KIGALI - The Speaker of Parliament, Rose Mukantabana, has revealed that the House is prepared for the swearing in of the Cabinet although no specific date has been set.
The Speaker made the remarks yesterday as she officially opened the third ordinary term of the House, the last for the year 2010.

"Part of what we have on the agenda for this term is the observation of the swearing-in of the new Cabinet,” said Mukantabana.

She, however, did not specify the exact date of the ceremony saying that the constitution only specifies when a new Cabinet should be nominated following the Presidential elections, but it doesn’t state the timeframe within which it should be sworn-in.

President Paul Kagame won the August Presidential elections with a landslide victory and announced his intention of maintaining the entire Cabinet, which was later reinstated after Prime Minister Bernard Makuza was sworn-in.

Meanwhile, the Lower Chamber of Deputies started its term by offloading some of its work, some of which had been pending from the previous session.

Top of the agenda was adopting substantial amendments made by the Senate on some bills. This term, the Chamber of Deputies has 72 items that are expected to be looked into by the House.

Among these are 13 bills that will be reviewed and tabled by the joint parliamentary and senatorial committees and six internal reports to be tabled before the plenary session among other businesses. 

Meanwhile, the Senate also started its third term yesterday in a session presided over by the President of the Senate, Dr. Vincent Biruta.

"We have four bills that we will be studying this term and 27 preambles of bills that we will also review. However, this figure is subject to increase depending on the bills that the government may initiate and send to the Lower Chamber,” Biruta said.

Some of the major businesses for the Senate this term include the bill establishing the penal code and amending the organic law establishing the internal rules and regulations of the Senate.

Ends