Kenya ex-chief justice Maraga to lead the EAC observer team in Rwanda

Rwanda will hold presidential and parliamentary elections on July 15, next week, when President Paul Kagame will seek to extend his roughly three decades in control of the country.

Voting for president and 53 deputies in the lower house of parliament will take place across the country on July 15, and the remaining 27 deputies would be elected on July 16.

“The EAC underscores that election observation helps to improve electoral processes in the Partner States. It is against this backdrop that, the Treaty for the establishment of the EAC mandates us to deploy election observation mission in all our eight (8) Partner States,” said Ms Veronica Nduva, Secretary General of the EAC during the official launch that took place at a hotel in Kigali on Friday.

“It is therefore my sole honor this morning to officially announce to the people of Rwanda that, within my mandate, I have appointed Chief Justice (Emeritus) David Maraga of Kenya to lead the EAC election observation mission to the Rwanda general election 2024.”

Justice Maraga’s observer team will run from July 8 to 18 this month.

Speaking during the launch, Justice Maraga said the mission arrived in Rwanda this week and would file reports that will be released on 17th July 2024.

“The EAC constituted an election observation mission to Rwanda which arrived in Kigali on Monday, 8th July 2024,” said Justice Maraga during the official launch held at a hotel in Kigali on Friday.

“A peaceful and successful general election will not just be a victory for Rwanda but the entire East African Community.”

The EAC observers have been grouped into 14 observation teams that will be dispatched to all parts of the country where they will observe the elections with a view to assessing the level of preparedness and participation of electoral stakeholders for the election.

“The team will be assessing the level of compliance with the electoral processes and management to the international, regional and national established laws, principles and practices,” said Maraga.

“It will also be assessing adherence to the democratic principles of the EAC as enshrined in the Treaty; and offering objective recommendations for continuous improvement for the conduct of such elections.”

Since his arrival, Justice Maraga said he had observed a generally calm electoral, political and security environment ahead of polling day.

“For this, we wish to thank the political leadership, the people of Rwanda and the institutions managing the electoral processes in the country.”

President Kagame is expected to cruise to a fourth term in office in an election on Monday against two opposition candidates who were cleared to run against him but have only modest expectations.

The two approved candidates, Frank Habineza and Philippe Mpayimana, ran against Kagame in 2017.

Rwanda has also accepted the joint observer missions from the the African Union Commission (AUC) and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa). This joint mission said it will observer elections from July 14 to 16 and also observe the post-poll arrangements.

The EOM is led by Jorge Carlos De Almeida Fonseca, the former President of Cape Verde, and deputised by former Ugandan Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda who is also a member of the Comesa Committee of Elders. 

It comprises of 48 observers drawn from ambassadors accredited to the African Union, officials of election management bodies, members of African civil society organisations, African election experts, gender and media experts, and representatives of youth organisations.