PS Imberakuri says party is ready for parliament

The new entrant in the race for parliamentary seat, PS Imberakuri political party, is well prepared to garner enough votes to warrant them parliamentary seats come September 16, its chairperson Christine Mukabunani, told The New Times yesterday. Yesterday, party faithful converged at it headquarters in Kimironko to strategise before their inaugural rally that took them to different parts of city of Kigali.The dozens of faithful, mainly party officials, were clad in white t-shirts and caps emblazoned with party slogans and insignias.“We are very ready for the campaigns. We have laid the ground work. All we request is facilitation from local administrative officials because there have been cases where they have destabilised our planning,” Mukabunani said, adding that they are also ready to operate within the confines of the law. Mukabunani is number one on the list of 45 candidates submitted by PS Imberakuri to the National Electoral Commission. In order to get a seat in parliament, the party needs to score at least 5 per cent of the national vote.Monday’s rally started from the party headquarters in Kimironko at exactly 1pm, and the main campaign rally was addressed in the busy Giporoso Taxi Park in Remera where many party members had converged.They then headed to Kicukiro Centre, from where they proceeded to Gikondo Nyenyeri and finally Nyarugenge Market in downtown Kigali later in the evening.The manifesto “Our manifesto highlights three key areas of focus – education, health and agriculture or the land issue in general,” Mukabunani said.Under the education sector, Mukabunani said their central focus is improving the teachers’ welfare, which she says will lead to better performance among students.“A teacher should be paid a salary that corresponds to the current market price. Teachers’ children should also study in public schools without paying fees and, we are also concerned with the issue of the [university] bursary which was cut. We think that every Rwandan could contribute a fairly small mandatory amount, say, at least Rwf100, every month so that students get bursary. There can be Mutuelle for education, just like in the Mutuelle de santé. (health insurance scheme)”According to Mukabunani, the curricula could as well be improved so that students study subjects that are responsive to the country’s development needs. She pointed to the improvement of Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) as well as “putting equally more emphasis” on English and French languages.Concerning health, Mukabunani said that her party, once elected, would increase the nursing and medical schools in the country which she said are not enough. In addition, she said, secondary level nursing education system should be restored “because the products they used to bring were really good and are needed.”Speaking about their plans in the agriculture sector, PS imberukani is proposing a raft of reforms.“People no longer cultivate crops as they would like, yet experts can guide them appropriately so that people cultivate what they want in the right place.”Swamps, she said, should be returned to the people. The number of representatives each party will have in the House based on the percentage score in the contest for 53 seats which parties and independent candidates will compete for through the general elections.Others in the race include a coalition led by RPF-Inkotanyi, the Socio-Democratic Party (PSD) and the Liberal Party. Four independent candidates are also running.The other seats are reserved for special interest groups including women (24 seats) the youth (two seats) and the one seat reserved for people with disabilities.The campaigns are expected to run up to September 15, on the eve of the general election which will be followed by the elections for special interest groups.