This year, 2024, over 4 billion people in approximately 76 countries will go to the polls to elect their leaders at national and local levels. This is unprecedented both in the geographic reach and diversity of the electors. These elections will take place in some of the most populous, as well as in some of the more powerful countries on earth. But perhaps the most consequential elections will take place in Rwanda. The 13 million inhabitants of Rwanda are quietly redefining democracy as we have come to experience it. As in so many other areas of revolution in thinking about accountable leadership, the fundamentals of democracy have taken hold in Rwanda and are slowly spreading to other countries, challenging established orthodoxies and making uncomfortable countries and groups that have, over the years, diluted our concepts of democracy to simple changes of governments. ALSO READ: PDI endorses Kagame’s 2024 candidacy According to the above understanding, it does not matter what elected governments do while in power, as long as there is a possibility of change – and all change is acceptable. Even when it involves mass violence. When billions across the world go to the polls this year, it is possible that they will elect leaders who will entrench bigotry and hatred. Indeed, we have seen elected leaders, including in our own neighborhood, champion the cause of ethnic cleansing, and yes, genocide. Antisemites, genocide deniers, and fascists may be elected to power. Elected leaders may bleed their nations dry, destroy the economy, and send millions into poverty. All this does not matter to a loud, vocal minority elite who have declared themselves the global champions of democracy. Their interest is only change for change’s sake. They champion multicolored revolutions, including orange ones. No wonder we have seen the rise of fascist parties on the right, and cruel dictatorships of the proletariat on the left, especially in the Western world. ALSO READ: Denial 2.0: A new, more dangerous wave of Genocide denial The dysfunctions of democracy described above, cannot and will not happen in Rwanda in 2024. A people recovering from genocide know what it means to be badly led, as well as the benefits of good leadership. They know what type of politics assures their lives and butters their bread. And the Rwandan Patriotic Front led by its Chairman, President Paul Kagame, redefined democracy. Or rather, they returned it to its foundational basics and Rwandans love it. When the campaign seasons start, many political leaders across the world will stoke the fear of their people and encourage hatred of the perceived foreign other. Immigrants may be targeted. Religions extremists will have their say. ALSO READ: Paul Kagame: You cannot build democracy on sand When the RPF goes on the campaign trail, they will submit their record to the electorate for scrutiny. In 2017 the political family submitted a detailed blueprint for development to Rwandans. Once elected, they turned the manifesto into a blueprint for economic development with smart targets. To bridge the gap between implementation of Rwanda’s vision 2020 and her vision 2050, Rwanda developed her national strategy or transformation. Seven years later, Rwandans will be invited to evaluate implementation of the strategy and if satisfied, re-elect the Rwandan Patriotic Front for another term to spearhead implementation of vision 2050. In this scenario, there is no room for demagoguery. Leaders run on their tract records as well as their capacity to deliver. There is no room for political obscurantism. Citizens recognize roads, clean water, electricity, full granaries, schools, and hospitals when they see them. And they know which leaders promoted national development based on unity, at all levels. The Rwandan Patriotic Front is always on the lookout for good ideas for incorporation into their developmental programmes. For example, although Rwanda has a green party, the RPF has championed and is currently implementing a green growth agenda unprecedented in scope and reach. Social democracy and liberalism form part and parcel of the platform. Those at the forefront of inclusion, including religious inclusion, find satisfaction in the Front’s programmes. ALSO READ: The women shaping Rwanda's green growth agenda Therefore, when the campaign season starts only those champions of hate and division are likely to find their political programmes absent from the Front’s agenda. If the past is an indication, they will vocally mobilize their internal and external supporters to claim the mantle of political opposition. They will be strident advocates for a change of guards. But promoters of division, exclusion and hate can very easily run afoul of the law – and some reckless ones will. By redefining the playing field through its insistence on performance and accountability and de-emphasizing empty demagoguery, The Rwandan Patriotic Front is at the forefront of the rebirth of democracy, returning it to its basic foundational values. Of all elections taking place in 2024, the elections in Rwanda are the ones to watch for serious students and actors in the field of democracy. The spirit of the age and the politics of the future are being distilled in Rwanda. Rwandans are erecting an ideological shield under which Africa can rise. They are at the forefront of a new age: the age of light, the age of Rwanda!
