Sunday,11,July the Speaker of Rwandan Parliament has explained to Rwandans about its achievements.The Show,a very hot one, was organised by Radio stations Isango Star,Inkoramutima and Radio Rwanda Inteko.
At the Isango Star,Presenters of the Show,Solange Ayanone and Muvunyi welcomed the invited guests:Madame Rose Mukantabana the Speaker of the Parliament, Augustin Habimana,in charge of communication and media outreach in the House, and the Mr Mugabe Robert, a journalist.
After introducing the topic of the show that is to assess the achievements of the Parliament and reminding that its term expired last week,Muvunyi asked the Speaker what the house has achieved.
Madame Mukantabana told issues relating to the setting and studying bills,issues regarding the assessment of the government actions and representing the population were the key elements the House has studied and developed.
“Before I proceed ,let me remind listeners we have three powers that are separated in Rwanda and each of them has its independence of actions” The Speaker underlined.
During the show ,the Speaker said that the Parliament has studied 394,among which 312 were approved and others will b studied in the coming term.
Mugabe Robert the Journalist thanked the Speaker for her contributions in the achievements of the House during the ending term.
“You have played a remarkable role in the debate concerning the accusations regarding the Rwandan support to M23 rebels.The Parliament has done a lot in the setting of penal code and other bills relative to Rwandans and was a big achievement fro you during a term full of challenges” Mugabe told the Speaker of the Parliament.
For Mugabe the Parliament did not achieved its mission as regard to use its independence on voting and stating bills.
“How can the Executive Power give orders to Legislative Power in other words how the President of the Republic order the Parliament to remove a radio station fro the Parliament and it happened”Mugabe wonders.
Different bills such as the one regarding the Abortion,Homosexuality,… were among the most controversial ones during the debate.Rose Mukantabana said that the vote for abortion has been adopted due to the fact that some women or girls might be violated and got pregnant.
For the Speaker,this bill was adopted in order to protect the mother who is forced to give birth to an baby unwillingly,highlighting the examples of women who were violated during the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi.We adopt laws that are protective for a big majority of Rwandans.
Solange Ayanone asked the Speaker why the House reassesses bills very often
.“Does it mean that parliamentarians are not good at studying these bills before their approval”?She asked .
“Not at all”responded the Speaker.
“We revise bills because we want to update them according to the current situation and claims from the civil society that some bills need adjustments” The Speaker said.
One of the issues discussed about during the show concerned the fact that representatives do not visit the local population in order to understand their concerns and advocate for them to be resolved.About this,the Speaker said that more parliamentarians make field outreach.
“I myself do sign a field visit for a parliamentarian every day” the Speaker said.
The Speaker explained that the House has invited different Ministers,including the Prime Minister, to explain to the House of Representatives about key issues relative to national life such as the War in DRC,whereby Rwanda is accused to back the M23 Rebels.
She said that this is done for the population to understand the working system of the Government.
During this ending term of the Parliament,different Commissions have been created to investigate on corruption issues such as the one of Ntaruka power plant.
The Speaker said that the writters of the first report on the mismanagement of the Ntaruka Project agreed they were mistaken.
“They found other documents that testified that some of the suspects are innocent and thus we removed them from the list” she said.
“The guilty ones will pay back the money” The Speaker said adding that the role of the Parliament is not to judge .
‘Judgement and punishments concern the juridical and executive powers’ she continued
At the International level,the Parliament has expressed its concerns on the accusations against Rwanda,that it backs M23 Rebels in North Kivu.
The House has invited Minister of Defense, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Finance and Economic Plan to tell to the House what the suspension of the economic aid can bring about as a consequence to Rwandans and Rwandan economy.
At the end of the Show Muvunyi asked Mugabe what journalists did to mobilize the population on the Parliamentary operations during this ending term.
“Our duties are to inform on what is going well and what goes wrong so to help both sides,citizens and political authorities,find ways for positive change”Mugabe responded
For Mugabe,the upcoming House will should develop the culture of debate where people from different backgrounds can give ideas freely on serious issues of the national life.
The Show ended up by reading the e-mails and text messages of listeners who mostly advocated for a closer cooperation between Parliamentarians and citizens.
Muvunyi reminded listeners that the US Embassy in Kigali re-opened its doors after one due to the terrorist attack threat from the Al Quaeda.
This Show is a weekly show that brings together different media experts,politicians and civil society activities in order to debate or discuss on issues of nation interests.It is presented by Radio stations Isango Star and Inkoramutima under the support of the European Union.
The aim is to strengthen the spirit of debate among Rwandans.It takes place Sunday Morning from 9 to 10 AM
NIZEYIMANA Jean Pierre
UM– USEKE.RW
