RWANDA:Nadine Claire Kasinge and some of her political views

Republished from the RISING CONTINENT

Most of the time, people faced with injustices don’t realize how powerful they are in front of their oppressors.

Nadine Claire Kasinge

There are not many women in the Rwandan politics of the opposition. The personality featured in these lines is young and new in that arena.  On January 28^th 2013, for the first time, she appeared publicly in Paris among the founders of Ishema Party led by Father Thomas Nahimana. Until recently she was one of the deputy general secretaries. Further to the decision of her party’s Congress of last month to return in 2016 and do politics in Rwanda, she has been nominated Spokesperson of her party’s presidential candidate for the 2017 elections. Nadine Claire Kasinge’s political views highlighted here were expressed in an interview in Kinyarwanda she gave to Serge Ndayizeye on Radio Itahuka on February 26^th, 2014. [please once on the site type the word Nkasinge in the space reserved to search in order to access the audio]

Each person has a role to play in the politics of their own country, because politics affect their well being in one way or another. Citizens can contribute and make things better for all. If the result is positive, this will benefit everybody including themselves.

We should not consider that we don’t have any role to play because we think there are other people in charge or more able than ourselves.

It is not necessarily your background which defines your destiny, but the determination you have for shaping the future as you want it to be which does. Only can you get there gradually by working with a focused and well organised team.

For politicians, providing solutions to the real needs of people is the big deal that creates trust. Discussing with them their concerns and telling them the way one sees how they should be addressed, then starting to solve them, this is the right approach.

Being all the time guided by the principal of not compromising when things that need changing because they are not right, must change.

Everything is possible if one wants it so badly that they see is as possible. One only needs to believe in what they consider to be the solutions to the situation they are confronted with. They need to have the courage of their convictions.

At each step of the journey, their courage and persistency gain them new knowledge that makes them better equipped to work for the good of others.

It is the experience gained in solving problems that makes one become an expert in their speciality; and when there are bigger issues to be sorted out, the majority turns then to them.

Status quo that transforms into normality despite its irrationality can only be addressed by courageous and persistent characters/ personalities.

Politics is not a men’s only reserved domain but every citizen and especially women who constitute 50% of the population. Therefore women need to be more represented and effective in that sector of society.

The role of the youth in contributing to the politics of their nation is critical and imperative. Politics is not for the only mature and older male generation.

When men and women work together as equals in politics, because they think differently, the outcome of their teamwork is different from when the two operate separately or don’t engage at the same level on similar issues.

If Rwanda was effectively pro-women in politics {as this is wrongly portrayed by the regime in Kigali], there would be laws and policies in favour of families and children’s education, both areas significantly and dangerously neglected.

If on another hand the Rwandan parliament, with the highest percentage of women in the world, was effectively representative of women’s interests, the country would be one where education would be the best and top political priority, husbands’ well being [not being massively and wrongly imprisoned – editor’s emphasis], maternity leaves, etcetera would be there cared for in the interest of present and future generations.

There is strength in working with others. Debate is essential in finding suited solutions to issues. One’s view is not everybody’s views, and these ones need consideration.

Adversity calls for more determination. When you win over a challenge, you feel satisfied and more motivated to go forward.

People faced with injustices most of their time don’t realize how powerful they are in front of their oppressors.

The starting point for resolving Rwandan problems is accepting the fact that, despite anybody’s different background [either physical, social, or even intellectual], nobody is above the rest.

The problem is not among the oppressors, but the oppressed. Victims experience the oppression but are reluctant to search and find the solutions to their situation.

Not speaking out against what is wrong is only delaying the instance when that wrong will come knocking on your own door. In general when there are injustices in somebody’s country, these have negative consequences on everybody, directly or indirectly, and on future generations. Understanding that such situation can be changed is the first step of changing it.