the UK. That\u2019s how Pan-Africanist Rwanda is!<\/p>\n
Of course, when you think of how MTN, Serena, Mutuelles de Sante\u0301, RwandAir, leading the African Development Bank, leading la Francophonie (after our acrimonious history), working with sporting giants, advertising with football teams, heading the Commonwealth, etc., came to be, you wonder. What kind of brain will satisfy Rwandans after getting used to these \u2013 what at first they took to be \u2013 wonders?<\/p>\n
Nope, where there is performance par excellence, there ain\u2019t no power clinging.<\/p>\n
Source: The New Times<\/b><\/p>\n
For More News And Analysis About Rwanda<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pan Butamire Africa-Press – Rwanda. Our very own trusted and treasured The East African weekly, why do you stoop so low as to ape Western thinking? Or is it actually its thinking? No, methinks it\u2019s its way of trying to influence our thinking. In which case, our weekly informer should be \u201cnot-for-the-turning\u201d, in the words […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":53764,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,761],"tags":[760,763,3498,3500,3495,3497,829,3494,3254,3499,758,3496],"class_list":["post-53765","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-files","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-rwanda","tag-consensual-democracy","tag-constitutional-amendment","tag-frank-habineza","tag-margaret-thatcher","tag-mozambique","tag-phil-clark","tag-president-kagame","tag-presidential-clemency","tag-rwanda","tag-the-east-african"],"yoast_head":"\n
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