The ruling party, Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF), will today hold its 12th national congress to elect new members of the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC). About 3000 party delegates, who form the Electoral College, will converge at Amahoro stadium to elect the party’s Chairperson, Vice Chairperson, the Secretary General, Commissioners and the party’s national youth representatives. “Following a recent amendment of RPF constitution, the executive committee will now be made up of 25 members. Initially it was 20 but the new amendments included five youth representatives. Other posts to be filled include those of the chairperson, the vice, the secretary general and commissioners,” said François Ngarambe, the RPF Secretary General. The top three party posts are currently occupied by President Paul Kagame as the chairperson, Christophe Bazivamo as the vice and Ngarambe is the secretary general. The RPF executive committee has a four-year term of office and there are no term limits to the incumbent members of the committee. The party holds its national congresses once every two years. At a press briefing yesterday, Ngarambe pointed out that any delegate who is eligible to hold a leadership post can vie for any post. “To allow equal opportunities to all and transparency, we decided that all candidates will campaign on the Election Day. We have also put in consideration the principle of 30 per cent women representatives that’s why 5 posts will not be elected for but instead, the elected committee will have to appoint people occupying those posts as a measure of clearing up any mismatches in the representations,” said Ngarambe. At the congress, members will also celebrate the party’s achievements in the past four years including winning the 2010 presidential elections, scooping majority seats is the 2013 parliamentary elections and the party’s 25th anniversary which was also celebrated this year.
