Members of both chambers of parliament yesterday, separately, supported wishes of millions of Rwandans to amend article 101 of the constitution and allow President Paul Kagame to lead the country beyond 2017.

The two chambers; the Lower House  and the Senate, yesterday held separate sessions in which legislators spoke widely about their support for the amendment of the article.

VIDEO: Term Limits: Rwanda parliament backs public petitions. Source: The New Times/YouTube

In a move that is seen as the initial step towards a national referendum on scrapping presidential term limits, the legislators agreed to initiate countrywide consultations as soon as possible to have more people have their say on the amendment of article 101 of the Constitution.

Some 3,784,586 Rwandans from different backgrounds wrote to both the Lower House and the Senate, asking for the initiation of the process to amend article 101 of the Constitution.

They want President Kagame’s continued stewardship owing to his track-record in ensuring unity and reconciliation among Rwandans and revamping the country’s economy, essentially improving the living standards of all Rwandans.

"Rwandans who wrote to Parliament say that President Kagame has the love, the will, and the ability to help them and they want him to lead them beyond 2017,” said Deputy Speaker Jeanne d’Arc Uwimanimpaye while presenting the a report to the Chamber of Deputies on people’s petitions to amend the Constitution.

Hundreds Rwandans packed the public galleries of both chambers to witness firsthand the debate.

Senator Marie Claire Mukasine clarified that the people’s request was constitutional citing a number of articles that concur with the amendment procedures, one being article 40 of the organic law governing the Senate as well as article 193 of the Constitution.

"This shows the level of democracy we have in the country; members of the public have exercised their right in following constitutional procedures in seeking the leader of their choice,” she said.

MP Speciose Mukandutiye, a member of the ruling Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) Inkotanyi, said that Article 101 of the Constitution has to be amended to allow people to have the candidate of their choice.

"Today is the day we have to show that we won’t disappoint people who have spoken up; we have to support their wishes and Article 101 has to be amended,” Mukandutiye said.

"What we are doing today should convince President Kagame to heed the request of Rwandans,” said Abbas Mukama, who is also a deputy speaker.

Majority endorsement

The Chamber of Deputies, which had all the 80 MPs present, saw 79 lawmakers support the basis of the petitions to change Article 101 of the Constitution. One vote was invalid.

The 26-member Senate endorsed the petitions by 23 out of 24 senators who were available in the House with one invalid vote.

The majority senators said that any obstacles against President Kagame continuing to lead Rwandans should be removed.

The two chambers also backed the proposal to update the Constitution by looking at all articles that may be outdated.

According to Article 193 of the Constitution, a referendum on proposed amendment of the presidential term limits can take place after the proposal has been backed by a three-quarters majority of both chambers of Parliament.

With Parliament deciding to conduct countrywide consultations on making constitutional amendments, the next course of action – after the consultations – will be to vote on whether to run a referendum on proposed amendment of the presidential term limits.

"Adopting the report of citizens seeking to amend the constitution is one step among many procedures to have the President of the Republic back after 2017,” said Senator Tito Rutaremara.

"Members of the public should wait until all procedures of the constitution and those of the political party are well respected.”