Barely one year to the end of the current Chamber of Deputies, three seats in the chamber remain vacant.The seats fell vacant in a spell of two years when former MPs Dr Aisa Kirabo Kacyira, now the Mayor of Kigali City, Penelope Kantarama, the Western Province Governor and Jacqueline Mukangira, the Rwandan Ambassador to Scandinavian countries based in Sweden clinched their present postings.

Subsequently, by-elections to fill the seats were held in February while the other was already next in line of the RPF parliamentary list but the MPs-elect are yet to join the House.

They are Liberata Irambona, Justine Begumisa (both Eastern Province) and Valentine Nizeyimana, have not heard news about their swearing-in schedule seven months down the line.

Irambona and Begumisa replaced Kirabo and Kantarama respectively, as the latter two joined the House on the ticket of women electorate in the Eastern Province.

Mukangira was representing RPF, and thus supposed to be replaced by Nizeyimana, who was next in line on the party’s 2003 list of parliamentary candidates.

Irambona, 35, holds a Bachelor’s degree in Clinical Psychology from the University of Agriculture, Technology and Education in Kibungo (UNATEK) in Eastern Province.

Begumisa has a Masters in Law from the Pretoria University in South Africa and a Bachelors degree in Law from the National University of Rwanda (NUR).

Prior to the elections, Irambona was the coordinator of NEC in the Eastern Province, a post she resigned from to contest for the parliamentary seat.

Bugimisa too resigned from her job to vie for the seat.
According to the law, a candidate standing for a parliamentary post has to first resign all other duties before the elections.

Conflicts
Irambona and Begumisa have however previously clashed with some top government officials who are now suspected to have plotted to block the swearing-in ceremony.

A source from the Eastern Province said that after the by-elections, Irambona claimed that some district officials were trying to block her from joining the August House.

She is alleged to have sent ‘her foes’ abusive e-mails after her victory.

The source said that some of the officials who received the e-mails include some district mayors in the Eastern Province.

The source added that the officials from the district may have influenced the delay for the swearing-in function.

However, the Governor of Eastern Province Theoneste Mutsindashyaka said he was unaware of the alleged e-mails saying that was news to him.

In another development, another senior government official who preferred anonymity told The New Times that in 2004 Begumisa applied for a job of a prosecutor in the former Kigali Ngali Province.
She got the job and worked for some time before she wrote to the then Justice minister Edda Mukabagwiza requesting for leave without pay to pursue a Masters degree.

"She waited for a response from the minister’s office in vain,” the source said.

After waiting for more than three weeks, Begumisa left for South Africa for further studies.

According to labour law, if a public servant writes requesting for leave and does not get a response in a period of three weeks, the applicant may go consider the request as granted.

Subsequently, Mukabagwiza is alleged to have taken the matter to Cabinet and influenced it to fire Begumisa from the civil service.

Furthermore, information from the Prime Minister’s office indicates that Begumisa once applied for a job of a legal officer in the Premier’s office and passed the interview. 

A highly placed source from the Ministry of Public Service also said that Begumisa passed the interviews and was given an appointment letter as the legal officer in the Prime Minister’s Office.

However, the Director General in the Prime Minister’s Office Vincent Rubayiza said that Begumisa did both oral and written interviews but never passed.

"I know her as someone who once applied for a job here. She was short listed for interviews but never passed,” Rubayiza said.

But sources say that Mukabagwiza went ahead and convinced the Prime Minister’s office not to take up Begumisa even after giving her the appointment.

Sources claimed that Mukabagwiza colluded with Prime Minister Bernard Makuza and the Minister for Presidency Solina Nyirahabimana to foil Begumisa’s new appointment.

However Rubayiza declined to give further comments, saying he was attending to his visitors.

Mukabagwiza, who is currently the Rwandan Ambassador to Canada, could not answer her cellular phone when contacted.

This reporter sent an email seeking her side of the story but, she had not responded by the time we went to press.

Both Makuza and Nyirahabimana could not be reached for comment.

Who’s responsible?

Irambona told The New Times recently: "I resigned my job as the law states to stand as a woman representative in Parliament, won the election but surprisingly ever since that time, I have not been called to swear in.”

She added: "Currently, I am not working anywhere and I get no pay; I guess my colleague (Begumisa) is also undergoing the same situation. We are jobless yet we had jobs before we were elected to represent our fellow women.”

Normally, after elections, NEC sends a report to Parliament and the Cabinet showing results.

Subsequent to that, Parliament and State Protocol jointly organise the swearing in ceremonies.  NEC’s director in charge of elections, Charles Munyaneza, said that the commission played its part.

He explained: "We followed all the procedures as required by the law and later compiled a report that indicated the results of the elections.
"It’s not the responsibility of NEC to arrange for swearing in; we are only responsible for conducting elections and screening the credentials of the candidate.”

However, the Director of Cabinet Maj. Gen. Frank Mugambage denied State Protocol is supposed to arrange such ceremonies.
"It’s not exactly the responsibly of the State Protocol; it is Parliament’s duty to arrange the swearing-in ceremony in consultation with the President’s Office,” he said.

However, Mugambage said that the swearing-in for the MPs-elect had been arranged and would take place soon.

Asked to explain the delay, he said: "I think Parliament is in good position to answer that though what I know is that there is a procedure that doesn’t take just a week, it takes long.”

Deputy Speaker in charge of Administration and Finance, Yvonne Uwayisenga, said that the preparation for the swearing-in was being planned but didn’t give the exact dates.

"It might take place anytime from now,” Uwayisenga said.
She explained: "The (Chamber of Deputies) Bureau has been discussing the swearing-in of those people and we expect to have the function anytime.”

Business as usual
Despite, the three vacant seats, Parliamentary operations have not been affected.

"The Parliament cannot be affected by the absence of only three people,” MP Jean Marie Gatabazi said.

Asked whether MPs made any inquiries about the delay, he said: "Its not our duty, we can only make inquiries if there is a crisis of over ten or twenty MPs missing in the house for undefined reasons.”

Deputy Juvenile Nkusi also concurred with Gatabazi but denied that it could have been the reason for the MPs to ignore the delayed swearing-in.

"I can’t confess that the concerned parties were negligent in swearing-in these MPs elect.

I can only say that it is Parliament that is supposed to organise the ceremony and invite the President to preside over the function,” Nkusi said.

He charged that the government should pay the MPs-elect since they had been elected and only waiting to be sworn-in. He said that they (MPs elect) have another chance of going to the parliament next year without going to polls again.

"It’s up to their constituency to decide whether to maintain them as their candidates since they did not serve in parliament,” Nkusi said.

Ends