The Supreme Court has ruled that both chambers of Rwanda Parliament can hold their plenary sessions virtually in case of ‘force majeure’ – unexpected circumstances that are insurmountable – such as the Covid-19 pandemic.

The ruling delivered on February 4, 2021, was signed by four Supreme Court judges headed by Chief Justice Faustin Ntezilyayo.

It comes after the Covid-19 pandemic had threatened the Parliament’s Government oversight and legislating work as the plenary sessions of both chambers could not be held in their respective halls.

The 2003 constitution of the Republic of Rwanda which was amended in 2015 provides that Chambers of Parliament hold their plenary sittings at designated buildings in the Capital City, except in the event of force majeure confirmed by the Supreme Court at the request of the President of the Senate or the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies.

In case the Supreme Court is unable to sit, the supreme law stipulates that the President of the Republic determines by decree the venue where the Parliament holds its sittings.

On February 3, 2021, the Supreme Court received a letter from the President of the Senate and that of the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies requesting that their respective plenary sessions be held from venues other than their plenary sitting halls.

In their letters, they requested the Supreme Court to allow them to hold plenary sittings virtually – through use of technology.

Their request was based on the fact that they could not hold their plenary sittings based on the grounds that there are measures taken to curb the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic including the decisions of the Cabinet meeting held on February 2, 2021, especially that prohibiting physical meetings.

The Supreme Court analysed the request of both chambers in a conference of judges on February 4, 2021.

It held that the Covid-19 pandemic and the measures that the Government put in place to protect its people from it are a force majeure, while the plenary sessions of each chamber consist of many people who cannot meet physically without exposing themselves to significant risk of infection.  

The Senate of Rwanda is made up of 26 members, while the Chamber of Deputies has 80 members.

It decided that as long as such limitations still exist, nothing can prevent the plenary sittings of the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies to take place through use of technology, and make resolutions in compliance with the legislation.

"Because of such reasons, based on article 69 of the aforementioned Constitution, it (the Supreme Court) finds that the plenary sitting of the Senate and that of the Chamber of Deputies must be allowed to convene by use of technology and necessarily in their standard halls,” the decision, written in Kinyarwanda, reads in part.

Meanwhile, the Parliament will virtually begin the second ordinary session of the 2020/2021 fiscal year on Friday, February 5, 2021.