Jean Damascene Ntawukuriryayo poses with a group of tourists from El Paso Texas, United States who were visiting Nyaruguru and insisted on posing for photos with him (Photo: Gaaki Kigambo)
Having launched his campaign here early this week, he has spent two days in a row now in which he has pushed his campaign message deep in the heart of the country, ascending and descending the immaculate hills of the Southern Province from Ruhango to Nyanza, where he held two rallies on Thursday, and to Nyaruguru and Gisagara where he again held two rallies on Friday.
These two days are peculiar in that he’s not left the province, having established a temporary base in Butare. They are unlike the earlier two, including Tuesday when he launched his campaign, where Kigali City was the take-off point. And he’s not done yet. There’s another day where a grand rally has been organised at Huye Stadium on Saturday July 24 before the campaign moves on to Nyamagabe.
In all these rallies, he has largely reiterated his campaign’s, and party’s, talking points in which he promises his presidency will focus on improving the social welfare of individual Rwandans as well as deliver to them good policies and governance.
He emphasised collective effort if the country’s progress is going to be sustained and challenged Rwandans to work hard, noting everyone should take seriously putting in nine hours in their work, from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Yet where he has needed to tailor the message he has not hesitated to. In Gisagara, for instance, he stressed the need to control the population, proposed to establish technical schools well-fitted with information communication systems in every sector to train Rwandans and make their skills more competitive in the country, the region and beyond.
The former government minister and legislator wants rural Nyaruguru and Gisagara districts to have no more grass-thatched house after he enters Village Urugwiro.
He also repeated his proposal to extend electricity to this region so residents do not have to rely on lanterns anymore, proposed to establish cooperatives to support small holder farmers and small scale industries across the country, to double the salary of teachers in three years, to protect Genocide survivors and provide them the support they need.
His campaign motorcade has repeatedly brought work to a standstill wherever it has passed as shop attendants, customers, road builders and people on their ways on the road stop to take note, some flash their thumbs up and shout victory chants while a few others go as far as trying to identify which car he’s travelling in and having discover it excitedly point to it.
However, it is the crowds at rallies that are more fascinating. Usually, some will prefer to stand and listen from the margins of playgrounds where almost all rallies have been held. Yet when he is fielding questions from reporters, they rush and crowd around him.