According to reports, President Paul Kagame says that he has no problem relinquishing power. However, he did not specify when he will be ready to let go.
For me it’s not really a big deal, I think I have done what I could as a person, as a human being,” said Kagame on Wednesday at the Semafor Africa Summit Exchange in Washington DC.
“And I am happy to leave the stage, and to go anywhere and keep looking back and saying, I made my contribution” he added. He indirectly mentioned that fellow African leaders should oversee peaceful transfer of power, instead of clinging to power.
Kagame who lead the war against the regime of Juvenal Habyarimana, was appointed Vice President in 1994 and chairman in 2000, then elected president in2003,2010 and 2017.
However, the constitution which limits the president to two seven-year terms, was amended.
After 2024, the seven-year term will be replaced by a five -year one, renewable once, allowing Kagame to stay in office until 2034.
Kagame noted that he also didn’t being just an ordinary citizen after retirement.
He added: “You know being a president came by accident. Actually. When it came, I embraced it, I tried to do whatever I could with it. And then maybe I became a victim of what I was able to do.”
According to Kagame, leaving the presidency is not his worry at all, noting that if he is alive, there are very many things he can do beyond presidency.
