Nyaruguru, 28 July 2010
President Kagame was greeted by over 100,000 supporters when he arrived in Nyaruguru on Wednesday afternoon. Many had walked hours to show their support for the RPF candidate. Welcoming President Kagame, Niyonsaba Vestine confidently took the stage, raised her fist in the air and sang out “Tora Kagame, niwe, niwe, niwe wenyine! Imvugo niyo ngiro” (vote for the one and only, the man who walks the talk). As a newly registered university student, Niyonsaba Vestine thanked the RPF for the peace and security that now characterize Rwanda. Today, Niyonsaba is able to earn an income that allows her to attend university and perfect her teaching skills.
Before ending her message to President Kagame, Niyonsaba left the crowd with this message: “I want to tell all the women out there that if I can do it, you can do it too… because having the courage and confidence to share my story in front of all one hundred thousand of you is an example of the person President Kagame’s leadership has helped me become.”
Among the large crowd was the former president of Def Jam, Kevin Liles who diverted his honeymoon with wife Erika Jones to visit Rwanda and show his support to the man who he says “has done more in seven years than countries have done in forty.” Kevin Liles defined the rally as “a celebration of one man’s leadership, vision and sacrifice” which goes beyond politics.
Building on the remarkable accomplishments of the RPF in the past seven years, President Kagame clearly expressed that he was ready to do more for and with Rwandans. He pledged to continue RPF’s vision of providing good education, health systems and agriculture technology to transform the land of a thousand hills into a country defined by the dignity of a people who know that their economic success is the result of their hard work and not charity.