Eugene Kwibuka
19 September 2008
Gasabo — "Alleluiaa! God is just wonderful! ," shouted Pierre Claver Rwaka after being elected Thursday as the representative of people with disabilities in the next Parliament .
The 52-year old man who walks with the support of two crutches won 168 votes from the 724 voters who were crowded at Amahoro National Stadium.
Rwaka said that he never used any money to attract voters and that he only naturally befriended them and kept praying to God to help him win the Parliamentary elections. His wife, Alphonsine Umugwaneza, burst into tears of joy and started singing and praising God.
Rwaka heads to Parliament as many of the country's disabled bemoan poverty and low levels of education because most of them could not access special training opportunities. These two major issues are also disturbing the new MP's brains.
"The biggest problem of the disabled is poverty. I am going to closely follow all the government's poverty reduction programmes to see to it that the disabled are not left behind, that is an important thing," he pledged, adding that promoting their education is another thing he wants to work on.
He also wants to advocate for detailed laws helping the disabled and their implementation towards improving their lives.
Citing the example of the 2004 President's visit to the federation of the disabled, Rwaka said that there is more and more good will by the government to help and empower them.
"It is clear that the disabled in Rwanda are making tremendous bounds. For sure, they have started building their own confidence," he said.
The country's disabled are grouped into five types namely; the blind, those with physical disabilities, mental disabilities, the deaf, and those with unclear disabilities grouped as "the others". Most voters said that they at least need three people to represent them in Parliament.
Rwaka is currently following an online Bachelor's Degree Programme in Management from the United Kingdom's Cambridge University.
He has experience working with different organizations of people with disabilities and he is known to be ardent player of games reserved for the disabled.
The Electoral College for the disabled eligible to vote a Parliamentary representative is normally made up of 783 people who are their representatives on district and national levels.
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