Rwandan president: I don’t need to prove I believe in democracy
RWANDA does not need to “convince” Barack Obama, Donald Trump or European leaders that it is aspiring to the democratic ideals of the West, the country’s president has told The Daily Telegraph.
Paul Kagame has been accused of following in the footsteps of a raft of African leaders who have rewritten their constitutions in order to stay in power.
He was swept back into office for the third time last week after securing 99 per cent of the vote, having conceded himself that the election “was just a formality”.
He has already ruled for 17 years and could now remain in office until 2034, by which time he will be 77.
Asked if he was concerned about accusations of “stayism” and challenged on what he would do to convince the international community that he was opening up the county’s democratic space, he said: “The strategy is ‘let’s keep hitting at this man until maybe he collapses under the weight of this’.
“This is how I interpret this. I don’t need to convince Obama, or Trump, or whoever in Europe. I don’t need that because what does it mean to me? It doesn’t mean anything. Convince them that I’m going to be able to live a life like theirs? No, first of all who even told them I’m aspiring to live a life like theirs?
“I don’t want to live like the British, the Americans, the French – that’s their business. Where they live is where they live.
“I want to live like a Rwandan, an African, I don’t want to become something else.
“What people have said about us twenty years ago, they are still talking about. I think there must be something wrong with them, not with us.”
Mr Kagame has been the de facto leader of Rwanda since his rebel army defeated extremist Hutu forces, ending the country’s genocide and seizing the capital in 1994. At least 800,000 people, mainly minority Tutsis, were killed over the course of just 100 days.
He is praised for rebuilding the country, which now boasts annual economic growth of around seven per cent and has the largest number of female MPS in the world.
However, he has also been criticised repeatedly for stifling opposition, silencing the country’s media and trying to cling to power.
Britain, Rwanda’s biggest direct donor, will give £64 million to the country this year.
In 2015, 98 per cent of Rwandans were said to have voted “yes” to rewriting the rules that mean Mr Kagame’s recent electoral success could see him remain in office until 2034 following Friday’s election.
The US warned at the time that he would face instability and uncertainty if he pressed ahead with the changes.
Mr Kagame insists there is a “disconnect” between what his critics in the media and the West have to say of him, and the views of his electorate.