Fundamental Principles
Senior 3 · History and Citizenship
Fundamental Principles
Lesson 1 of 4
25 min
Most of a constitution tells you how the state works: who makes laws, who judges, how long a president serves. A few lines tell you what the state is for. In the Constitution of the Republic of Rwanda those lines are in Article 10. Read the source below before you read anything about it.
Article 10: Fundamental principles
The State of Rwanda commits itself to upholding and ensuring respect for the following fundamental principles:
(a) prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide, fight against denial and revisionism of genocide as well as eradication of genocide ideology and all its manifestations;
(b) eradication of discrimination and divisionism based on ethnicity, region or any other ground, as well as promotion of national unity;
(c) equitable power-sharing;
(d) building a State governed by the rule of law, a pluralistic democratic Government, equality of all Rwandans and between women and men which is affirmed by women occupying at least 30% of positions in decision-making organs;
(e) building a State committed to promoting social welfare and establishing appropriate mechanisms for equal opportunity to social justice;
(f) constant quest for solutions through dialogue and consensus.
Constitution of the Republic of Rwanda of 2003, revised in 2015 and 2023, Article 10 (official English text, Official Gazette N° Special of 4 August 2023).
Notice the verb: the State commits itself. Article 10 is a promise that binds every government, whichever party or person is in office.
Definition
Constitution: the supreme law of a country. It sets up the organs of the state, divides power between them, and lists the rights and duties of citizens. Article 3 of Rwanda's Constitution says: "The Constitution is the supreme law of the country" and "A law, a decision or an act contrary to this Constitution is without effect."
Fundamental principle: a basic rule or value on which the whole state is built, which every law and every public decision must respect. Example: equitable power sharing is a fundamental principle, so a government made up of one party only would go against the Constitution.
The Constitution opens with a preamble (an introduction that states the people's reasons and aims). It then has chapters: Chapter II describes the Republic, Chapter III, "Fundamental principles and home-grown solutions", holds Articles 10 and 11, and Chapter IV lists human rights and freedoms. Putting the principles before the rights and before the organs of government shows their rank: they are the foundation on which the rest is read.
Article 10 did not appear from nowhere. Rwanda wrote its Constitution after the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, in which more than a million people were killed. The preamble says the people are "CONSCIOUS of the Genocide committed against the Tutsi that decimated more than 1,000,000 sons and daughters of Rwanda". The six principles are the nation's answer to the causes of that catastrophe: decades of discrimination, divisive politics, power held by one group, impunity and violence instead of dialogue.
Figure 1. From 1994 to today. The principles were written into the 2003 Constitution and kept in the revisions of 2015 and 2023. The 2023 revision mainly allowed presidential and parliamentary elections to be held together.
Definition
Genocide ideology: ideas, words or acts that aim to destroy, or encourage others to destroy, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.
Genocide denial (also called negationism): saying that a genocide did not happen, or minimising it. Revisionism: twisting the facts of a genocide, for example by claiming that it was not planned, or that the killers and the victims suffered the same crime. Both are crimes in Rwanda.
Divisionism: spreading hatred or division between people on grounds such as ethnicity, region, religion or origin.
| Principle | What it means | One place you can see it |
|---|---|---|
| (a) Fighting genocide, its denial and its ideology | Genocide must be prevented and punished, and nobody may deny it, distort it or spread the ideas that lead to it. | Kwibuka, the national commemoration that begins every year on 7 April. |
| (b) No discrimination or divisionism; national unity | No one may be treated worse because of ethnicity, region or any other ground. Rwandans are united as Rwandans. | Rwandan identity cards no longer record the categories Hutu, Tutsi and Twa, which colonial rule had written on them. |
| (c) Equitable power sharing | No single party or group may take all power. | Article 62: the President of the Republic and the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies cannot come from the same political organisation. |
| (d) Rule of law, pluralistic democracy, equality | Everyone, leaders included, is under the law; several political organisations compete; men and women are equal, with at least 30% women in decision-making organs. | Seats in the Chamber of Deputies are kept for women, so women can never fall below the minimum. |
| (e) Social welfare and social justice | The state looks after vulnerable people and gives everyone a fair chance. | Article 51 on the welfare of persons with disabilities and other needy persons. |
| (f) Dialogue and consensus | Problems are solved by talking until people agree, not by force. | The National Umushyikirano Council (Article 141) and the Abunzi Committee (Article 142). |
Definition
Rule of law: the principle that everyone, including the government, is subject to the same laws, applied by independent courts.
Pluralistic democracy: a democracy in which several political organisations and opinions may exist and compete.
Equitable power sharing: dividing power fairly so that no party or group holds all of it.
Consensus: a decision that everyone involved can accept after discussion.
Worked example: using an article as evidence
Question: Explain how Article 62 of the Constitution puts the principle of equitable power sharing into practice. (4 marks)
Step 1. Name the principle. Equitable power sharing is the third principle in Article 10.
Step 2. Quote or describe the evidence. Article 62 says that "The President of the Republic and the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies cannot come from the same political organisation." It also says that "a political organisation holding the majority of seats in the Chamber of Deputies cannot have more than 50% of Cabinet members."
Step 3. Explain the link. The head of the executive and the head of the legislature must come from different organisations, and even the winning party must leave at least half of the Cabinet posts to others. So power at the top of the state is always shared.
Step 4. Conclude. Article 62 turns a general promise into rules that can be checked after every election.
Warning
Do not mix up three different parts of the Constitution. The fundamental principles are in Article 10. The national symbols (flag, motto, seal and anthem) are in Article 9. Human rights and freedoms start in Chapter IV. An exam question on "fundamental principles" wants the six points of Article 10.
Tip
Remember the six with "G-U-P-L-W-D": Genocide fought, Unity without discrimination, Power shared, Law, democracy and equality, Welfare and justice, Dialogue and consensus. Say it as "Good Unity Protects Law, Welfare and Dialogue".
Article 10 says women must hold at least thirty percent of positions in decision-making organs. Why do you think the drafters wrote a minimum rather than an exact figure? Would the principle of equality be better served by a minimum of 50%? Give one argument on each side.
Practice
Sources and credits
This lesson adapts CC BY-SA material and is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
