Scenes from a deeply civilised Rwandan opposition congress

mchambawima1 · 2015-06-06T04:13:21+00:00

On May 23 and 24, the Social Democratic Party (PSD) of Rwanda, the country's second largest political party after the ruling Rwanda Patriotic Front, held its fifth congress. Of the many items on the agenda, two stood out: The party was going to elect new leaders to see it through the next five years; and also decide whether to support a proposal by individual Rwandans and interest groups to hold a referendum on removing presidential term limits from the Constitution. The elections were going to be significant. There are no term limits for PSD leaders. As one would expect of any political party worth its salt, the incumbents whose positions were up for grabs were no small fry. They are members of the country's urban political and socio-economic elite. A visual scan of reportedly 800 generally cheerful delegates who attended suggested they led an organisation whose members are predominantly rural folk (baturage) of modest means. There was, therefore, good reason to wonder what would happen. How many leaders would seek to retain their positions, and would the baturage re-elect them? Given that they could stay on for as long as they wanted provided they were re-elected, how many would opt to stay on, and how many would step down voluntarily? And what would the campaigns and the actual elections be like? The more compelling reason for me to attend, however, was to witness the way the party would handle the issue of whether to support calls for a referendum on presidential term limits. What would the leaders tell the party faithful? Who, if at all, would oppose the referendum? Who would support it? How would the matter be resolved? The leadership campaigns and the elections dominated the first day of the congress. In Uganda, for example, intra-party electoral processes, not unlike national ones, are highly charged and closely contested. They are emotional affairs that easily degenerate into mudslinging and physical confrontations, leading to internal schisms that often take years to heal, if at all. Incumbents who face no term limits but spend much time agitating for term limits for the national presidency, fight tooth and nail to cling on. It was therefore striking to learn that all the PSD's incumbents, save for the party president, were stepping down to make way for new leaders, and that almost all candidates for the vacant posts were unopposed. Delegates were then handed ballots wherever they were seated. The party president, Dr Vincent Biruta, currently Minister of Natural Resources in Rwanda's multiparty government, walked off with 98.7 per cent of the vote. The first vice-president, a bureaucrat at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and until recently Rwanda's deputy permanent representative to the UN, the youthful Olivier Nduhungirehe, took 96.1 per cent. The other candidates won similarly resounding endorsements amid deafening cheers. And then came the issue of the referendum on day two. For some reason it was the last item on the agenda. The party leadership took time to explain what the issues were, and what was at stake, emphasising the importance of looking at lifting term limits regardless of who would stand for or win the presidency. Perhaps most significant in the party president's remarks was his appeal to the delegates to put the country first, the party second, and the self last in considering how to vote. When the floor was opened for debate, such was the passion with which those for and against put their views, and with which delegates cheered them, that soon enough it looked as if it might spoil the hitherto good-natured proceedings. And so the leadership quickly put the matter to a vote by show of hands, with the pro-referendum side carrying the day by a clear majority. And so ended the congress, with a few supporters of the losing side lamenting their comrades' decision. And with this decision, the PSD joined the Liberal Party, the third largest political party, whose leadership had, a day earlier, resolved to support calls for a referendum by the party's membership. There were also other important aspects of the PSD's congress that media reports have largely disregarded. In attendance prior to the official opening were representatives of several of the country's other political parties including the overwhelmingly powerful Rwanda Patriotic Front, the key architect of its current political system. Collectively, they were also representing the National Forum of Political Organisations. The Forum's spokesperson made the opening remarks and wished the PSD fruitful deliberations, highlighting an important aspect of Rwanda's "politics of consensus" that is largely ignored by commentators. Remarkably, throughout the two days there was not a single uniformed police or army officer anywhere within the vicinity of the venue. As for bodyguards for senior PSD officials serving in the government, including Rwanda's Prime Minister Anastase Murekezi, a casual observer would have been forgiven for imagining they had gone on holiday. This in a country some experts present as, and want others to believe is, "sitting on a time bomb of ethnic polarisation." Frederick Golooba-Mutebi is a Kampala- and Kigali-based researcher and writer on politics and public affairs. E-mail: fgmutebi@yahoo.com

Thread starter mchambawima1
Start date Jun 6, 2015

mchambawima1

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Scenes from a deeply civilised Rwandan opposition congress

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