The Ideal Democratic Party (PDI) campaigned in Rubavu town on Monday, July 1, asking its supporters to vote for RPF-Inkotanyi presidential candidate Paul Kagame, in addition to seeking for votes for its own 55 parliamentary candidates.
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Addressing campaign rally at Umuganda Stadium, in Gisenyi Sector, PDI President Mussa Fazil Harerimana called on the party's supporters to vote for Kagame, referring to the incumbent as "Baba wa Taifa [Swahili for father of the nation] because he "brought the country from darkness", and this is one of the reasons why the party decided to endorse him as the best person to lead the country.
"He is the father of the country because of where he brought the country from and maintained its security. There is no one who will do that. There will be no more Genocide, no more divisionism. That is why he is the father of the nation," said the party president.
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For Harerimana, Kagame's ideology "should be embraced by future presidents given the way he loves Rwandans.
"And we love him too. That's why we support him."
"Our message is simple; vote Paul Kagame [for the presidency] and our candidates into parliament," said Harerimana.
He added that Kagame "plans to protect Sebeya river so that it will never cause more floods" that engender Rubavu residents.
Former smugglers who were supported with funds through forming a fishing cooperative thanked Kagame for changing their livelihoods. They thank him for, among other things, the establishment of Early Childhood Development Centres at the Rwanda-DR Congo border crossing that help mothers to easily take care of their children while doing cross border trade.
"My dear colleagues, parents, let's all support him," Uwizeyimana Nyamvura, a resident of Buhuru Cell, Rubavu Sector, said in Swahili, as her colleagues sung and danced, praising Kagame.
Their cooperative, Ababyeyi bakunzwe na Kagame, has 20 women who were former smugglers.
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PDI is on the list of political parties including UDPR, PPC, PSD, PL, and PSP, that endorsed Kagame for the next five-year term in office.