The Minister for Justice and Attorney General, Johnston Busingye, has said that security, political and socio-economic dynamics in Africa have a major bearing on the continent’s development trajectory.

He made the remarks Thursday while presiding over the annual symposium on Peace, Security and Justice held at the Rwanda National Police (RNP) General Headquarters in Kacyiru.

Busingye added that if security institutions engage, especially in human security aspect as its base upon which efforts towards development are anchored, the outcome will lead to progress, which is the ultimate objective that countries are struggling for.

The symposium, which is part of the ‘Police Senior Command and Staff Course’ at the National Police College (NPC) based in Musanze District, was held under the theme: "Mainstreaming Human Security in the new Security Landscape: A Holistic Approach to Sustainable Peace and Development.”

It was organized for the sixth intake of the Senior Command Course attended by 28 senior police officers from eight African countries, namely; Ethiopia, Kenya, Namibia, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, and Rwanda, the host.

Busingye said that Africa is not short of strategies, programmes, projects, material and human resources necessary to propel it to the next level.

"Africa is still aid dependent, has some of the worst poverty and illiteracy levels, her infrastructure is vastly undeveloped, intra Africa trade is vastly low, we are not investing in collective and comprehensive security as a prerequisite for collective progress. Africa is still co-existing with some of the worst corruption indices and struggling to overcome reliance on ethnic and tribal identity to thrive in a rapid globalizing world,” he said.

He, however, added that the continental free trade area Africa is now trying to realize, the free movement of persons and the collective security arrangements are part of the human security paradigm of ensuring security, progress and liberation.

The Minister of Defense, Gen. James Kabarebe, who tackled the ‘evolving role of military forces in human security’, said that "Rwanda security forces are umbilically coded in the founding ideology of the Rwanda Patriotic Front and will not deviate from that”.

"Rwanda security organs live with the population…we are all part of the population, we give back to our people and this has tremendously increased the trust that the people have in our security organs. We remain at the frontline of collaborating with other institutions to drive a positive change and protect Rwandans,” Kabarebe said.

The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Emmanuel K. Gasana, who also discussed on ‘people-centered policing and human security - Rwanda National Police’s Community Policing Model as a case study,’ emphasised that proactive policing and human security go hand-in-hand and maintaining the duo in the current security landscape is a must-do business.

"Community Policing is one of the strategies that we have prioritised in partnership with other partner institutions in security, justice, health, governance & private entities to address concerns that lead to crime & improve public welfare,” Gasana said.

Renowned pan-Africanist and Director of Kenya School of Law, Prof. Patrick Loch Otieno Lumumba, who was one of the panelists, who tackled; ‘good governance as a critical necessity to enable human security, said that the "existence of a well-coordinated governance enhances the quality of public security and people’s wellbeing,” adding that "good governance is at the very heart of human security”.

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