Members of Parliament have reached more than half of the country in consultations with citizens on calls to amend Article 101 of the Constitution to scrap presidential term limits. 

As senators and deputies began the second week of the consultations, yesterday, they had already covered 272 sectors out of all the 416 sectors countrywide. They intend to reach every sector.

In a joint release yesterday, the lawmakers noted that people have been turning up in large numbers to participate in open forums on key amendments such as of Article 101 of the 2003 Constitution.

A week ago, Members of Parliament started collecting views of Rwandans about the proposed amendment of Article 101 of the Constitution, following demands by nearly four million Rwandans that all obstacles be removed to ensure President Paul Kagame continues leadership after 2017.

"The exercise has attracted massive turnout of citizens in their sectors expressing their views on the clauses that need amendment in the Constitution,” the lawmakers said in the release.

Wherever they went, lawmakers explained in detail the key pillars of the Constitution, the process of amending it, the role of the population in the process and the possible way forward.

The lawmakers said initial feedback from the consultations, largely drawn from week one, points to an overwhelming support for amending Article 101 that sets term limits and other articles that seem outdated or irrelevant to today’s Rwandan society.

Majority root for amendment

The majority of Rwandans who voiced their views during the consultations have so far asked the lawmakers to scrap term limits to allow a head of state to continue leading as long as the people wish for it.

Senate vice-president Jeanne d’Arc Gakuba said people’s wish to scrap presidential term limits is derived from their appreciation of President Paul Kagame’s exemplary leadership, which they wish to retain beyond 2017.

"What they told us is more than the simple letters they wrote in their petitions to Parliament.

Some of them urged us to act quickly to change the Constitution so they can have a chance to vote President Kagame in 2017,” Gakuba said.

Both Senator Gakuba and Abbas Mukama, the Deputy Speaker of Parliament, who coordinated parliamentary teams doing consultations on Article 101 of the Constitution in Western and Southern provinces, told The New Times that the majority of Rwandans who voiced their views during the consultations have so far asked the lawmakers to scrap term limits.

"They insist that they can’t afford to lose President Paul Kagame,” Gakuba said.

Other ideas that have been fronted during the consultations include allowing President Kagame to lead two, three, four, or five more terms, while others called for presidential term limits to be maintained but that a special clause be insterted into the law to allow Kagame to lead one more seven-year mandate.

Those who support the complete scrapping of presidential term limits on the grounds that Kagame is a great leader have also said that people will always have the right to make consultations and remove President Kagame or any other President once they don’t like their leadership anymore.

The countrywide consultations on presidential term limits were initiated as a second step toward amending the Constitution after Parliament debated and approved a consolidated report prepared by both chambers’ bureaus containing the wishes of more than 3.7 million Rwandans who had petitioned Parliament seeking to have Article 101 of the Constitution amended.

As lawmakers continue their visits to other sectors in the country, both the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies and the President of the Senate have called upon Rwandans to continue turning up in big numbers at the forums and freely express their wishes and opinions.

"This is an important debate that will shape the future of our democracy,” said Donatille Mukabalisa, Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies.

"It is, therefore, very important that every Rwandan takes part in these discussions and voice their wishes freely.”

The consultations will continue until August 11, and will cover all the 416 sectors of the country.

Lawmakers will also hold consultative meetings with special interest groups including professional bodies.

After the exercise, the lawmakers will table in Parliament their reports of the consultations and the House will vote on whether they approve the idea to amend Article 101 of the Constitution, which, if approved, will require the electoral commission to organise a referendum for Rwandans to vote on it as it stipulated in Article 193 of the Constitution.

eugene.kwibuka@newtimes.co.rw