FDU INKINGI cannot join coalition government amid closed political space
The unregistered political party of detained politician Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza is of the view that the ruling Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) is behind the third term project advanced by its small coalition partner, Ideal Democratic Party – a new position that also add a new dimension onto the third term debate which The Chronicles has been serialising.
The United Democratic Forces (FDU-Inkingi) says all the ten parties already on the political scene do not have the courage to begin such a project. “They operate under the whims of the RPF (bakorera mukwahwa FPR) which decides for them what they do,” said FDU vice president, Boniface Twagirimana.
Article 101 of the 2003 constitution affirms that “under no circumstances” shall the head of state stay around for more than two-seven year terms. But the Ideal Democratic Party (PDI) leader, and Internal Security Minister, Sheikh Musa Fazil Harelimana strongly believes President Kagame is the best thing that ever happened to Rwanda, and therefore should rule for as long as Rwandans want him.
PDI has written to all parties asking them to look into its proposal to amend article 101 to specifically allow President Kagame to go for another term. For FDU Inkingi: “PDI has no members; it is RPF members who could be advancing that position...”
“PDI...it does not exist...I suppose those are RPF members saying that because they are ashamed to say it under the RPF umbrella. That is a strategy used by rulers who do not want to leave power to portray themselves as though they are not interested,” said Twagirimana. When we put to him that PDI has members and it regularly holds delegates conferences, Twagirimana mockingly laughed off the idea. “PDI...! You must be joking,” he said in the exclusive interview with The Chronicleson December 07.
Troubled from DAY ONE
Before January 16, 2010, FDU Inkingi was only known in Rwanda for its regular appearance on the BBC and VOA’s Kinyarwanda and Kirundi Services as they repeatedly criticised President Kagame’s administration from Europe and North America with all sorts of accusations. On this date, FDU leader Ingabire stepped off the plane at the Kigali International Airport – returning to a country she left about two years prior to the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.
She would go on to make some of the most controversial comments ever uttered on Rwandan soil. First, at the Gisozi Genocide Memorial Centre, she wondered why the Genocide was only attributed to ‘Tutsis’ yet ‘other Rwandans’ were also killed. The following day, she travelled to Southern Rwanda – visiting the grave of ex-Rwandan politician Dominique Mbonyumutwa – considered the architect of the ethnic politics that resulted in the mayhem Rwanda faced in 1994.
On the third day of her arrival, Ingabire travelled north to a prison, where she told the few genocide convicts whom she was allowed to see that she had come to free them from “Kagame’s bondage”. She even claimed the gacaca courts were targeting a specific group of people.
In June of the same year, prosecution swung into action – charging her with terrorism, genocide ideology and ethnic divisionism, among many other charges. Perhaps the most serious charge is an alleged plot to overthrow government using a little-know rebel force the Coalition of Defences Forces (CDF). The case has been in-and-out of court ever since.
The marathon trial reopened on Tuesday December 13 – with the defence making final submissions. However, on December 16, the High Court declined a new bail motion submitted by Ingabire’s Defence counsel Gatera two days earlier. The same day, the trial was adjourned January 16, 2012.
Meanwhile, The Chronicles has also established that on Thursday evening last week, Dutch envoy to Kigali, Frank Makken, visited Ingabire in prison.
‘RPF fears FDU Inkingi’
But before the court cases began, Ingabire unsuccessfully tried to register FDU Inkingi with the Ministry of Local Government (MINALOC) as required by law to be authorised to operate in Rwanda as a political party. Twice, Nyarugenge District thwarted the group’s efforts to hold public meetings on the grounds that Ingabire had legal hurdles she need to be rectify before meeting Rwandans.
Since the group failed to have its nomination signatures notified by local authorities, FDU essentially had no dossier to submit to MINALOC. In the interview with The Chronicles, FDU deputy leader Twagirimana says it is the RPF and specifically President Kagame who does not want the FDU to be registered because it would challenge his authority.
“FDU has the good will of the people,” he said. “For the RPF to refuse the registration of a party that is not under its control means it does not trust itself...because it knows people would leave it for the new stronger opposition party.” At this point we put it to him that it is not the RPF that registers political parties, but the Ministry of Local Government; to which he responded: “The RPF is in control of everything in Rwanda!”
Kagame will leave lasting legacy if he leaves
As part of the raging post 2017 debate, President Kagame has repeatedly said on different fora that he would not change the constitution. At some point, he narrated how his daughter Ange Kagame was very disappointed that she could not vote for him in the August 2010 elections. Apparently, the family knows it is the last time he would be on the ballot.
In his latest input to the debate, he was quoted in The Chronicles as saying that he was beginning to take issue with people who continue to push him despite making it clear he would not be Rwanda’s president come 2018. For FDU Inkingi, if President Kagame completed his term and handed over, he will have left a lasting legacy which would make it difficult for his successor to tamper with.
“Contributing to the development of your country comes in different forms; our president could be an elder who will give advice to future governments if he respects the constitution which is the will of the people,” said Twagirimana. “But when you believe you can only contribute by being president; that only happens in countries with dictators. We consider that as dictatorship and having an inferiority complex. If you can govern for 17 years and there is no successor, it means you actually did not do anything.”
During the two-hour interview, Twagirimana uses the description “dictatorial government” countless times – referring to the current administration. The other phrases repeatedly used included that: “Rwanda is a republic, not a monarchy”. We also put it to the previously unfamiliar teacher-turned-vocal opposition politician whether FDU would accept to join government if approached. He said that could only happen once the political playing field is levelled.
“Our ideals are not about jobs, but to have an open political platform to all views; having ministers, prime minister and deputies who say nothing on the problems facing the population is useless,” he said. “FDU cannot be party to a system that plasters peoples’ mouths so they do not speak...enticing us with jobs to silence our voices is not possible. NO!”
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