The Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) is by all accounts a very successful political organisation. That is one thing its admirers and detractors agree on. What explains this success?
Part of the answer lies in how President Paul Kagame, also chairman of the RPF, characterised it at the party’s biennial congress on Sunday, April 2. The RPF is 35 years old. As such, it is a youthful political organisation. But it is also a veteran in politics because of the magnitude of the problems it has had to deal with and the manner in which it has done so.
A more detailed explanation can be obtained from studying how it goes about the business of governing the country. You can also get by attending any of its meetings, like the congress and international conference that took place last week.
The meeting was the usual sort. Its agenda was the usual stuff: report of activities in 2021-2022 and plan of action for 2023-2024, and election of members to the National Executive Committee.
But it was unusual in another sense (compared to some political parties in other countries). The report for the last two years was not all rosy. Quite a bit of what had been planned had not been fully implemented. Such honesty is rare in some places.
Surprising to some perhaps, but not the RPF. Its leadership and members will be the first to acknowledge their collective shortcomings and individual lapses. Owning up to imperfections is one of the things that distinguish the RPF and contribute to its success.
The only surprising thing is that the usual critics did not jump on what may appear as failure and gleefully wave it as proof that the RPF had run out of steam because it had been in power for too long. Or that it does not have the capacity to do what it claims it can. Or some such nonsense.
That did not happen. Even detractors have eyes and reason, and there are things they cannot ignore or wish they didn’t exist. The record of the RPF in the past 35 years of its existence and 28 in government is incontrovertible.
It liberated the country from bad politics, stopped the genocide against the Tutsi that all but destroyed to country, and rebuilt it and put it on the road to prosperity. It has transformed Rwanda from a timid, divided, isolated, and backward country to one that is united and confident, playing an increasingly significant role in regional and global affairs.
The RPF Congress was preceded a day earlier by an international conference, another of those things that make the party different but also effective. The conference brought together scholars, policy experts, seasoned politicians and diplomats from around the African continent, government officials and business people, as well as ordinary Rwandans.
They discussed the history and contribution of the RPF to Rwanda and beyond, and from this, drew wider lessons for the future of both the country and the continent.
The conference and Congress took place in the context of the 35th anniversary of the RPF. And so it was an opportune moment to retrace some of its history, the things that led to its founding and have driven it since. It was also time for reflection on that period – the successes and pitfalls, the challenges and determination to always move forward. All this as a springboard to the future.
In all these events were some of the elements that make the RPF unique and explain its success and continued relevance.
One of them we have already seen: self-examination and admission of shortcomings, always with the view to correct them. This partly explains the aversion to chest-thumping even when there are achievements to celebrate – which are many – because they recognise the enormity of what remains to be done and the long road ahead. Even in politics modesty is an important virtue, rare, of course, especially in politicians.
Another is discussion and debate. This has been central to the RPF, from inception, through the liberation war, the early days in government, to the present. It happens at all levels of the organisation. Some discussions have had a defining impact, notable among which is what has come to be known as the Urugwiro Process, Kicukiro I and II, and Umushyikirano that has been enshrined in the country’s constitution.
Debate in the RPF does not happen because it is fashionable or to impose a certain viewpoint. Rather it is part of a distillation process where alternative ideas are presented, examined for what works best, what can be made to work well, and finally settling on one or some of them.
What better evidence for this than the testimony of an outsider, albeit a frequent visitor who has studied the political evolution of Rwanda in the last thirty years or so. Dr Frederick Golooba-Mutebi, a Ugandan researcher in politics and development, said at the conference that the greatest lesson he had learnt from the RPF was that "good politics is finding common ground among competing ideas, and building consensus, which in turn enables creative thinking”.
Discussion is also the source of another of the RPF’s strong points: its readiness to question orthodoxy and placing a premium on innovation, and also rejecting prescriptions meant for different situations. And, as President Paul Kagame said at the conference last week, the ability to learn from others and preparedness to adapt what has worked elsewhere.
The RPF has been very good at renewing itself, in order to keep up with the demands of the times and evolving challenges, and remaining effective. This is what a panellist at the conference called "retaining relevance”. Part of this is done through discussion to evaluate the status of progress, adjust course where necessary, but always remaining focussed on the goal.
Another form of Renewal takes another form - through greater participation of the youth in the life of the nation. Indeed, another outsider but no stranger to Rwanda, the South African politician Tito Mboweni, had an apt name for this: intergenerational responsibility.
All this is informed by the RPF’s concept of politics and governance. Politics is a conviction and a mission to change peoples lives, not simply about power. It is not a lucrative leisure activity or business for some. It is an on-going mission, which is why the RPF adopts an inter-generational approach in the management of the nation.
However, even with all these strong points, it is still necessary to guard against slipping back or going off-track. Which is why Rwanda’s friends advise: stay the course, resist complacency and avoid state capture, maintain ideological focus and meritocracy. That advice will certainly be taken seriously even though the RPF is aware of that danger and has taken precautions.