So, you want to be the president.
You who’s reading this article you might be the president in
the future. To be the president it has a lot of requirements to fulfil, be it
age, having Rwandan nationality as the sole nationality and other requirements
that are honestly not easy to get. So,
you still wanna be the president. Let’s go deep into the subject.
In brief the president of the Republic is the Head of State. The
President of the Republic is also the defender of the Constitution and the
guarantor of national unity. In addition to that, the President of the Republic
is elected for a five (5) year term and may be re-elected once.[1]
Let’s go back in time to understand how the system of
presidency came and we analyze it till today. Before presidency Rwanda was
ruled under the absolute monarchy. Rwanda
had Dominique Mbonyumutwa, as the interim first President of Rwanda during a
transitional phase between the overthrow of the Rwandan monarchy in the Rwandan
Revolution and the country's independence. Following an election, he was
succeeded by Grégoire Kayibanda who became the first elected president of the
country.[2]
Grégoire Kayibanda was the president
from 1962 to 1973.
The second present Rwanda experienced, was Juvénal
Habyarimana. He served as the president from 1973 to 1994. Prior to being the president,
Habyarimana served in several security positions including minister of defense
under Rwanda's first president, Grégoire Kayibanda. After overthrowing
Kayibanda in a coup in 1973, he became the country's new president.[3]
After the death of Juvénal Habyarimana, Théodore Sindikubwabo
was the interim President of Rwanda during the genocide against Tutsis, from 9
April to 19 July 1994. Prior
to that, he was President of the Rwandan legislature National Development
Council from 1988–1994.[4]
After independence Rwanda experienced bad politics made of
mainly ethnic cleansing, which hindered national unity. The main actors were
the presidents. Today the president of the republic guarantees the national
unity.
On 1 October 1990, the RPF launched an armed liberation
struggle that ultimately ousted the genocidal regime in 1994 and ended the
genocide in which more than one million Tutsi were killed. After Kigali fell to RPA (RPF’s armed wing)
on 4 July 1994, RPF formed a Government of National Unity headed by President
Pasteur Bizimungu, bringing parties that did not participate in the genocide
together. In 2000, Parliament voted out President Pasteur Bizimungu and RPF
appointed then Vice-President and Minister of Defence, Major General Paul
Kagame as the President of the Republic to lead the coalition government.[5]
In 2003 President Paul Kagame was elected with landslide
majority to serve a term of seven years. In 2010 and 2017, President Paul Kagame
was re-elected to serve the second and third term respectively, on a platform
of rapid development for the transformation of the lives of all Rwandans.[6]
After what Rwanda experienced in the past, planning to become
The President of the republic, will not only require the candidate a good
political manifesto but also having presence I Rwandan life.
Article 99 of the constitution of Rwanda shows the requirements
of a candidate for the office of President of the Republic. A candidate for the
office of the President of the Republic must: be of Rwandan nationality by origin;
not hold any other nationality; be irreproachable in his or her conduct and
social relations; not have been definitively sentenced to an imprisonment of
six months or more; not have been deprived of civil and political rights by a
Court decision; be at least 35 years old at the time of his or her candidacy;
reside in Rwanda at the time of submitting his or her candidacy.[7]
After being The President, there are duties That are incompatible
with the office of the President of the Republic The office of the President of
the Republic is incompatible with any other elective public office, other
public civilian or military positions or any other profession.[8]
On X, I see some people criticizing how the president is
elected, and how long the current one has been in office. First of all,
choosing the president shouldn’t be based on emotions or anything else apart
from being qualified for the position. It is sad to witness, so-called
politicians using ethnicity as their way to reaching the presidential seat. The
Organic Law governing elections[9]
N° 001/2019.OL of 29/07/2019 in article 21 stipulates that; Any person wishing to be elected
must: have attained the age provided by law; be a person of integrity; on top of that the person willing
to be elected must not be convicted of offences related to properties of
victims or survivors of the Genocide against Tutsi; not be convicted of the
crime of genocide ideology and related offences. Not necessarily to be
convicted of the crime of genocide ideology and related offences, as long as
the candidate has a history of having the genocide ideology, shouldn’t be allowed
to be a candidate for president.
Under the banner of democracy, and freedom of speech, some
people commit the crimes of genocide ideology. Under the same banner some use
insults to show that their opponent is not eligible to the position they are
trying to compete on. Funny thing is that the so-called opposition is outside
the country. Let’s ask ourselves simple questions, how will you want to lead
people in the country you don’t live in? They use excuses that they might be
imprisoned or worst be murdered.
Another surprising thing I’m seeing online is the criticism
of the presidential campaign. Especially attacking the candidate of the Rwanda
Patriotic Front, who is having a massive support and on top of that being
supported by other political parties. As long as democracy is concerned, the
candidate with majority support is likely to win the election.
To you who want to be The Presindent, it is better to have
before invested in the life of the people. It is sad to see candidates who remember
to meet the people just in election time. Engaging with the people can be done
different ways. Article 22 of the ORGANIC LAW N° 10/2013/0L OF 11/07/2013 GOVERNING
POLITICAL ORGANIZATIONSAND POLITICIANS on the Right of a political organization to create its
media, it stipulates that; Political organization shall have the right to
create its own media and disseminate its publications in conformity with the
existing laws and regulations. Political organization media is prohibited from disseminating
information of libelling or divisive nature likely to undermine national
security, territorial integrity and national unity. We have politicians with an
experience in journalism, they get quite with their political agenda, and reveal
it when it is in the time of election and expect we the people to have time to
digest all those promises.[10]
Rwandans have been aware of what they want when it comes to
what they want into a leader they want especially on the level of president. Political
parties should invest in being connected with the people. The law GOVERNING
POLITICAL ORGANIZATIONSAND POLITICIANS had suggested having a media house, this
was ignored by some political parties that wishes to have votes from the people.
Lets say having a media house is not a preferred idea, what
about meeting the people as part of the agendas of political parties and it
happens in a more organic way not just when their an election ahead. The same
law suggested having public meetings. It stipulated in article 19 that; a
political organization that wishes to hold a public meeting of its members
shall inform the relevant administrative authorities at least five (5) working days
before the meeting. Notification modalities must conform to the relevant laws.
It is
For those who are asking themselves why the Rwandan Patriotic
Front is in coalition with other[11]
political parties, article 30 of the same law stipulates that, a political
organization may agree to form a coalition for the purpose of elections as a
means of coming to power. A coalition of political organizations shall have no legal
status of its own. As I always say, our country respects the rule of law, there
are a lot of things concerning the well-functioning of the country has laws
that guide their applicability. It is no surprise to see one political party
being supported by other political parties. The chairman of RPF in the
presidential campaign in Ngororero district, told the supporters of RPF that,
‘’in politics, there are times
when people feel like, why did the parties that are in coalition with the RPF
not front their own candidates? He added that, some think that they didn’t
because they failed, and that’s not true. He added ’these parties are with us
because they believe that, working together with the RPF, we will be able to
achieve more than each one of us taking their own path, trying to achieve
something, which might work for some but not for others. But when people or parties
work together, everything they set out to do works out perfectly. “[12]
In some countries I saw presidential campaigns turning into
chaos, and what was planned to be a manifestation of choice turns into
disaster. As Rwandans, we chose doing things differently while remembering our
values like kwihesha agaciro.
There things you should not do as a politician. Article 40 provides other prohibition to a
politician.
A politician shall especially be prohibited to: have a
degrading behavior; use dictatorship and intimidation; use his/her position to practice
unfairness and violation of the law; betray other politicians and the Country; commit
acts of corruption and other related
offences; mismanage the properties he/she is in charge of; confound
with the administrative position he/she is in with her/himself; lack of transparency in
his/her action; be characterized by favouritism and injustice.[13]
As a future president your CV as a politician and how you behaved will count. The
way you treat other politicians will also count. I advise you to reflect on our
values as Rwandans, this will guarantee you a better career.
As a future politician you should not tarnish the image of
Rwanda,[14]
I mostly see some individuals calling themselves politicians, on top of that tarnishing
the image of Rwanda. If you want to be a Rwandan politician first of all
respect our country. It is absurd to hear a so-called politician tarnishing the
image of his/her country for the sake of making a point.
Politics is a career, if you want to be a politician with the
ambition to be The President of Rwanda, learn about our history, our laws and
engage with people, that’s how you will have a promising political career
ahead.
[7] Official
Gazette n° Special of 04/08/2023, CONSTITUTION
OF THE REPUBLIC OF RWANDA Article 99
[8] Official
Gazette n° Special of 04/08/2023,
CONSTITUTION OF THE REPUBLIC OF RWANDA Article 103:
[9] The
Organic Law governing elections N° 001/2019.OL of 29/07/2019 in article 21
[10] ORGANIC
LAW N° 10/2013/0L OF 11/07/2013 GOVERNING POLITICAL ORGANIZATIONSAND
POLITICIANS Article 22
[11] ORGANIC
LAW N° 10/2013/0L OF 11/07/2013 GOVERNING POLITICAL ORGANIZATIONSAND
POLITICIANS Article 30
[13] ORGANIC LAW N° 10/2013/0L OF 11/07/2013 GOVERNING
POLITICAL ORGANIZATIONSAND POLITICIANS Article 40
[14] ORGANIC
LAW N° 10/2013/0L OF 11/07/2013 GOVERNING POLITICAL ORGANIZATIONSAND
POLITICIANS Article 39 paragrapgh 2
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