Why the banned party should be brought to justice

The other day I met Steven Kamuntu, a former colleague who is on a short holiday here but currently studying in ‘developed countries’ as they call them. As we shared a cup of tea he asked me for an update on the politics of this great country. Before I could respond, he rushed to an article I wrote in this column: “Political parties should be more than just names”. He wanted explanations on the senate’s standing committee on political affairs which called upon the Ministry of Local Government to revise and probably revalidate the political parties to ensure that they operate within the law. Kamuntu wondered how these parties operate since the committee claims that some of them are bankrupt and are said to be handicapped to guarantee their future. I told him that many of our institutions are young and still struggling especially in as far as finances are concerned. He then asked about the new party, Parti Social Ideal (PSI) of Bernard Ntaganda, whose registration application was rejected by the local government. Another foreign journalist and a friend joined in the conversation and they seemed interested in that particular question. Since I had not investigated the matter in depth, I asked for two days so that I would have a proper answer. We agreed to meet at the same venue. As I pondered my next move, a question popped up in my mind, why did MINALOC just reject the party’s application and not drag it to courts of law because of its offences? Why did Ntaganda, a professional lawyer, accuse government of making ‘brutal decisions’ instead of admitting his mistakes? According to a letter dated February 06, 2009, Ntaganda wrote to the Minister of Local Government requesting for the registration of his new party PSI and the minister replied his letter advising him to clarify the issues raised in his document concerning the signatories who had forged the identity cards, contrary to law no.14/2008 of 04/06/2008 that governs the community registration and identity card delivery. The signatories who signed as representatives or members of the party from two different districts would pose to be members of the party in one district and appear on the list of another district with an unknown identity card number. The live example is the signatories of Bugesera district. According to the local government ministry their ID’s are unknown. They don’t have the quota of 30% of women in their leadership as prescribed by article 5 of organic law no. 16/2003 of 27/07/2003 governing political parties and politicians as amended and filled by the organic law no.19/2007 of 04/05/2007. Another mistake that the ministry accused Ntaganda’s party is having the same acronym as another registered party in the country (PSI) which is contrary to article 8 of organic law no. 16/2003 of 27/07/2003 that governs the political parties in the country as amended to date. Ntaganda denied this claim. According to Ntaganda’s letter dated 02/03/2009 given reference no.2017 by the Local governments Secretariat, he admitted to the minister as having given fake identity numbers to signatories who signed for more than one district. He also accepts the fact that his banned party had not fulfilled the 30% of women but he shifted the blame to the people who attended their first conference who intimidated the women who decided to leave. He said that now he is trying to mobilise them back. I don’t want to know if the claim is true or not. In his letter he went on asking the minister to do a “favour” for his party since they suffered threats. He pledged to abide by the law. “As you know minister, there is a group, in fact committee inside PSD, set to fight my party and some of the accusations in your letter were influenced by the false reports,” the letter reads. Speaking to The Sunday Times, John Uwamungu confirmed that Ntaganda did not report of any threat or intimidation. “It’s not possible in this country for one to intimidate another. In addition, the man did not report to police,” Uwamungu said. Basing on all those mistakes mentioned above, the ministry issued a decree no.02/09 of 05/036/2009 refusing the registration of the same political party after being adopted by the cabinet meeting chaired by the president of the republic. In conclusion, it’s hard to understand why MINALOC took its time requesting the existing political parties to abide by the law and then fight with the politicians who deliberately want to illegally build their kingdoms. Police should intervene since there are serious offenses that some of these members of this party should be brought to justice. findmugabe@yahoo.com