Speaker denies being Kagame stooge
2010-05-26 15:50
Kigali - Rwanda’s deputy speaker of parliament on Wednesday denied being a "stooge" for incumbent President Paul Kagame after his party declared him a candidate for August elections.
Three opposition parties pinned the label on Jean Damascene Ntawukuriryayo, the Social Democratic Party (PSD) candidate, on Tuesday, saying that at the appropriate moment he would call on his supporters to vote for Kagame.
"I don't understand what they're talking about. If they are politicians they should get on with building their own ideology instead of attacking people just because they don't toe the same line as them," Ntawukuriryayo said.
In their statement the three parties said the PSD is a satellite of the Kagame's ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) and that Ntawukuriryayo's candidature is aimed only at providing a veneer of legitimacy for the August 9 poll.
In the last presidential poll in 2003 the PSD campaigned for Kagame.
"We (the PSD and the RPF) have always been good partners but the PSD has always been independent, consistent and constructive," Ntawukuriryayo said.
"Since it was formed in 1991 the PSD has always had change as its leitmotiv and it has always worked to foster harmony between Rwandans. After the genocide of the Tutsi (in 1994) it participated in rehabilitation with other parties," he continued.
"Since then things have changed on every level. That why the PSD, which was founded 19 years ago, has decided, in a political context that has evolved a lot, to designate its flagbearer for the next presidential election," the new candidate said.
Ntawukuriryayo said that when the time is right he and his colleagues will present their party's programme to the people.
- SAPA