Hundreds of residents of Juru Sector, Bugesera District in Eastern Province convened at Kabukuba on Tuesday for a campaign rally of Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF-Inkotanyi) parliamentary candidates. Justine Mukobwa, one of the candidates and member of the outgoing lower chamber of parliament, explained the values of the party, inclusiveness being one of them. “This is why we initiated a universal community health insurance scheme, and made schools and hospitals accessible to all and equally distributed,” she said. She also cited sponsorship for students as one of the programmes that depict the party’s inclusiveness. Léonidas Gakwerere, one of the area residents, recounted how he missed education in his early years due to poor politics of the time that excluded some. He said that when he was still in primary school in the 1980s, he was famous in his village for his intelligence, but was not able to continue with his education because he did not meet the conditions set by the Government. “You all know I was bright at school and you know how we were all not surprised when I was denied admission to a school I wanted to go to,” he told the gathering. Gakwerere says he kept his desire for education burning until the RPF came to power. “When RPF came to power, I had confidence I could make it to school again if I wanted to,” he said. However, Gakwerere could not go to school with his children, he said. He was later selected by the local authorities to attend several seminars in agronomy, which have made him a model farmer in the area. He is frequently invited to train other farmers. “Farmers from all East African countries have come to me and have invited me to go and train them from their countries,” he said, adding that it was all made possible by RPF’s good policies. editorial@newtimes.co.rw
