Fifteen years after the genocide that devastated Rwanda, the country is still dealing with its lasting impact on politics and governance. Rwandans are looking to their government to deal with issues such as poverty and regional integration, and they are hoping for responsiveness from politicians and political parties. With presidential elections approaching, we sat down with Gaston Aín, NDI’s former country director in Rwanda, to learn more about the political landscape, the role of young people and NDI’s work with political parties.

How does the 1994 genocide continue to influence life in the country?

Rwandans have made a lot of progress on the political front, on the economic front and on the front of reconciliation and national unity. The government conducts a survey once a year to reflect on social conditions. When you look at the results of these surveys you see that the level of trust among Rwandans has grown a lot. In the aftermath of the genocide only 7 percent of Rwandans said they trusted their neighbor; now it’s closer to 50 percent.

The government is trying to create a system centered on the Rwandan citizen regardless of religion, geographic origin and ethnic group. So the country held a commemoration of the genocide in April and we saw an amazing demonstration of people participating – soccer stadiums filled with people, peace walks from one place to another and memorials. The population seems to not want the genocide to repeat.

You work a lot with political parties in Rwanda. How does that help with the reconciliation process?

If you asked me to summarize in a single sentence what we are trying to do in Rwanda, we are trying to help Rwandese people develop the tools to compete for power in a peaceful way.

In a recent survey, 51 percent of Rwandans said they considered a multiparty system to be a necessary feature for Rwanda. That means that half the population considers that parties are not necessary.

We have to bear in mind that in 1994, parties were used as instruments of violence. Because of what happened in 1994 and how parties were used to instill hatred, people do not trust them. We are trying to reverse that idea because political parties are a great avenue for participation and for joining with people who have similar beliefs. So far we have been successful in building up a solid partnership among the 10 registered political parties of Rwanda.

In most cases, we had to start with trainings on the functions of a political party in a democracy – how a political party becomes an avenue to aggregate interests, to unify visions, to compete for power, to train members for government. We also train on how to recruit, because in the past parties would recruit to feed ethnic hatred. Now the idea is, “I’m trying to invite you to come with me to propose a better policy on housing or education or security.” This is a huge change of culture and change of mind. We’ve trained 1,000 leaders from the 10 registered political parties.

How does the youth academy fit into this on going process?

Fifty percent of the Rwandan population is under 25. What happens in Rwanda, but also around the world, is that parties call on young people to do campaigning, but when it comes time to run the country, they are not invited to sit at the table. In a way, they are used as cheap labor. In a country like Rwanda, where young people are so much of the electorate, they need a stronger voice in political parties.

So we decided to offer training to 40 aspiring politicians under the age of 30. Each party identified four candidates, two women and two men, each with a bachelor’s degree and good knowledge of French and English. We then got what we considered to be the best scholars in different disciplines and we organized a youth academy. The courses lasted for three months and totaled 75 hours of theoretical and practical knowledge.

We covered topics such as good governance and political parties, how to pursue a political career, negotiation, ethical leadership, basic ideologies. For example, we had Patrick Mazimhaka, the only Rwandan to have been vice chairman of the African Union, teaching negotiation and conflict resolution. He had just gotten back from Sudan, where he was doing a review of the comprehensive peace agreement, and he used that experience as his lesson plan. He split the class into groups. There was a guerrilla movement, the government, a semi-autonomous region. They were negotiating independence, security, language, cultural issues, tax issues and tax collection. It was interesting and it was a competition; the team that got the best deal would win.

Now the four best performing students are going on a study trip to Ghana to exchange experiences with the Ghanaian youth and the Ghanaian members of congress. Ghana is recognized as a country that has competitive politics and we thought it would be a good opportunity for students to see how a full-fledged democracy works, a system where power alternates peacefully.

Are you seeing any effects of the political party strengthening work in the upcoming campaign?

Rwandans have made a clear decision in favor of practicing consensual politics, meaning that if you go to Rwanda, you’re going to see that political parties try not to have contradictory visions over issues of national interest, or in a political speech you’re not going to see two guys shouting at each other over the same issue. They are all part of a government of national unity, meaning that you have a major political force, the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), but many other parties also have ministers in the government. That makes it very hard for most parties to criticize the current government because they are a part of it. They have to find a way to differentiate themselves from the government.

In these upcoming elections there will be four or five candidates for president. President Kagame is going to run again under the RPF banner and the Liberals and Social Democrats are going to put forward their own candidates.

We have worked with the parties to create issue-based platforms that would differentiate each party, but they’ve also all agreed to a basic plan called Rwanda’sVision 2010. It’s focused on turning Rwanda into a high-tech, highly-developed country with an emphasis on infrastructure and human resources. After such a tragedy, it’s really nice to see a nation come together and create a unified mission of what the country should be.

With a political parties strengthening project, you’re not going to see the results right away. You have to be patient. The country had 30 years of single-party rule, so you cannot expect to have fully competitive politics in just 10 years.

Pictured Above: Gaston Aín, NDI’s country director in Rwanda from October 2008 until July 2010

Published August 3, 2010