Credible poll in Rwanda under threat
Opponents are being ‘disappeared’
A RUN-UP characterised by a crackdown on government critics and independent media as well as controversial constitutional amendments has cast doubts on Rwanda holding credible elections in August.
The landlocked East African nation of more than 12 million 37% – of whom live in extreme poverty
is preparing for what would be – the third multiparty polls following previous exercises in 2003 and 2010.
Incumbent Paul Kagame of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), who has secured landslide victories in previous polls, is set to come up against independent candidate, Phillipe Mpayimana, 46, a former journalist, author and humanitarian worker who has lived outside Rwanda since 1994.
Kagame, 59, in power since 2000 when Pasteur Bizimungu resigned, was initially ineligible for a third term but MPs were whipped into line to enable him extend his reign, culminating in a referendum in 2015.
At least 6.9 million people are expected to participate in the upcoming poll.
It remains unclear whether opposition parties including Social Democratic Party, Liberal (PL), Central Democratic Party, People’s Democratic Pact-Imanzi, Ideal Democratic Party, Socialist Party of Rwanda and Democratic Union of the Rwandese People will field candidates.
It is considered unlikely in the wake of what critics and opposition allege are ploys by the government to tilt the scales in Kagame’s favour.
There are widespread allegations of opposition activists and human rights campaigners disappearing while independent journalists have been threatened.
In February, police arrested Violette Uwamahoro, wife of exiled opposition activist, Faustin Rukundo, for allegedly “attempting to overthrow a democratically elected government”.
The Rwanda National Police, accused of favouring the ruling party, arrested Uwamahoro upon her return to Rwanda to attend her father’s funeral.
Uwamahoro, whose husband is aligned to the Rwanda National Congress which operates in exile, is accused of planning to recruit a network of criminals aimed at destabilising the country.
“I strongly believe the imminent elections will not be free and fair considering the level of intimidation, illegal detention of opposition activists as well as censorship of the media deemed to be anti-government always speak volumes of gross human rights violations,” activist Claudia Makuza said.
“The reason the majority are scared of opposing the incumbent is because of the use of state security apparatus in intimidating those divergent views while some citizens just disappear without trace.”
A Rwandan opposition activist living in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haruna Bayisenge, said the arrest of Uwamahoro was an indirect assault on the opposition.
“Her arrest immediately upon her return shows the Kagame regime does not want criticism or fair elections,” said Basiyenge.
Human Rights Watch also criticised the government of violating rights, especially in the run-up to the polls.
The rights group’s regional director, Ida Sawyer, said it had documented a pattern of incommunicado detention in Rwanda in recent years, often of individuals suspected of links with government opponents.
“Several individuals have been forcibly disappeared, which occurs when the authorities deny having a person in custody or refuse to disclose their whereabouts,” Sawyer said.
Police have, however, denied partisanship and persecuting Kagame’s adversaries, arguing they were merely performing their duties and ensuring safety and security.
They denied violating the rights of Uwamahoro despite her being initially held incommunicado.
“Violette Uwamahoro was apprehended based on a tip-off that she is involved in criminal dealings constituting serious crimes, including attempts to recruit people into a criminal network.”
Kagame, a veteran military leader born from the Tutsi tribe, won 97.5% of the vote in 2010 and 96.6% in 2003.
Rwanda’s political terrain is littered with bloodshed and controversy.
In 2013, the PDP-Imanzi cancelled its congress arguing it was unethical to go ahead while its president, Deo Mushayidi, was in jail.
In 2014 former Rwanda chief of external intelligence, Colonel Patrick Karegeya, a critic of Kagame, was murdered under mysterious circumstances in his suite at a plush hotel in Joburg.
Another member of the opposition, a former Rwandan army general, Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa, survived an assassination attempt when he was shot in the stomach in Joburg during the run-up to Rwanda’s second democratic elections in 2010. He had earlier fled Rwanda after falling out with Kagame.
Also in 2010, vice-president of the opposition Democratic Green Party of Rwanda, Andre Kagwa Rwisereka, was killed by unidentified men widely believed to be state security operatives.
Following the incidents, Rwandans mostly living in exile accused Kagame’s regime of seeking to silence critics.
The government, which has been in power since 1994 after RPF’s armed wing ended a genocide in which as many as 800 000 people were killed in 1994, has denied the charges.