This past weekend, different parts of the country witnessed the beginning of political campaigns by political parties and independent candidates who are vying for presidential and parliamentary seats.

This politically-charged period will go on for close to three weeks preceding the general elections that will be held in the country on July 15. The day before, Rwandans in the diaspora will have cast their vote in the same exercise.

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Several political parties and those running on independent tickets will during the next weeks traverse the country selling their political programmes with hope that they will secure a buy-in from the electorate.

Like the previous exercises, the process has been incident-free and all people campaigning have been asked to stick to their programme that was submitted to and approved by the National Electoral Commission (NEC) – which they have so far done.

The political maturity that continues to be exhibited by all those involved is worth commending and a further demonstration that the democratic path taken by our country was a well-calculated one.

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One notable thing however, is the enthusiasm that youth or the Gen-Z in Rwanda have expressed in this the process. They have been engaged and are fully participating in this important exercise.

This is commendable. Having a youth that is politically conscious is a demonstration that in the future, this country will certainly be left in good hands.

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Our leadership has done an incredible job of putting in place an infrastructure that will ease the political transition including making sure every Rwandan child attends school and creating an environment that allows young people to be part of political processes right from the national level down to the grassroots.

However, our youth has a political homework. Beyond turning up in large numbers at political rallies, they must take time to listen to the political programmes that are presented by those contesting.

As the country’s largest voting bloc, the youth must take serious their civic obligation by ensuring we get deserving leaders who will deliver our aspirations as a country with a very ambitious development agenda. In that case, we should not entertain political comedians!

However, this does not go to the youth only, it concerns every Rwandan of voting age. Let us therefore rise to the occasion.