Rwanda’s Kagame says will run for a third term in 2017

President Paul Kagame has accepted to run for a third term in office in 2017, one week after Rwandans voted in a referendum to change the constitution to allow him to run.

During a televised New Years address Kagame stated, “you requested me to lead the country again after 2017”.

Kagame has been president since 2000, but he has effectively been in control since his forces marched into the Rwandan capital, Kigali, to end the 1994 genocide.

The African country’s senate had approved draft constitutional amendments last November and allowed Kagame to take part in the 2017 elections.

The referendum that received the support of 98 percent of voters sparked criticism among Western countries.

After all, the conditions for maintaining political stability are actually the same as those needed to build the prosperity that we can already see on the horizon.

Afterwards, he insisted he would stay put.

The Rwanda National Congress (RNC) wishes to inform all Rwandans and the global community that, given Rwanda’s recent history, this latest act by President Kagame destroys any hope for democracy in the short term, with dire consequences for Rwandans and the Great Lakes sub-region.

The party accused the regime of manoeuvring to keep Kagame in office.

The outcome of the referendum cleared the way for the 58-year-old Rwandan leader to occupy the presidency until 2034 when he would have served one seven-year term as president and two five-year stints according to new stipulations in the constitution.

Several African states have recently lifted or tried to lift constitutional bars to multiple presidential mandates.