PSD submits parliamentary candidacies
PSD submits parliamentary candidacies
The Social Democratic Party (PSD) has submitted its list of candidates for the parliamentary elections to the Electoral Commission, featuring 66 representatives.
The list was presented by PSD’s Secretary General, Dr. Jean Chysostome Ngabitsinze, who highlighted that among the party’s representatives, there are 29 women. He expressed confidence that they would once again earn the trust of the electorate and represent the citizens.
Dr. Ngabitsinze also stated that for the presidential position, the party has chosen to support President Kagame, believing him to be the right leader for Rwanda.
He assured, "We guarantee the Rwandan people that PSD has always advocated for well-being, justice, mutual assistance, and development accessible to all. This agenda continues as the main challenge has been to ensure that all Rwandans can live and prosper freely, and we have been making progress in this."
Dr. Ngabitsinze noted that PSD has consistently participated in the parliamentary elections since the Genocide against the Tutsi, and the Rwandan people have continued to trust them.
He said, "PSD has never missed an election since the Genocide against the Tutsi, indicating that Rwandans expect us to continually strive for the country’s good policies and strongly support our presidential candidate, Paul Kagame, as he is the right choice for Rwanda."
PSD is unfazed by the increasing number of independent candidates in the parliamentary race and believes that their representation in the Parliament will not diminish.
He stated, "We are not worried. Fortunately, in Rwanda, we see many qualifying and aspiring to uplift the country. Regardless of the outcome, our country shares leadership and positions, so any additional Rwandan candidate does not intimidate us."
"We are campaigning to increase our seats, not to ease the competition for anyone else, to secure more seats than we currently have as PSD. However, we acknowledge that everyone has full rights, and we will compete in democracy and peace as usual, respecting whoever wins," he continued.
Dr. Ngabitsinze also emphasized PSD’s desire to increase the number of MPs from 80 to 120 to ensure proper representation of Rwandans.
He explained, "During our congress, we based our discussion on the progress of Rwandans, their historical numbers, and the ratio of citizens per representative. We see that increasing the number from 80 to 120 would mean better representation for Rwandans, from our point of view as PSD."
Addressing concerns that this proposal is politically motivated to secure more positions in Parliament, he clarified, "It’s not about seeking political positions, as some have suggested, but rather about ensuring that a citizen can more easily reach their representative to convey their various problems, wishes, and plans at the national level."
Regarding the financial feasibility of this proposal, Dr. Ngabitsinze indicated that it would not destabilize the country’s economy and that the actual concern would be the contributions from the increased number of members.
Dr. Ngabitsinze concluded by expressing confidence in the potential contributions of all 66 candidates, hoping they would outperform their competitors if elected.
’We are on our own’ - Makolo explains Rwanda’s efforts to build professional, strong army
Speaking during a recent interview with Al Jazeera Net, Makolo said there are more than 200 illegal militia groups in the country that continue to pose a security threat to Rwanda, especially in the eastern part of DRC.
Makolo explained that the militia includes FDLR group which comprises remnants of the Interehamwe group that fled to Congo after committing the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.
She said the group, comprising former military officials in Rwanda, fled to the DRC with army weapons and attempted several times to destabilize the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) administration that overthrew the genocidal regime.
"Let’s go back to 1994. There were militias that committed genocide against the Tutsis here in Rwanda and then fled to the Congo with their weapons, and the French forces allowed them to cross with these weapons... All the weapons they were using here were taken with them, and they were allowed to keep them in refugee camps in the Democratic Republic of the Congo," she said.
Makolo lamented that the militia group had for many years used Rwandan civilians as human shields in refugee camps under the watch of the international community.
"For years after the genocide against the Tutsis, these Rwandan civilians were hostages of the former army and the militias, now known as the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda.
"In the late 1990s, these groups resumed their attacks on Rwanda, and there is evidence of France’s involvement in supporting them with weapons. However, the Rwandan army managed to push them back and thwart their attacks," she stated.
According to the official, Rwanda has done everything possible to show the international community that the situation in the eastern DRC was serious, however little has been done to get to the bottom of the problem.
"We started efforts to convince the international community of the need to support Rwanda in repatriating the refugee civilians to their homeland, instead of leaving them trapped as hostages in camps controlled by armed groups. We had to carry out an operation in the late 1990s and succeeded in bringing back more than two million civilians to Rwanda, some of whom are now deputies and ministers," Makolo stated.
"These militias not only pose a significant security threat to us at our borders but also represent an ideological threat advocating the extermination of the Tutsi ethnicity. This ideology is a continuation of the genocide that occurred here in 1994."
She insisted that the international community had not learnt any lessons from the 1994 atrocities committed by the groups in Rwanda and revealed efforts by the government to build a strong professional army to protect its people.
"Unfortunately, they have not learned the lesson. We have come to realize that we are on our own and must do our utmost with the resources we have to ensure the security of our communities and nations.
"For this reason, we have worked to build a professional and strong army. We also cooperate with regional countries. The lesson we learned is that we must do everything we can and not rely on an international community that has not learned the lesson," the spokesperson said.
Makolo emphasized that different methods have been used to solve the problems between Rwanda and DRC, but Congolese leaders lack the political will.
"There have been several attempts to succeed in political paths, including what was called the Luanda Roadmap, or the Luanda Protocol, or the Luanda Process, but they all lacked the political will to implement them from the republic’s side. There was a second path through what is called the Nairobi Process.
"The Nairobi Process involves disarming illegal armed groups in the eastern republic, demobilizing them, or integrating them into the army and society. However, this path has stalled. There are also attempts to support the state in reforming its security sector. All these initiatives are essentially political processes, but the Democratic Republic of the Congo is determined to take a military path, which is impossible."
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