Paul Kagame, the president of Rwanda, has said for the first time that he wants to run for a fourth term in the polls that will take place next year.
Kagame, who has ruled the country for decades with an iron hand, told Jeune Afrique, a French-language news magazine, in an interview posted online on Tuesday, “Yes, I am a candidate.”
“I’m glad that the people of Rwanda have faith in me. “As long as I can, I will always serve them,” the 65-year-old was quoted as saying.
In March, the Rwandan government chose to hold its parliamentary and presidential elections on the same day in August of next year.
Kagame had not said what he wanted to do before, but he has now made controversial changes to the law that let him run for a third term.
Since the end of the slaughter in 1994, when he was the leader of the rebels, Kagame has been seen as the country’s real leader.
In 2017, he got nearly 99 percent of the vote and won a third term.
AFP