Barely a year before parliamentary elections, political parties under the National Consultative Forum of Political Parties (NFPO) can requisition up to Rwf20 million each in facilitation fees in the lead up to the polls, the Forum’s executive secretary Oswald Burasanzwe said last week.

All the 11 registered parties are members of the forum.

Burasanzwe told The New Times that though forum’s finances are drawn from the National Budget and stakeholders, each party’s activities can now be financed to a tune of Rwf20 million if they make a formal request.

"The amount of money we receive from state coffers and stakeholders keeps changing each year. However, we recently agreed that every political party can get up to Rfw20 million in facilitation fees. All the parties are entitled to the same amount and we disburse it on request and the most important thing is that it is used in this fiscal year,” he said.

The finances mainly go toward strengthening party capacities through different training activities developed by the forum or political organisations themselves.

Burasanzwe said membership of the forum is voluntary.

"We are lucky that most political parties in this country are people-based, they are interested in social welfare, peace and security and the development of the country. Our work is to provide the parties a platform to share ideas intended to build consensus and national cohesion,” he said.

On elections

Burasanzwe said, as part of the Forum’s responsibilities, it had deployed 100 people to observe the recent presidential election and commended the involvement of political parties in the process.

"We sent out a team of 100 observers and, of these, at least two were drawn from each of the 11 political parties. Teams of three were dispatched to each district, while others helped with coordination,” he said.

Commenting on the funds, Frank Habineza, of Democratic Green Party of Rwanda, said that based on the scope of activities for any political party, the money was still little but he commended the Forum for continued support to parties.

"We are lucky to have been funded by the Forum before. They have previously funded our activities to a tune of Rwf12 million, so it’s refreshing to hear that the money is actually being increased,” he said.

Last week, Habineza said his party was ready to start work geared toward the August 2018 parliamentary elections.

Habineza came last in the August 4 presidential election with 0.48 per cent votes. RPF-Inkotanyi’s Paul Kagame won with 98.79 per cent, while independent Philippe Mpayimana got 0.73 per cent.

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