PSD members campaigned in Bugesera on Day 1.
The Social Democratic Party (PSD), one of the political parties vying for Parliamentary seats in the forthcoming general elections scheduled for July, has promised voters that it will push for tax reforms, including reducing Value Added Tax (VAT), from the current 18 percent to 14 percent, to ease pressure on businesses.
On the first day of campaigns, the country’s second largest party kicked off its parliamentary campaigns in the Eastern Province district of Bugesera, with the PSD vice president Valens Muhakwa, leading a delegation of officials to share their manifesto with residents of Bugesera.
Muhakwa told the rally that PSD decided to back the incumbent President Paul Kagame, to ensure continuity through consensus but the party is looking to make its contribution through Parliament, which is why they set out to lure voters so that they can have the numbers in the house.
PSD is eyeing more seats in Parliament.
He thanked the activists of the PSD Party who gave them confidence in the last parliamentary elections in 2018, and that they achieved all their commitment to advocacy, in cooperation with other political parties they met in the Parliament.
The PSD party has 59 parliamentary candidates approved by the National Electoral Commission, who are allowed to run for Parliament. The more votes they gain, the higher the chances to have more seats in Parliament.
Muhakwa said that the party will ensure that there is no tax burden on citizens because when taxes are high, compliance is low.
“The higher the tax, the more those who pay it avoid it, but when it is low, those who pay are happy and compliant in terms of meeting their tax obligations,” he said.
Senior PSD member, Senator Juvenal Nkusi, who was among the party heads who showed up in Bugesera to woo voters, told a sizeable crowd that Rwanda has the highest VAT in the East African Community (EAC), which puts the country at a disadvantage in terms of trade competition and puts the burden on traders.
PSD members were draped in party colours.
PSD officials told residents of Nyamata that they will table a motion to reduce the tax to spur economic growth. Among other things, Nkusi said that PSD will push for the prosperity of all Rwandans to create a wealthy nation.
The political party, which often gets the second highest number of seats after the ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF-Inkotanyi), promised to make reforms in agriculture to ensure that the farmer benefits more from their produce instead of businessmen and middlemen, if elected to Parliament.
That would be achieved through modernizing agriculture to create a profitable value chain, starting right from the farmer. PSD said it would also strive for the establishment of a financial institution that would guarantee the activities of crop and livestock farmers, at the same time providing loans at very low interest.
In regard to infrastructure, PSD promised residents of Bugesera and Eastern Province that it would work toward improving public transport to make it more efficient and affordable for ordinary citizens.
In its manifesto, PSD said it would work towards building highways connecting regions, sectors and cells, and ensure the implementation of railway projects.
PSD backed President Kagame in the Presidential polls but it is competing for seats in Parliament.
Senator Uwera Pelagie, one of the senior party members, said that they will make reforms in the justice system to ensure that the backlog of cases is cleared and that cases are tried and closed in a timely manner.
She further said that the party would also advocated for the compensation of survivors the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi for their properties which were damaged during the Genocide.
Fellow Senator Gallican Niyongana told the crowd that one of the objectives of the PSD Party is to fight for the welfare of all people and that if given an opportunity to go to Parliament, they will continue to make their contribution for the betterment of everyone.
“As a party, it is our tagline and it is in our party name, PSD. It is all about the social wellbeing of the population and that is what we stand for,” Niyongana told the residents of Bugesera.
