This article needs to be updated. (August 2019) |
Frank Habineza (born 22 February 1977) is a Rwandan politician, and founder and chairman of the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda, a political party formed in August 2009.[2] In its first year, the party made six unsuccessful attempts to register.[3] As of mid-August 2010, the party was still not registered, and therefore was unable to submit a candidate for the August 2010 Presidential elections.[4] In September 2018, Frank Habineza and one other member of the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda were elected into Parliament. They are the first Opposition candidates to win seats in the Rwandan parliament since Kagame's Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) came to power after the 1994 genocide.[5]
Frank Habineza | |
|---|---|
 Habineza in 2016 | |
| Chairman of the Democratic Green Party | |
| Assumed office 14 August 2009 | |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Member of the Chamber of Deputies | |
| In office 19 September 2018 – 15 June 2024 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 22 February 1977 Mityana, Uganda |
| Citizenship | Rwanda Sweden[1] (??-2017) |
| Political party | Democratic Green Party of Rwanda |
He made long-shot bids to become president in 2017 and 2024, losing both times to Paul Kagame by wide margins.
Background
editHabineza was born in Mityana, Uganda in a Rwandese family on 22 February 1977.[6] He attended the National University of Rwanda from 1999 to 2004, graduating in Political and Administrative Sciences with a major in Public Administration. While at University he started a student association campaigning for environment protection. In 2005, he became a personal assistant to the Minister of Lands, Environment, Water, Forestry and Mines. He was the official correspondent of Rwanda Newsline and UMUSESO while he was a student in Butare. He also worked for the former Rwanda Herald Newspaper, whose publisher Asuman Bisika was declared 'persona non-grata' in mid-2002.[7][8]
Habineza was for three years (2006–2009), National Coordinator for the Nile Basin Discourse Forum in Rwanda (NBDF), a civil society platform that had over 50 NGOs involved in the conservation of river Nile. He resigned in May 2009. He was also President of the Rwanda NGOs Forum on Water, Sanitation and Environment-RWASEF and founder chairman for the Rwandan Environment Conservation Organisation (RECOR). He resigned from all the NGOs when he joined active opposition politics. In June 2010 these two organizations distanced themselves from him after a report alleged that donor funds had been diverted for political purposes.[9] The report, issued by the Ministry of Local Government, named Habineza as one of the people behind "briefcase" NGO's that fleece donors, and named five NGOs as vehicles used by him to obtain funding for political activities.[10]
Political career
editHabineza founded the Democratic Green Party (DGPR) in August 2009 as an alternative to the dominant Rwanda Patriotic Front.[8] In April 2010 three leading members of the DGPR resigned due to disagreements over Habineza's activities. They said that the party was being manipulated by foreigners, and denied statements made by Habineza that Rwanda was helping the UK and the US plunder timber from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and that Rwanda had deployed troops in the DRC.[11] In July 2010 the vice-president of the DGPR, Andre Kagwa Rwisereka, was found dead near a wetland in Butare with his head cut off.[12] He had been repeatedly stabbed. Habineza was among opposition leaders who called for an independent international investigation into the murder, which may have had a political motivation.[13]
Habineza fled Rwanda in August 2010 for Sweden after claiming that his life was in danger following the death of his vice president, Andre Kagwa Rwisereka, ahead of the 2010 presidential elections. Dr. Habineza obtained Swedish citizenship during his exile, but renounced it just before his 2017 run for President.[1]
References
edit- ^ a b "Green Party leader Frank Habineza to end self-exile". The East African. 17 August 2012. Retrieved 14 July 2024.
- ^ "Home". frankhabineza.com.
- ^ Josh Kron (14 July 2010). "Missing Rwandan Opposition Figure Beheaded in Grizzly Attack". Daily Nation. Retrieved 11 August 2010.
- ^ "One Year Struggle of the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda". Rwanda Information Portal. 9 August 2010. Retrieved 11 August 2010.
- ^ "Two opposition lawmakers elected in Rwanda for the first time". Reuters. 5 September 2018. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
- ^ "Frank Habineza's Profile". Democratic Green Party of Rwanda.
- ^ "No New Ideas From Chairman of New Party in Rwanda". Focus Media (Kigali). 12 November 2009. Retrieved 11 August 2010.
- ^ a b "New political party born to counter RPF". Rwanda News Agency. 14 August 2009. Archived from the original on 8 December 2018. Retrieved 11 August 2010.
- ^ Edmund Kagire (19 June 2010). "Environmental NGOs Disown Frank Habineza". The New Times (Rwanda). Retrieved 11 August 2010.
- ^ Edmund Kagire (11 June 2010). "Report Pins Frank Habineza on Sham NGO Racket". New Times. Retrieved 11 August 2010.
- ^ Kennedy Ndahiro (23 April 2010). "Top Green Party Officials Defect". The New Times. Retrieved 11 August 2010.
- ^ Musoke David (14 July 2010). "Opposition Leader Found Dead". Daily Nation. Retrieved 11 August 2010.
- ^ "Opposition Wants Probe into Politician's Death". Radio France Internationale (Paris). 15 July 2010. Retrieved 11 August 2010.