Mystery
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Rwanda opposition in uphill battle against powerful Kagame
Rwanda opposition in uphill battle against powerful Kagame
- Thread starter BAK
- Start date
Benjamini Netanyahu
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- Aug 7, 2014
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Kuuza sura
Ni dikteta kamili mkuu, halina mashaka hiliRwanda opposition in uphill battle against powerful Kagame
Friday July 14 2017
From left, Rwandan presidential aspirants Philippe Mpayimana, Paul Kagame (centre) and Frank Habineza. PHOTOS | FILE | NMG
In Summary
- Opposition presidential aspirants Frank Habineza and Philippe Mpayimana allowed to run for presidency
- Only three weeks remain before elections for the contenders to drum up support, the two men face a seemingly insurmountable task in challenging the all-powerful President Paul Kagame
- Political analyst Christopher Kayumba predicts the opposition will be beaten hands down
By AFP
On the impeccably clean streets of Rwanda's capital, where a skyline of gleaming new buildings pokes through undulating hills, few have heard of opposition presidential aspirants Frank Habineza and Philippe Mpayimana.
They were only confirmed as candidates and allowed to begin fundraising a week before Friday's campaign start for August 4 presidential polls.
With little money, and only three weeks to drum up support, the two men face a seemingly insurmountable task in challenging the all-powerful President Paul Kagame, who is expected to easily win a third term in office.
"We as the population have lived a long time with our president (Kagame). We only know what he has done, we don't care about the other candidates," says One Love Nkundimana, a street porter.
Kagame and his ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front have held an iron grip on power since overthrowing the extremist Hutu regime, which perpetrated the 1994 genocide of 800,000 mainly Tutsis.
Credited for bringing order, infrastructure and stability to the shattered nation, rights groups say Kagame's regime rules through fear with systematic repression of the opposition, free speech and the media.
"We know many people are tired of the same government for 23 years but they don't say it because there has been a climate of fear," Habineza, 40, told AFP.
A dangerous journey
In his starkly decorated office in the capital, Habineza is still absorbing the fact that he is finally on the ballot paper eight years since he began the struggle to register his Democratic Green Party.
"It has been a very difficult journey and also a very dangerous journey," he told AFP.
Mr Habineza describes political meetings violently broken up, supporters imprisoned or forced to flee into exile, and his own departure to Sweden after his deputy was found decapitated shortly before the last election in 2010.
Habineza finally managed to register his party in 2013 after returning to the country, and was the lone voice against a 2015 constitutional reform that cleared the way for Kagame to run again.
His dissent is not without consequence: in the run-up to this election he was evicted from his former office, and both he and his deputy were evicted from their homes without warning.
"People should stop thinking it is only the ruling party that has the right to do what it wants... we need to feel free, to express ourselves without fear that you will be evicted from your house or lose your job."
Opposition a facade
In a Kigali garden, the other opposition candidate, Mpayimana, appears somewhat dazed to be in the race at all as he sits around a table strategising and sipping beer with a small team of advisors.
He was the only one of four independent hopefuls to be allowed to run and is worried that there hasn't even been time to print or put up campaign posters.
"I have only one week to raise awareness among people to support me financially," said the 47-year-old former journalist who spent 18 years in exile in the Democratic Republic of Congo and France, before returning to Rwanda in February to run as an independent.
He is careful not to criticise Kagame but says he would like to "change the mentality of my country to go with the notion of democracy".
Kagame won 2003 and 2010 elections with more than 90 percent of the vote.
Outspoken local journalist Robert Mugabe is one of several observers who see the opposition candidates as a front to appease Western donors and give the impression that democracy is alive and well in Rwanda.
"The real opposition, the people with the real voices cannot be around," he said, referring to those who have been jailed or forced into exile.
Awe of Kagame
Political analyst Christopher Kayumba said Kagame remains popular with Rwandans, who see him as a guarantor of their stability after his military victory brought an end to the genocide.
The ruling RPF also holds overwhelming economic power, with its investment arm Crystal Ventures the biggest private employer in the country, and is omnipresent in daily life.
"Security remains critically important because today we still have people who lived their entire life in war. We only recently had a sustained period of peace," he told AFP.
"There is no way you can compare the stature of president Kagame, the resources of the RPF, with the Green Party. The opposition will be beaten hands down. There is no question about that."
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GENTAMYCINE
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- Jul 13, 2013
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Nadhani Wewe na hao ' Wachambuzi ' wako ' maandazi ' mnatakiwa mkapimwe haraka ' akili ' zenu kwani yawezekana kuna ' Nyaya ' fulani ziko loose. Hivi Rais Kagame siku za Kupiga ' Kura ' huwa anawashika ' mikono ' Wanyarwanda wote wakiwa ' mstarini ' ili wampigie Yeye? Hivi nyie ' Waswahili ' baadhi na ' Watanzania ' wachache msiojielewa Rais Paul Kagame na Rwanda yetu vimewakoseeni nini? Kwanini mnatufuata fuata hivi? Kuna chochote ambacho labda mnamdai Kagame au nchi ya Rwanda? Hivi Tanzania yenu huko ' matatizo ' yale ' lukuki ' yale yameisha? Hivi Wewe unajua maana ya neno Dikteta? Kwahiyo Wewe una ' akili ' sana kuliko Sisi ' Wanyarwanda ' takribani Milioni 12 ambao tunampenda, tunamkubali na tunataka Rais wetu ' Kipenzi ' Paul Kagame aendelee Uongozini?
Endeleeni tu ' Kuichokonoa ' na ' Kuichokoza ' Rwanda kwani mtakipata mnachokitaka. Umeshaiharibu ' asubuhi ' yangu hii.
Endeleeni tu ' Kuichokonoa ' na ' Kuichokoza ' Rwanda kwani mtakipata mnachokitaka. Umeshaiharibu ' asubuhi ' yangu hii.
Madikteta yote duniani yanakuja na gia za kujifanya yana uchungu na raslimali za nchi kwa sababu wanafahamu maju'ha yatawaamini!!! Kinyume chake, ni hao hao ndio hatimae wanakuja kugundulika walijilimbikizia ukwasi wa kutisha wakati wakiwa madarakani... ukwasi ambao ushindwa kuonekana wakati wapo madarakani kutokana na staili yao ya kuminya uhuru wa maoni!!!!
Btw, hivi mtu huwezi kuwa na uchungu na raslimali za nchi hadi uwe dikteta?! Akili za wapi hizo?!
Very fun! Madikteta yote duniani ndivyo yanavyosema! Hata Dikteta PK nalo lilisema wananchi ndie wametaka agombee mara ya tatu!! Hata huyu nae ndivyo atakavyosema kwamba wananchi wametaka aendelee kuongoza... no wonder hata miaka miwili hajamaliza unakuta makinikia yakiandamana eti aongozewe muda! Ni akili za wapi hizi....!! Hapo ndipo wenye akili zao huwa wanajiuliza hawa watu walikutana kutana vipi hadi wakawa na uwezo la pamoja kwamba waandamane kwa sababu ile ile kama sio kuna makuwadi wanaowatuma waandamane!!!
Konda wa bodaboda
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- Jul 18, 2014
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Rwanda ina maendeleo gani? wanyarwanda wana maisha magumu kama warundi na waganda.
Erythrocyte
JF-Expert Member
- Nov 6, 2012
- 143,055
- 288,538
Kwa mfano , NI KIFUNGU GANI NDANI YA HIYO KATIBA YA 1977 KINACHOMRUHUSU MAGUFULI KUZUIA SHUGHULI ZA VYAMA VYA SIASA .
Vipi mkuu,? Unajua humu ndio kwa kupumulia usishangae watu wakitoa stress zao hata kwa matukano na vilio. Halafu hawana kibali cha kuzungumza kwa niaba yetu sote maana hatuwajui.
Erythrocyte
JF-Expert Member
- Nov 6, 2012
- 143,055
- 288,538
Wakati wa uchaguzi mkuu wa 2015 , Nape alikuwa na maneno machafu kuliko wewe , lakini alionyeshwa Bastola hadharani .
Sasa zamu yako ikifika hatutaki kusikia mayowe , Anayekula nyama ya mtu hawezi kuacha - Nyerere .
tramadol
JF-Expert Member
- Oct 10, 2015
- 5,383
- 4,323
Yeye anasema hajazuia shughuli za vyama vya Sasa.Ila anasema uchaguzi umeisha tufanye kazi.muda ukifika wa uchaguzi then tujiandae na uchaguzi.
Wanasiasa wote wafanye kazi zao za siasa kwa kufuata taratibu zilizowekwa
baz kaiza
JF-Expert Member
- Jan 27, 2015
- 14,951
- 18,598
True nakumbuka hata yule wa Libya Na Misri nouma sana wanajilimbizia Mali atari huku wakijifanya wazalendo
Erythrocyte
JF-Expert Member
- Nov 6, 2012
- 143,055
- 288,538
Labda kwa faida zaidi , Uhai wa Paul Kagame unategemea urais alionao tu , nje ya uongozi hana maisha hata ya wiki 1 , unyama alioutenda kagame nchini Rwanda hausamehewi hata na Shetani .
Erythrocyte
JF-Expert Member
- Nov 6, 2012
- 143,055
- 288,538
Hiyo kauli yake ameiokota kifungu gani cha katiba ya Tanzania ? Halafu tangu avunje katiba ya nchi kwa amri hiyo ya kibabe ni maendeleo yapi unayoweza kutuonyesha hapa jf yamepatikana ? Kingine unachotakiwa kujua ni kwamba , hakuna utaratibu mwingine wa kufanya siasa za Tanzania nje ya yaliyowekwa ndani ya Katiba ya nchi , hakuna !
mamba1
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- Jun 24, 2015
- 466
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Nyie jikombeni tuu mpaka yawakute ya dialo ndo mtapata akili.
124 Ali
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- Apr 25, 2010
- 7,812
- 5,526
Kiukweli watanzania tuna fujo tafakuri !
Hatujui kutofautisha rais dictator na rais mkali asiyetaka ujinga ujinga !
Hatujui tofauti ya rais mtaratibu ,mwenye hekima na rais lege lege na dhaifu.
Tanzania hatujawahinkuwa na dictator wala rais dhaifu legelege bali marais wakali -magufuli wakali na wenye hekima -nyerere ,wataratibu wenye hekima mwinyi ,kikwete !
Nadhani wana hamu ya Dictator sasa!
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Ndumbayeye
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- Jan 31, 2009
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- 4,034
BRUCE LEE
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- Dec 11, 2010
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acha uongo wa mchana kweupeeee, unajidanganya mwenyewe
Wakudadavuwa
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- Feb 17, 2016
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Lowassa keshatangazia nia huko Kenya.Rwanda opposition in uphill battle against powerful Kagame
Friday July 14 2017
From left, Rwandan presidential aspirants Philippe Mpayimana, Paul Kagame (centre) and Frank Habineza. PHOTOS | FILE | NMG
In Summary
- Opposition presidential aspirants Frank Habineza and Philippe Mpayimana allowed to run for presidency
- Only three weeks remain before elections for the contenders to drum up support, the two men face a seemingly insurmountable task in challenging the all-powerful President Paul Kagame
- Political analyst Christopher Kayumba predicts the opposition will be beaten hands down
By AFP
On the impeccably clean streets of Rwanda's capital, where a skyline of gleaming new buildings pokes through undulating hills, few have heard of opposition presidential aspirants Frank Habineza and Philippe Mpayimana.
They were only confirmed as candidates and allowed to begin fundraising a week before Friday's campaign start for August 4 presidential polls.
With little money, and only three weeks to drum up support, the two men face a seemingly insurmountable task in challenging the all-powerful President Paul Kagame, who is expected to easily win a third term in office.
"We as the population have lived a long time with our president (Kagame). We only know what he has done, we don't care about the other candidates," says One Love Nkundimana, a street porter.
Kagame and his ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front have held an iron grip on power since overthrowing the extremist Hutu regime, which perpetrated the 1994 genocide of 800,000 mainly Tutsis.
Credited for bringing order, infrastructure and stability to the shattered nation, rights groups say Kagame's regime rules through fear with systematic repression of the opposition, free speech and the media.
"We know many people are tired of the same government for 23 years but they don't say it because there has been a climate of fear," Habineza, 40, told AFP.
A dangerous journey
In his starkly decorated office in the capital, Habineza is still absorbing the fact that he is finally on the ballot paper eight years since he began the struggle to register his Democratic Green Party.
"It has been a very difficult journey and also a very dangerous journey," he told AFP.
Mr Habineza describes political meetings violently broken up, supporters imprisoned or forced to flee into exile, and his own departure to Sweden after his deputy was found decapitated shortly before the last election in 2010.
Habineza finally managed to register his party in 2013 after returning to the country, and was the lone voice against a 2015 constitutional reform that cleared the way for Kagame to run again.
His dissent is not without consequence: in the run-up to this election he was evicted from his former office, and both he and his deputy were evicted from their homes without warning.
"People should stop thinking it is only the ruling party that has the right to do what it wants... we need to feel free, to express ourselves without fear that you will be evicted from your house or lose your job."
Opposition a facade
In a Kigali garden, the other opposition candidate, Mpayimana, appears somewhat dazed to be in the race at all as he sits around a table strategising and sipping beer with a small team of advisors.
He was the only one of four independent hopefuls to be allowed to run and is worried that there hasn't even been time to print or put up campaign posters.
"I have only one week to raise awareness among people to support me financially," said the 47-year-old former journalist who spent 18 years in exile in the Democratic Republic of Congo and France, before returning to Rwanda in February to run as an independent.
He is careful not to criticise Kagame but says he would like to "change the mentality of my country to go with the notion of democracy".
Kagame won 2003 and 2010 elections with more than 90 percent of the vote.
Outspoken local journalist Robert Mugabe is one of several observers who see the opposition candidates as a front to appease Western donors and give the impression that democracy is alive and well in Rwanda.
"The real opposition, the people with the real voices cannot be around," he said, referring to those who have been jailed or forced into exile.
Awe of Kagame
Political analyst Christopher Kayumba said Kagame remains popular with Rwandans, who see him as a guarantor of their stability after his military victory brought an end to the genocide.
The ruling RPF also holds overwhelming economic power, with its investment arm Crystal Ventures the biggest private employer in the country, and is omnipresent in daily life.
"Security remains critically important because today we still have people who lived their entire life in war. We only recently had a sustained period of peace," he told AFP.
"There is no way you can compare the stature of president Kagame, the resources of the RPF, with the Green Party. The opposition will be beaten hands down. There is no question about that."
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