Legislator Juvenal Nkusi
The public will miss interventions and challenging arguments of MP Nkusi Juvénal who has been among the flag bearers of the Rwanda Socialist Party (PSD) at Rwanda parliament for about 24 years.
Socialist Party (PSD) an opposition political party on July 8 released a list of 80 parliamentary candidates.
Juvénal Nkusi, the current president of Parliamentary Account Committee (PAC) which is known for grilling officials misusing public funds and three other MPs do not feature on the list of the 80 candidates.
“Honorable Nkusi and Adolphe Bazatoha did not feature on the list. They did not seek reelection in our primaries because they want to allow the youth to also serve as parliamentarians,” said Jean Chrysostom Ngabitsinze, the Secretary General of PSD.
“We thank them for this mindset. They served the country and represented us as party and Rwandans unreservedly and we really thank them for that.”
Ngabitsinze however said, they still have energy to serve in other capacities where the party would want them to.
Other MPs that do not feature on PSD list are Jacqueline Mukakanyamugenge and Theodomir Niyonsenga.
However, Vénéranda Nyirahirwa, Georgette Rutayisire and Jean Pierre Hindura were reelected to represent their party in the next parliament.
In 2013, PSD had won seven seats at the lower chamber.
Ngabitsinze said, he cannot express any expectations, but added, “We are working on the manifesto that we shall present to the voters. Basically, we look at areas that need improvement-that’s what we shall present to the voters.”
While PSD released their list of candidates, the Liberal Party (PL), the third biggest party in terms of seats in parliament (5) told the media that the list of their candidates will be released any time this week.
Meanwhile, there is only one independent candidate who expressed his intention to run for the September parliamentary elections.
Philippe Mpayimana who was a presidential candidate in 2017 polls said he will find out whether voters would entrust him with a seat in parliament.
According to Rwanda’s electoral code, an independent candidate gets a seat in parliament if they raise at least 5% of the votes.
Clovis Ganza, an independent parliamentary candidate in 2013 told KT Press that running in parliamentary elections as an independent is not easy.
“It requires a lot of money to carry out the campaigns. You fund the campaigns a hundred percent which is an uphill task when you don’t have enough financing,” said Ganza.
