Why do Rwandans even vote? Rwandans recently were forced to petition to the parliament to  change of the Rwandan Constitution so that Kagame could not only seek another term after his constitutional mandate ends in 2017, but also hide from the International prosecution for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The Belgian Professor Filip Reyntjens of African Law and Politics at the Institute of Development Policy and Management at Antwerp University describes Kagame as another war criminal who is the sitting Head of State today, Kagame could be one of the ‘most important war criminals still in office today’” he said.

 

Similarly Prof.  Peter Erlinder from United States who researched extensively on Rwanda and was one of the lawyers at the International Criminal Court for Rwanda based in Arusha Tanzania (ICTR) has argued thatKagame’s actions in Congo and Rwanda since 1993 to the present day are, “genocides in plain sight,” and all this is reported in UN and State Department documents.

 

Kagame’s criminality is estimated to have cost more than 5 million lives both in Rwanda and Congo. According to Prof. Peter Erlinder, in Rwanda, a brutal dictatorship reigns at gunpoint. Indeed he was a victim of Kagame’s intolerance for critics; he was arrested in Rwanda and prosecuted for genocide denial.

 

Prof. Peter Erlinder has accused both U.S. and UK of  not only indifference on the crimes committed  by Kagame but have continuously sponsored what the he describes as  impunity for Kagame and the RPF’s crimes in Rwanda and Congo from 1993 to the present.

Indeed, all the above Professors are vindicated by the former Chief Prosecutor of ICTR, del Ponte who has confirmed she had the evidence to prosecute Paul Kagame and his RPF military for the assassinations and war crimes as early as 2002, but was removed from her UN office by the U.S. and UK in 2003 when she tried.

Even the American former FBI Special Agent James Lyons testifies that he was a member of the elite UN investigative team in early 1997 that recommended then-Chief Prosecutor Louise Arbour prosecute Kagame for the assassinations and other war crimes, Arbour fired the investigative team including Lyons.

Therefore from the legal point of view, Kagame is a wanted war criminal who could only seek protection from Presidential Immunity accorded to Heads of State. Kagame knows this more than any other person; he has witnessed his counterparts like Charles Taylor of Liberia who is now serving 50 years in UK Prison or former Chilean dictator Augustino Pinochet who was arrested in 1998 on the UK soil.

 

 

 

Rwandan Citizens had no choice but to endorse the wishes of Kagame as the results had already been decided by Kagame and his RPF government .Rwandans were handed papers already designed by the RPF spin doctors, they only deposited them in boxes and on the fateful day of the parliament debate were forced to attend and signify their support for the pre-approved wishes of Kagame..

Former RPF comrades who fell out with Kagame have explained that their most important job is to mobilize the Citizens  to show up on all the RPF and Kagame functions to show the International community that he is loved.

That’s because Kagame has been lying that he will never seek a third term or change the Rwandan Constitution. Voting in Rwanda is compulsory for everyone over the age of 17. Failing to take advantage of the opportunity to show support for the government is tantamount to treason.

“It is regarded as political offence, so it is taken more seriously than economic crimes,” according to some Rwandans who have been prisoners of conscience. “It means that, politically, someone is against the regime.”

As such, state media usually reports a near 100% turnout, with about 100% of the Rwandans in support of the pre determined wishes of Kagame.

Jacqueline Umurungi