2017 Polls: Green party picks Frank Habineza as flagbearer

A national congress of the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda on Sunday picked its president Frank Habineza, as flagbearer in the Presidential elections slated for August this year.

Monday, March 20, 2017

A national congress of the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda on Sunday picked its president Frank Habineza, as flagbearer in the Presidential elections slated for August this year.

Habineza, whose candidature was approved by over 400 party delegates, is the first candidate to be officially nominated by his party to stand in the elections.

The Green Party is one of the 11 political organisations operating in the country.

Speaking to The New Times on Monday, Habineza said he will contest in the election with view "to bring change in the country”.

He said that in his manifesto includes revamping various sectors such as security, agriculture, justice, education among others.

"For security officers (police and army) we will increase their salaries because they do a very good job and their remuneration remains meager compared to the current economy,” he told The New Times.

"In security, though we recognize the government has done a lot, we don’t have enough army to be everywhere, we will build a strong wall in various Rwandan borders starting from the Volcanoes National Volcano Park (north) to deal with insecurity between Rwanda and neighboring DR Congo,” he added.

Other issues, he said, include strategies to address food shortage in the country, improving quality education by reducing the number of class ratio; motivating teachers and improving language prominence in education were cited.

He said that once elected, he will also push for introduction of constitutional court to specifically deal with interpreting the constitution.