Young members of the Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) Inkotanyi were on Sunday tasked to champion the country’s development, particularly through coming up with innovative solutions to society’s pressing challenges.

The youth had gathered at RPF Headquarters in Rusororo for the Youth League General Assembly, which convened hundreds of participants from different organs of all corners of the country.

The Senior Advisor to RPF Secretary-General, Protais Musoni, told the members of RPF from district to national level and commissioners that they have a responsibility to pursue activities that are aligned with Rwanda’s development agenda.

"You may be young leaders, but you are not that young. You possess more potential than older leaders. You represent the future of our country. In that sense, you have a responsibility to prepare the foundation of a better tomorrow,” he said.

The Youth League is one of the core constituencies of RPF, with representation at all organs of the party.

"The RPF Youth League was created in December 1988 as a deliberate effort to leverage the youth in nation-building, specifically by dismantling the walls created by colonialism. This was also in line with the guiding principle of RPF as a mass movement,” he noted.

Musoni highlighted that as a mass movement, RPF has different platforms where ideas are shared for the good of the country. He said party leaders attach great value to all the ideas generated from those platforms and most importantly from you the youth.

In its early days, RPF decided to become a mass movement, a party that essentially allows integration of all sections of the Rwandan nation.

"RPF decided to become a mass movement based on the belief that if you want to help someone liberate themselves, give them a platform. Youth, therefore, have to champion that idea. What it requires us, every party member should always be determined to search for sustainable solutions to difficult situations,” he said.

This, he added, is why RPF Inkotanyi established a number of platforms through which they can dialogue to find solutions to existing problems.

The General Assembly is one of those platforms.

He reminded the youth participants that RPF is a liberation movement which means that youth should characterize themselves with transformative ideas, develop critical thinking and a culture of self-evaluation, have a right vision, and ideas based on truth.

The meeting was held under the theme: Let us leverage the opportunities availed to us and resist anything that could endanger our lives.

The opportunities

The Youth Minister Rosemary Mbabazi indicated that RPF manifesto focuses more on youth, a testament that Rwanda has a strong belief in the youth bulge.

"That should be a starting point to contribute to change. The opportunity is that our party has a political will and ideological clarity. You can’t fail to get where you base your vision,” she noted.

The minister highlighted that the young generation has more opportunities at their hands than the previous generations, pointing to the emergence of technology, presence of infrastructure as well as educational facilities that allow easy access to skills.

Unlike elsewhere where youths hardly participate in programmes meant for them, the minister said, Rwanda promotes civic engagement and political participation.

She was speaking on a panel discussion with Dieudonné Twahirwa, a young agripreneur, RPF commissioner Clarisse Uwanyirigira and Nicolas Niyongabo of the National Rehabilitation Services (NRS).

Twahirwa, a young agripreneur and owner of Gashora Farm, shared his entrepreneur journey, emphasizing the need to leverage youth potential, especially those in the private sector, to promote economic growth.

"When I was starting out, I saw a need because most of the products on the domestic market were imported from neighbouring countries, even those that we can be able to grow locally. I started small growing tomatoes on less than one-fourth of a hectare and that later scaled,” he said.

Twahirwa said he started growing tomatoes and watermelon with Rwf300,000, but later he ventured into chilli when he saw a need. He now runs a multi-million dollar chilli business in the country.

Currently, his agribusiness works with more than 1,000 farmers with plans for expansion to 10,000 as he has been able to secure more markets in China, among others.

On the other hand, commissioner Uwanyirigira and Niyongabo highlighted the use and abuse of drugs, lack of the culture of volunteerism and the youth not productively using ICT, as some of the challenges faced by the youth.

The assembly featured elections of the new leaders of the Youth League committee made up of seven individuals who will lead for the period starting 2019 to 2024.

Joseph Tuyisenge was elected the President of the League with 489 votes, representing 70.5 per cent of the total votes.

Joseph Tuyisenge, the new President of the RPF Youth League. / Emmanuel Kwizera

Tuyisenge, who was the President of the League in Ngororero District, said he would focus on promoting youth health and welfare, address unemployment and the overall economic growth.

"The strength we have today is the good governance we have. During my tenure, I will take advantage of that to address existing youth challenges and promote their economy,” he said.

editor@newtimesrwanda.com