Rwandan President Paul Kagame is not seeking to run for a fourth term once his current tenure ends in 2024, reported Africa News.
During a summit in Doha, Kagame said he won’t be contesting the 2024 election as he wants to give way to others.
“Most likely no,” the 62-year-old said when he was asked about whether he will run for office again. “I want to have some breathing space but given how things are and how they have been in the past, I have made up my mind where I am personally concerned, that it is not going to happen next time.”
Kagame, who helped end Rwanda’s 1994 genocide, has been president since 2000. He won the first ever democratic elections held in Rwanda in August 2003 and was re-elected to a second seven-year mandate in August 2010.
He won the east African nation’s most recent election in 2017 in which he scored 99% of the vote. The election followed a referendum that made him eligible to participate in the election.
The controversial referendum allowed the two-term constitutional limit to be lifted. When the current seven-year term ends he could seek two more five-year terms according to the constitution.
Kagame has won international acclaim for stabilizing the coffee-producing nation and transforming its economy. Currently, Rwanda’s economy is one of the fastest-growing African economies, with expansion expected to be 8.5% this year.
But Amnesty International and other human-rights groups have repeatedly accused his government of widespread abuses and cracking down on political opponents and the media.
