Zambia mourns Mwanawasa while Rwandan parties hype up gender politics

It was reported in July during the African Union heads of state summit in Cairo that Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa had died after suffering a stroke. The Zambian government insisted that their leader was recovering in a Paris hospital but unfortunately early this week it was reported that Mwanawasa had passed away in France. Mwanawasa, 59, was a favourite with donors for tackling corruption and as the strongest critic of Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe for the political crisis in that country. He was among a few world leaders that came forward to criticize Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe for his mishandling of the presidential elections between him and his rival Morgan Tsvangarai, describing the debacle in Zimbabwe as scandalous. Election fever While Zambians mourn their fallen leader, Zimbabweans are still stuck in political confusion which has persisted since March’s presidential elections. It emerged this week that Mugabe’s people had decided to convene parliament in the middle of negotiations to end a long running stalemate. This was seen as a hindrance to the ongoing talks between Mugabe and Tsvangarai. Political talk at home is currently boiling around preparations for the forth coming parliamentary elections due next month. However instead of discussing their agenda in parliament, most political parties have jumped on the gender politics band wagon. All political parties are positioning themselves as promoting more female representatives. The electoral commission set the mood by announcing midweek that the number of women on all the party lists comes to 30 per cent. It is not clear why newsmakers have chosen to highlight the percentages of women as a new phenomena as the constitution emphasizes the 30 per cent mark as the minimum number of women required at all levels of decision making in Rwandan public offices and institutions. The RPF along with its six coalition partners have for long positioned themselves as leading the pack in nominating women for political office and predictably they have even more numbers this time. Burning bright Rwanda’s tourist attraction, the Akagera National Park, was last week in danger after a fire broke out and gutted close to 107 square kilometres of the oldest game reserve in the country. The fire which lasted for 38 hours is believed to have been caused by poachers. With the constant threat of fire outbreaks in Akagera, ORTPN will need the same effort to protect this Savannah grassland as they do with the sacred gorillas. As part of Rwanda’s determination to reform business practices, customs authorities have increased working hours at the busy boarder post of Gatuna between Uganda and Rwanda. Revenue organisations from both countries agreed that from September 1, business activities will resume at 6 a.m. and end at 10 p.m. The move follows a recent directive by Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki that cargo delivery from Mombasa port and operations at all entry points be done 24 hours. Kibaki also directed that bottlenecks to cargo transportation like road blocks be reduced from 47 to 17 while four axle trucks have been banned from operating in Kenya due to the tear and wear implications on the roads caused by overloaded trucks. Also in the news President Paul Kagame in his first visit as Chairman of the East African Community is on a working visit to neighbouring Burundi, who with Rwanda is the youngest members of the bloc. The National University of Rwanda will next year start two post graduate courses in the peace and prevention of genocide studies. Contact: donmuhinda@yahoo.com