Ed Hall, one of the 105 Conservative Party members in the country for voluntary capacity-building, has disclosed that his party has already included Rwanda’s funding in its fore plan.

The Party is already laying out strategies, two years away from the next general elections. Britain has already set aside 460 million pounds funding for a period of ten years starting from 2007.

"Rwanda is obviously part of our plans. But we are two years away from the election,” Hall said in an interview with The New Times. He however declined to disclose details of the plan.

However, effective implementation of the Conservative Party’s plan depends on winning the 2010 elections. It has lost the last three elections.

Hall said he was confident of a Conservative victory in the next election because of economic failures by the incumbent Labour Prime Minister, Gordon Brown.

"Gordon Brown is unpopular with the economy. The Conservatives will capitalize on that for a win,” said Hall.

Margaret Thatcher was the last Conservative PM in 1997 before she was replaced by Tony Bair who in turn was recently replaced by Gordon Brown thus perpetuating the Labour Party’s reign for a successive ten years.

According to Hall, Andrew Mitchell, MP, the shadow Minister of Development is expected to be the next Conservative PM.

"If the Conservatives win the coming election, Andrew Mitchell’s first visit will be to Rwanda. He will have 100 other Conservatives talking about Rwanda,” said a seemingly optimistic Hall.

Before Tony Blair, the Conservatives had had a comfortable reign from1979 to 1997. He explained that the Conservative party’s previous lengthy stay in power had been perceived  as monotonous and that their popularity was diminished by a consistent reduction in achievements.

"Initially, the Conservatives were the backbone of the economy, the backbone of political campaigns. They were always in meetings and making things happen. But people lost sight of that,” Hall said. But he said that the Conservatives were bouncing back with better national plans. 

"I hope to contest for a parliamentary seat in the coming elections. I might be against 6 candidates,” said the unmarried 40-year old.

Hall is the Chief Executive of Canis Media in England but for ten years he worked as a print journalist with the Independent tabloid in Britain.

As part of the capacity-building tour of Rwanda, Hall said he visited Rwanda Television and radio stations. He said he was surprised with the use of old technology such as video tapes instead of files.

He was equally surprised that Rwanda’s private sector had developed despite the set-back that resulted from the 1994 Genocide of Tutsi which claimed the lives of over a million people.         

Ends