Rwanda 2008 Polls: A Mockery of Democracy?

Rwanda 2008 Polls: A Mockery of Democracy?

Rwandese MP's Taking Oath

The media around the world has been awash with headlines of how Rwanda has emerged the giant in the field of gender parity in politics. The recently concluded 2008 parliamentary polls closed with women bagging 56.25 percent of the contested seats. These polls in which women scooped 44 seats in the country’s lower house marked quite a new era in the African and global political arena.

In this not-so hotly contested legislative September polls, the predictions came true. The ruling Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) took the lead while (the party always on the second spot) the Social Democratic Party (PSD) maintained its rank with the Liberal Party (PL) behind it.

Something that probably interested the world was that Rwandans voted their women representatives who were to occupy their reserved 24 seats, and the curve was higher for the female gender in the end.

This development has been successive. In 2003, Rwanda had 39 women parliamentarians who became part of the 80- member house of chamber of deputies-and it was still a world record, where this small state recorded the highest number of women legislators in Africa and the entire the globe.

Around this time (2003), the UN had set a target for nations to implement a 30 percent female representation in parliament. Here, Kigali moved very quickly to fix an additional 15 seats on top of the stipulated 24 reserved seats.

After the recent polls, which resulted in a 56.25 percent win for women, it automatically shows the women will have an upper hand in shaping the country’s future, particularly, in terms of forging more pro-active policies that would drastically turn around this post conflict country.

This was really a moment to toast to Rwanda. At least there’s now an element of gender promotion in her decision making process-though actually it cannot be described as gender parity in Rwanda’s politics since women still outnumber men.

‘Political gimmick’

However, as the world swings the flag of glory for the Kigali establishment’s promotion of equal opportunity politics, there remains a mystery. The world has either failed to understand the stunt behind Rwanda’s gender politics or it is simply a tactic by the international community to ignore the cruel situation here.

Rwanda has a number of parties for instance RPF, Democratic Republican Movement (Mouvement démocratique républicain), Christian Democratic Party (Parti démocratique chrêtien), Islamic Democratic Party (Parti démocratique islamique), Rwandan Socialist Party (Parti socialiste rwandais), Democratic Union of the Rwandan People (Union démocratique du People rwandais), Social Democratic Party (Parti social démocrate), Liberal Party (Parti libéral) and Party for Progress and Concord (Parti pour le Progrès et la Concorde) among others.

Out of these, a few have managed to survive. Parties like the Democratic Republican Movement, Christian Democratic Party, Islamic Democratic Party, Rwandan Socialist Party and the Democratic Union of the Rwandan People only exist by name.

A clear example is PL, where charismatic politicians and statesmen like Polycarp Gatete, Elie Ngirabakunzi and Isaie Murashi were illegitimately pushed out of the house. These eloquent, vocal and inspirational legislators from the opposition camp were quickly shaping Rwanda’s politics and holding the government accountable. Their noble service was painfully brought to an end by Mr Protais Mitali.

Assisted by Rwanda’s renowned opposition hit men like James Musoni and National Security Service boss Lt Col. Emmanuel Ndahiro (RPF Stalwarts), Mitali, who was ‘bribed’ with a ministerial post of Trade and Commerce bought himself into the high ranks of the party and subsequently threw out the legislators.They simply became victims for bringing RPF into check for the good of Rwanda and her people.

Through similar tactics, opposition has become toothless. It has been incapacitated by a classical syndicated mafia campaign mixed with both political and military intelligence personnel. Most of their leaders have been intimidated hence forcing them into a compromise in RPF interest. Some have threats of the 1994 genocide charges dangling over their heads, although they never participated in this mayhem. The mafia group can easily line up witnesses, and this is not new in Rwanda’s field of dirty politics.

While some have been “bribed” into offices, where they enjoy state privileges like 24-hour air-conditioning, foreign trips and allowances and have buried their political ambitions, it is a harsh story on another end. Others simply fear to have their weight thrown behind bars on faked charges of defilement, corruption and abuse of office, which has been so much prominent in Kigali.

Our dear statesmen, who would be checking the excesses of the RPF have been bundled under the league that compulsorily agreed to enter into a courtship of inconvenience with it (RPF) in the infamous coalition dubbed Coalition Rwandan Patriotic Front.

Opposition politicians are choking in an increasingly fragile environment so hostile to them, but this oppressive scenario has become normal to the world. They have been reduced to the story of a ‘cry baby.’Many observer teams in the recently concluded polls in Rwanda produced clean scripts in praise of Rwanda in the aftermath of the parliamentary electoral process, even when the process looked very traditional.

In fact, the EU and the League of Human Rights in the Great Lakes region (LDGL) sounded an alarm in this direction. LDGL announced widespread irregularities in the exercise that included poor quality of the ballot, failure to seal ballot boxes, widespread lack of witnesses for independent candidates and political parties apart from those of the RPF, low qualification of Chief Electoral Officers, intemperate soldiers, policemen, village headmen (Imidugudu) and elements of the Local Defense Force in some polling stations among others.It subsequently recommended that observers be allowed to participate in all elections, even in the compilation of results by National Electoral Commission.

Instead, such observations were treated with hostility, and it is obvious that, while EU can’t be ignored, chances are very high that the Kigali establishment will ban whistle blowers like LDGL from monitoring elections in future-and still the world will remain silent. Rwanda has become a one party dominant state with RPF in power. Opposition parties are cuffed and have less or no ability to move anything-and more painfully they have no real chance of gaining power.

It is true that voting majority women in parliament is a success. However, possibilities are very high that they will have no change in Kigali’s unitary government under an authoritarian style of leadership.In such a hostile political arena, they will have no option but to become ‘Yes MPs’, which is a deep cry in Rwanda, a country just emerging from ashes, and in dire need of one common good-democracy.

Most political analysts have concluded that the new women MPs elect will be seat-fillers, who are in the lower legislative chamber to please the government in the chase for the buttered side of bread. If the alarming situation of suppressing multiparty democracy and gross violation of human rights, especially, in exercising their rights to leadership and good governance remain unabated in Rwanda, it is inevitable to say that whatever the government's intentions in building the Rwandan woman's solidarity, the results will be disastrous.

It is useless for the world to celebrate gender parity in Rwanda’s politics when actually the 4.7 million registered voters out of a population of more than 9 million here are going to the polls in the interest of the government.

If the West can’t see this, then Africans should give a hand to Rwandans who are craving for democracy. It is time for the world to pause and have a rethink of Rwanda’s destiny, and stand up to be counted in influencing change at this time when people in this post genocide state cry for a new dawn, a world where they can all participate and be heard.

By Robert Mukombozi

Correspondent

http://www.africanexecutive.com/modules/magazine/articles.php?article=3613


Rwanda Polls Not Free and Fair


Voting Gets Underway

The East African Community EAC has dispatched a team to monitor elections in Rwanda, a new member of the bloc. This tiny East African state is bracing itself for parliamentary polls this month.

The twenty five member delegation led by Dr Aman W Kabourou, a Tanzanian member of the East African Legislative Assembly has already arrived in Kigali, the Rwandan capital to prepare for the job in the elections scheduled for September 15 – 18, 2008. The contingent comprises of five members from the East African Legislative Assembly, and five from the Secretariat.

And according to Arusha officials, the deployment of an observer mission to Rwanda is a further contribution by the East African Community to supporting democracy in the region. The team is in Rwanda primarily to ensure that the electoral process in this once volatile state is smooth. The aim is to see continued improvement in the management of electoral processes in the region.

According to the mission plan, which The Citizen has seen, the observer team will be deployed in the five provinces of Rwanda that include Kigali city, Western, Eastern, Northern, and Southern. In these provinces, the team is expected to witness the election process in sampled areas in the various constituencies, including the polling stations in line with the Arusha Headquarters’ mandate.

Article 3 of the Treaty Establishing the East African Community requires “…adherence to universally acceptable principles of good governance, democracy, the rule of law, observance of human rights and social justice….”

Rwanda's Parliament is bicameral with two chambers, the Senate (Upper Chamber) and the Chamber of Deputies (Lower Chamber). Now, the National Electoral Commission in Kigali has already confirmed that elections for the 80 Members of Parliament (MPs) of the Lower Chamber will begin on the 15th of September 2008.

As the country warms up for polls, Rwanda’s lower house widely known as the Chamber of Deputies has already been dissolved. The Chamber of Deputies, which was instituted in October 2003 just after a nine year transition in this former central African state’s post-genocide era, was disbanded in mid August by President Paul Kagame.

In Rwanda, the constitution stipulates that parliament shall be dissolved a month to the next legislative polls. NEC officials have said that of the 80 legislators, 53 will be elected for a five year term by proportional representation and 24 will be elected by electoral colleges within provincial councils. The remainder will be appointed by the National Youth Council, and one by the Federation of the Associations of the Disabled.


The Iron Fist

However, as the polls draw closer the fear amongst the entire population and the opposition is growing. The oppressive tactics of the ruling Rwanda Patriotic Front of President Kagame against the Opposition has created an uncertain political landscape-of fear and persecution to neutralise its already light-weight opponents most of whom are working under its wings in the so-called “Government of National Unity.”


The opposition members fear to erect podiums especially in rural Rwanda, where the message by RPF has been uniform: parties were the root cause of the 1994 genocide.

In fact, during the 2003 parliamentary elections, a total of eight parties formed a coalition to back the RPF from which it garnered an impressive 70 percent of the votes. It is from this “coalition” that some of the parties under the ruling party’s favour were able to secure some seats in the lower house.

Will the case be different soon? No. I am convinced the opposition has very few options: to remain silent and wait for handouts from Mr Kagame’s political Kitchen or strip their chests bare in the shooting field. Now, with no options in this round, the Political parties in Rwanda are trying as much to read from the same script. They have turned their fate to soft talk. Already, the constitution is not on their side.

It requires each party to attain five percent of the vote in order to win a parliamentary seat, and political analysts have already made their position clear-this is a one-man show in this country whose democratic credentials are increasingly falling under the waters.

Though the issue of continued oppression of the Opposition in Rwanda stands prominent, EAC has strong belief the exercise this time may be fair-in this mission of mutual interest, and that the institution may come up with best electoral practices.

The EAC has played the observer role in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania but in almost all scenarios the ugly picture was the same, and they are not to blame. And now particularly in Rwanda, EAC must know that the issue is more than fair polls. It’s about changing the tainting politics of RPF, a party that has never seen sense in multiparty politics but cosmetically continues to win “fame” from the International Community in this field.

If the terrain remains the same, then the opposition in Rwanda has no option but to wait for a better landscape in future, which is the prayer of Rwanda citizenry.

By Robert Mukombozi

http://www.africanexecutive.com/modules/magazine/articles.php?article=3558