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Tribune News Service

Rwandan President Paul Kagame will follow the well-worn path of autocrats by seeking a third term in office next year, after changes to the country’s constitutional limit that had allowed only two terms.
Kagame announced in an address to the nation Friday that he would seek a third presidential term after Rwanda’s parliament (where the main opposition party has no seats) voted for changes to the constitution that could allow him to seek additional terms and stay in power until 2034.
In a nation where dissent is crushed and opposition figures have been jailed, Kagame appears certain to win. Few Rwandans are willing to oppose his third-term bid.
More than 3.7 million people in the nation of 12 million signed a petition calling for the change to the constitution to allow Kagame a third term — equivalent to 60 per cent of voters.
Kagame said he “could only accept” Rwandans’ call for him to lead the country beyond the presidential election in 2017.
“But I don’t think that what we need is an eternal leader,” he said.

Kagame, a close US ally, was once seen as part of a new generation of democratic, accountable leaders, who would sweep away the old rule-for-life mentality of Africa’s post-independence “big men.”
Another leader who inspired similar hope was Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni: When he took office in 1986, he said it was ill-advised for leaders to cling to power beyond 15 years. He’s still in office and plans to run for re-election this year after three decades in office. In 2014 he said Ugandans refused to let him retire. Uganda amended the constitution to do away with presidential term limits in 2005.
Moves by leaders in Africa and elsewhere to manipulate presidential term limits have been criticised by the West and human rights advocates, because they are often accompanied by government crackdowns on opposition parties, the media and other democratic institutions.
Kagame has ruled since 2000. He led Rwandan Patriotic Front, a rebel force that took control of the capital, Kigali, during the 1994 genocide and ended the killings.
In September, the US State Department urged Kagame not to run for office a third time, saying it could lead to uncertainty and instability.
“We do not support those in positions of power changing constitutions solely for their political self-interest,” said State Department spokesman Paul Kirby.
During his July trip to Africa, President Barack Obama urged African Union leaders to ensure that presidents respected constitutional term limits.
“No one should be president for life. I just don’t understand the phenomenon of leaders who refuse to step aside when their terms end. There is still so much I want to get done to keep America moving forward, but the law is the law and no one is above it, not even presidents,” he said in a speech in Ethiopia. “When a leader tries to change the rules in the middle of the game just to stay in office, it risks instability and strife, as we’ve seen in Burundi. And this is often just a first step down a perilous path.”


Rwandan president is Africa’s latest leader to seek extension of power

epa05085305 (FILE) A file phoptograph showing Rwandan President Paul Kagame casting his vote at a polling station in Kigali, Rwanda, 09 August 2010. Paul Kagame will seek a third term after his current term ends 2017, he announced 01 January 2016. The revelation ends speculation on whether he will stand again or not. He has the option of doing so thanks to constitutional changes made in an 18 December 2015 referendum. EPA/CHARLES SHOEMAKER *** Local Caption *** 02279582

epa05085332 (FILE) A file phoptograph showing Paul Kagame, President of the Republic of Rwanda, speaks during the second day of the St. Gallen Symposium, at the university of St. Gallen, Switzerland, 08 May 2015. Paul Kagame will seek a third term after his current term ends 2017, he announced 01 January 2016. The revelation ends speculation on whether he will stand again or not. He has the option of doing so thanks to constitutional changes made in an 18 December 2015 referendum. EPA/GIAN EHRENZELLER *** Local Caption *** 51922687

Ugandan President, Yoweri Museveni, , centre, gestures to delegates attending the Burundi peace talks, at Entebbe State House about 42 kilometers east of Uganda capital Kampala, Monday, Dec. 28, 2015. Representatives of Burundi's government and the opposition are in Uganda for negotiations aimed at ending political violence. Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza, whose decision to run for election to a third term triggered the bloodshed, wasn't present at the opening ceremony Monday. (AP Photo/Stephen Wandera)

Rwandan President Paul Kagame casts his vote at a polling station in Kigali, Rwanda, in 2010. Kagame will seek a third term after his current term ends 2017. Photo: EPA

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