EDITORIAL: President for life loading

On Monday, Rwandans will go to the polls to elect MPs and a president. Like previous elections in the past three decades, Monday’s vote is expected to be won by Paul Kagame and his Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF), positioning him as the country’s president for life.

It is good that Rwanda, which emerged from a painful genocide in 1994, should hold regular elections in a continent where coups are part of politics.

Also, Kagame, who led the RPF against the Hutu majority to stop the genocide, should be applauded for his role in bringing peace, reconciliation and prosperity to his country. At 7% annual growth before 2022, Rwanda’s economy is one of the fastest-growing countries in Africa.

The business climate is one of the most favourable on the continent. There is minimal red tape for economic operators. And the government lets business people get on with their business as long as they stay away from politics.

However, Rwanda is an imperfect democracy. The stability, thanks to Kagame’s iron-fist rule, has been marred by deterioration of civil freedoms. His opponents are routinely roughed up through imprisonment and have been disqualified for standing against him.

In Monday’s election, another one he is expected to win by a landslide, he faces only two opponents: Frank Habineza of the opposition Democratic Green Party of Rwanda and independent candidate Philippe Mpayimana. The country’s election commission has disqualified Diane Rwigara again.

Mpayimana and Habineza contested Kagame, a Tutsi, in 2017, and lost dismally in what has become a sham exercise. Kagame’s long-standing political rivals and former allies are in exile. Fortunately, killings have become infrequent of late.

The campaign period is short, favouring the well-resourced RPF and its president. More concerning are the seven-year presidential terms, which disadvantage Kagame’s opponents.

Unfortunately, observer missions have endorsed a clearly skewed elections process.

As well as repressing political opponents, Kagame’s octopus-like grip on power has been enabled by external factors. The international community, which watched as Hutus brutally killed nearly a million Tutsis and Hutu moderates in 1994, has mollycoddled him through aid.

As in his country, Kagame commands fear among his African counterparts. This allows him to get away with most things. For example, in the past few years he has contributed to destabilising neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). His government supports — through arms and troops — the M23 rebels fighting the DRC government with scant support from countries like SA and Tanzania.

This week, SA received another body bag from the DRC after one of its troops was killed in a bomb attack by the rebels, who are well equipped and have superior air artillery.

Kagame justifies his support for the rebels as a security measure aimed at stopping the conflict in the DRC from spilling over into his country. This is true, but overstated. In effect, Kigali is at war with its own neighbours. Worse, as it did in 1994, the world is indifferent to the deteriorating political environment. It has hardly rebuked him. This is a real shame.

This newspaper will not be voting in Monday’s election. However, we have strong views about the quality of Rwanda’s democracy. We urge democracy-orientated Rwandans to ensure an accountable administration and legislature is elected.