Musanze District, 5 June 2014
President Kagame today met and interacted with more than 600 Northern Province opinion leaders at the Senior Military College, Nyakinama.
In his address, President Kagame said a nation will take the direction its leaders want it to take. He cited the painful history which Rwanda took in 1994, which he said happened because leaders of the time wanted it to go that way.
“When you are hungry and wait for someone else from elsewhere to tell you that you are hungry, you are both fools. Rwandans are not fools. It’s a matter of choice between good things that are archived through hard work or bad things achieved easily.”
President Kagame asked Rwandans to take a wise choice that will lead to peace and development of the nation, for the good of everyone and generations to come.
“I am your leader but one of you and your choices will affect me too. The few leaders from this province who betrayed their people’s trust are making bad choices. What kind of politics aims at destroying property, kills children and women and innocent people?”
President Kagame said those people still bent on committing atrocities and distabilising the nation are abusing the goodwill of the Rwandan people who have sacrificed a lot to rebuild the country.
“We abolished the death penalty and did numerous other things in order to reconcile our people, for the sake of creating a unified country so that we can forge ahead. But some people don’t appreciate this out of extremism and want to take us back.”
President Kagame challenged Rwandans to take a firm stand on matters affecting their country so that they can make choices aimed at building the country.
“You have either made a good choice or a bad one; there should be no standing on the fence. Those who have made good choices declare war against those who want to destroy what has been achieved.”
President Kagame said there will be no compromise on security, and Rwandans will not heed any advice from those who think those intent on distabilising the country should be tolerated.
“We may not have the capacity to go and fight our enemies from thousands of kilometers away, but we have more than enough capabilities to protect our country and we will execute it with high efficiency.”
President Kagame asked Rwandans to take a good look at the whole world and close in on those who give Rwanda lessons and see how they are fairing themselves.
President Kagame also asked people of the Northern Province to not settle for less and increase their food production by building on what they already have.