Why Should I Stay as President?, Kagame asks.

By Wesley Spartan

President Kagame met with close to two thousand executive secretaries from cells across the country as part of Meet the President series at Gabiro on June 12

President Paul Kagame is seeking broader and clearer answers on why Rwandans are insisting that he should stay as president, Rwenzori Times report.

Kagame’s second term in office ends in 2017 but thousands of Rwandans have since petitioned Parliament that the Constitution should be amended to allow him serve a third term in office.

However, Kagame on Friday asked his countrymen: “By asking me to stay in office, aren’t you trying to give me more work when you are busy with your own business?”

The president insisted that developing Rwanda is responsibility for all Rwandans not a single individual.

He insisted that he would go after 2017 but that those who want him around should do more to convince him to change his mind.

Kagame was speaking in Gabiro during a meeting with two thousand executive secretaries from cells across the country as part of Meet the President series.

Addressing local leaders who underwent nine days of training focused on strengthening local governance and addressing the gaps in service delivery, President Kagame urged all leaders to go beyond the theoretical knowledge and focused on action:

“This training is not about words, it is about action. Our development will be the result of work, not words. Knowledge without action is meaningless. You cannot expect results without work and you cannot expect to live off the hard work of others.”

Earlier this week, Rwandans in the Diaspora (mainly Belgium, China, Ethiopia and Djibouti) submitted their petitions requesting the amendment of the Constitution of Rwanda.

A member in the delegation, Rashid Habinshuti declared: “We came here to request the Parliament of Rwanda to give us our right to referendum. If democracy equates people’s choice let the Parliament give us a chance to manifest our will through a referendum.”

The head of the delegation who is the Vice President of the Rwanda Diaspora Global Network and the President of the same organization in China, Mr. Norbert Haguma stated: “Many of us believe that the mission of our president has not yet been accomplished, if he wants, we would be glad to remove any obstruction so as to run for another mandate.”

He added: “This is the reason why more than 1, 300 people sent us with their signatures on the petitions from more 30 countries to represent them physically. Besides this, we came to show fellow Rwandans and the World that this is not just a wish of Rwandans living inside the country but also throughout the World.”

President Kagame is hailed for transforming the country’s economy, infrastructure and human resource following the catastrophic genocide in 1994.

However, some opposition groups have since urged Kagame to step aside at the expiry of his two terms.

The speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Hon Donatilla Mukabalisa said Parliament has received many requests from the Diaspora via the Parliament email but this was their first face-to-face encounter.

She added: “When one decides to pay a plane ticket, travel from Ethiopia, Djibouti, China, and Belgium so as to be able to submit their message, it means that they are convinced that it has a strong significance”.

Mukabalisa said the people’s request will be presented to the plenary assembly and debated not later than August 5, 2015 which marks the end of the second session.