September 15, 2018, the world celebrated the International Democracy day. This day comes a month after the parliamentary elections. Now, every political party of the 11 which operate in Rwanda has got representatives in the Lower Chamber of Deputies.
Many people who followed the elections, observers and politicians expressed their satisfaction on how Rwanda carried out the elections with no violence or conflicts.
According to Charles Munyaneza, the Executive Secretary of the National Electoral Commission (NEC), the elections were held peacefully, a sign that Rwandans have already understood that elections are not a war, but choosing stewards to the shared destiny.
“We help the population understand the value of their votes which makes them make right choices. They don’t just head to polling stations without thinking well about their choices, considering what good the elected leaders will bring to them,” he explains.
Munyaneza further explains that NEC, as an independent organ which has been in Rwanda for 17 years, has prepared elections in which the population played a paramount role in making them a success.
“We organize elections that install the country’s government, following people’s will,” he noted.
He gives as example of the local leaders elections, the presidential elections which were held in September 2017 and the recent parliamentary elections which, he says, were peaceful and brought about changes in the nation’s governance.
The leadership for people
NEC says that the civil education lessons it provides to the population empowers them to chose a leader who will craft initiatives for community and national development.
The CEO of Rwanda Governance Board, Prof. Anastase Shyaka says 24 years after the 1994 genocide against Tutsi, Rwandans have done a lot showing that there is democracy in the country.
For instance, he says, the leadership put in place by the population through elections works to improve their social welfare by identifying solutions to their problems.
“We have democracy that results in improved social welfare, security, harmony and accepting political diversity,” he says.
Prof Shyaka further says there is still a long way to go because no country attains complete democracy.
“We will keep building relationships between institutions and partners to enhance good governance, which respects democratic principles in Rwanda,’’ he says.
RGB says that its partners include government institutions, civil society, the media and the United Nations for Development Programmes,UNDP,which help to build firm organs.
Rwanda’s Choice of Democracy
Prof. Shyaka says that Rwanda chose to build everything basing on the citizen. All local programmes are tailored to meet citizens’ needs and interests.
He explains that, “We employ governance methods that meet our interests. This will be a culture our descendants and generations to come will follow. They have to understand what makes our democracy and make it a culture.”
Peacemaker Mbungiramihigo, the Executive Secretary of the Media High Council, says that much attention is put in the media capacity building to facilitate the media meet the population from rural places so as to make their voice heard and get solutions to their concerns.
UNDP Country Representative in Rwanda, Stephen Rodrigues also emphasized on the peaceful and calm parliamentary elections which were held on September 2-4, 2018, saying that they are a pertinent sign which proves that UNDP’s ongoing partnerships with the Rwandan government are paying off.
“We will keep focusing on what we started in the past five years because we achived a lot with the local institutions including the National Electoral Commission. We will keep training volunteers and improve the ICT used by NEC,” he says.
Official numbers by NEC indicate there are more than 75,000 elections volunteers in Rwanda, who, according to NEC, are the source of the calm and peaceful elections in Rwanda and make the election processes as fast as possible.
“We will focus on the least priviledged groups of population like people with disabilities, women for their inclusion,” added Stephen Rodrigues.
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