Rwanda: “There is a gap in engaging public in politics”-DGPR secretariat
Democratic Green Party of Rwanda (DGPR) says that, due to Rwanda’s history, some people choose not to interfere in political activities because they think that politics is all about treason and fighting.
The party announced as it continues to train special groups, especially youth and women, across the country in order to develop knowledge on how they should conduct themselves in their daily activities but also align them with the political perspectives.
The Secretary General of DGPR, Hon. Ntezimana Jean Claude, MP, says that due to the fact that there are a large number of Rwandans who do not belong to any political party, DGPR has decided to start training activities for young people and women to help them have sufficient knowledge and a good political foundation.
He says: “There are many people due to the history of the country (Rwanda) who do not value politics and ignore the fact that the country is governed by politics. There are a lot of them who wake up and go about their daily businesses, but they don’t value political things to the extent that they don’t want to join political parties.”
“So, what we teach them is to show them the benefits of participating in a political movement/party so that they know for sure that the leading ideas in the country include their own and when they have any issues or challenges, they can find a channel (through the party) to help them in advocacy.” Hon. Ntezimana said.
Among the other main objectives of such trainings is to encourage young people, who are still afraid to enter politics thinking they can’t do it yet they are the ones who will be leading in the future, and we share with them the journey this party has gone through to reach the level where today it has seats in the Parliament of Rwanda.
“It’s been 13 years since we started this party. So, it is easy to show them that in 13, 15 or 20 years to come, they may be among the top leaders of the country, they may also be contributing to the local government’s entities as governors and mayors but they cannot know it without participating in meetings and training like these.”
Young people, who were trained and decided to join the Green Party movement, attest that joining this party will bring them various benefits, including getting advocacy on their problems, and stressing that it helps a person to get out of isolation and be able to find a political platform where they can express their views.
Uwineza Florence, a university graduate, says “There is a lot of advocacies that this party can do for us and we can benefit from it, for example, we often go to apply for jobs and they ask us for experience, and you cannot get experience until you are employed”
“In fact, I found that the Green Party has a clear vision, and what they are doing, I felt that I could do it so I decided to join them to continue the journey of developing our country.”
Established on 14th August 2009, DGPR, as stated on their website, has a mission to bring about all necessary political and socio-economical changes in Rwanda in the areas of democracy, rule of law, constitutional governance, fair distribution of national resources, the protection of environment, and generally striving for national sustainable political and social economic development that is inclusive, free and fair.
