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Executive Branch Reform – 1995

The National Unity Government was in place between July 1994 and 2003 (2003 being the last year of observation in the database). The government had finalized an eight point program in July 1994 forming the basis of the agenda of the National Unity Government, to which the prime minister, in September 1995, said still committed.¹ On 8 March 2000, Prime Minister Pierre-Celestin Rwigema resigned on charges of corruption and was replaced by Bertrand Makuza from the same political party (MRD).² Similarly, on 23 March 2000, Rwanda’s Hutu President, Pasteur Bizimungu–in power for almost five years since the genocide of 1994, resigned, thus paving the way for the accession of Vice President and Defense Minister Paul Kagame, who led the RPF rebel force and established it as a more powerful actor on the Rwandan political stage.³ Although the National Unity Government was in place, the reforms sought in the executive branch of the government were not implemented, partly because the president and the prime minister functioned as ceremonial heads of the state and the government, respectively, while real power resided with the defense minister and vice president, Paul Kagame.

On 29 September 2003, elections for National Assembly took place in which RPF won 40, PSD 7, PL 6. The National Assembly was comprised of only 53 seats.⁴ This effectively ended the power-sharing legislature and provided for increased political influence by the RPF, a former rebel group.

1. “New Prime Minister Says He Will Continue With Government Programme,” BBC Summary of World Broadcasts, September 4, 1995
2. “Mazuka Appointed Rwanda Premier,” Associated Press Online, March 8, 2000
3. “Rwanda’s Post-Genocide Hutu President Quits,” Agence France Presse, March 23, 2000
4. “The World Factbook-2003,” CIA, 2003, accessed September 11, 2011, http://www.theodora.com/wfb2003/rwanda/rwanda_government.html.