It is absurd when you first hear it but word on every Rwandans mouth is that our first lady is being groomed to succeed her husband, President Kagame. I have asked several people in Kigali why they assume that the President is grooming his wife and all kinds of explanations have been given.

 

Notable mentions are;

  1. President Kagame is too vulnerable to survive outside of Rwanda because of the many sins he has committed so he is safer by fronting his wife whom he will continue to rule through……
  2. President Kagame wants to do a “Putin”. This meaning that he will let her run as the RPF candidate for 1 term and make a comeback in the next 7 year term
  3. Look at the way the first lady has made her presence felt in all fora lately by his side. This apparently signifies “showing her the ropes”…… with the exception of running cabinet on a daily basis, behind the curtains, Mrs Kagame fires/hires in key positions in Government and private sector, she is kept abreast on all intelligence matters through General Jack Nziza and has the army by the pulse!

 

I hope this remains a rumor or wishful thinking by the Kagame’s Incoporated.

 

  1. 1.     DYNASTY

The Rwandan psyche is so sensitive and fragile that to think Rwandans will accept a dynastic system is walking a tight rope! Anything that depicts, smells, sounds like Kagame will never be tolerated, not even within Tutsi die-hards. The Kagame’s have assaulted our pride, abused our modesty, raped our country and embodied everything our forefathers stood against that no matter how docile  Mrs Kagame appears, Rwandans have had enough of all things “Kagame”…..

Mr and Mrs Kagame must cease looking at the country as personal property but as a collectively-owned entity which is bigger than the aspirations and ambitions of an individual.

  1. 2.     RPF PARTY

From which party ticket will she stand for the Presidency? We all know that RPF as a party is a skeleton of its former self, the original RPF party died as early as 1997 when the Party chief Mr. Kagame himself turned the guns on all its faithful cadres many of whom he killed, poisoned or chased into exile. The surviving faithfuls have been silenced into mutes and those like Aloysia Inyumba have accepted to swallow their pride and crawl on all fours. The Party is made up of a few sycophants whose allegiance is to Paul Kagame, who runs both the country and the party at the same time. I therefore think that Jeannette Kagame will be standing for a skeletal figure.

  1. 3.     Support of the Army, women and Peasantry.

To get a popular vote, one needs overwhelming support. My question is, do we see the Rwandan army accepting Jeannette Kagame as their commander in chief?

Has she been sympathetic to veteran’s causes? Is she popular with Rwandan women? Is she sympathetic with women’s issues? Can she relate to the peasantry and what has she done to voice their concerns?  How well does she articulate the plight of vulnerable people in our society? Has she been an active member in any cause besides empowering the girl-child? The answers to these questions disqualify her as Presidential material.

  1. 4.     Close links to Regime “Killers”

It is an open secret that Mrs Kagame is very close to the number one killer, General Jack Nziza and actually uses him to intimidate, harass, torture suspected opponents to the regime (not forgetting her personal enemies) but more importantly, she uses Jack Nziza to entrench her grip on power and that of her husband through deployment of spies in all sectors of society. Mrs Kagame is a beneficiary of many intelligence reports much to the public’s ignorance. This alone disqualifies her as a potential leader.

  1. 5.     Intellectual Capability

Without sounding disrespectful to the first Lady, we need to assess her intellectual capacity to digest the economic and fiscal challenges Rwanda as a nation faces, her PR skills, sense of humor, charm, charisma and the ability to defend issues close to her……….. There is a saying that the partners we choose as soul mates rub off on us with time, being Mrs Kagame alone disqualifies Jeannette even if she had all the qualities we mentioned above!

Source: Written by Annonymous Veterans

 

 

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