INTRODUCTION

Paper drafted by Dr. Erasme Rwanamiza, Director General of Education Planning in the Ministry of Education, in reference to talking points he developed for and delivered at the ceremony of closing IRDP’s 2013 National Creative Arts Competition in Schools that was be held in IRDP’s premises at Gisozi on 15th September 2013, where he was representing the Hon. Minister of Education. This event was also an occasion to celebrate the International Peace Day around the topic ‘Education for Peace’. The Representative of the Swedish Cooperation was also present at the event where she delivered some remarks at the opening just before the Opening Remarks that were made by the Hon. Minister of Youth and ICT.

INTRODUCTION

In democratic societies, power is owned by the people who use it through vote casting and institutional control. The constitution considered as a social agreement determines the way institutions are organized and ensures the balance of power so as to avoid arbitrary power. Power is shared among these institutions in such a way that each one of them corrects or compensates what the other is lacking. Montesquieu uses the expression “power is controlled by power”.

During the Age of Enlightenment, philosophers supported Montesquieu’s statement as they advocated the theory of power separation which has given its full meaning to modern democracy. Power does not belong to one person who has the right to decide on the destiny of the citizens. Power belongs to the people who use it through the executive power, the legislative power and the judicial power. A majority of countries in modern societies including Rwanda have adopted this power separation principle whose implementation varies from one government to another. Even if power separation is a constitutional principle since independence, its efficient implementation has always been a serious problem in Rwanda until now.