Senate passes constitutional amendments

Senators yesterday approved constitutional amendments, forwarding the draft Constitution to the Lower House for a final parliamentary endorsement. Senators for the past two weeks made a number of changes to the draft, ranging from the format, to content and the structure. At least 30 provisions of the 177 draft legislation were changed – 25 of them were modified, while the remaining 122 were left untouched. Proposed articles on presidential terms (101) and transitional provisions (172) of the law were not revised by the Senators. Benard Makuza, the Senate President, explained that the Lower Chamber, which initiated the amendments, will first have to agree on the modifications made by the Senate, before they can adopt the final draft law. “The changes will be subject to another review by members of the Lower House, in case they don’t agree with our proposals, there would be a need for a joint committee to co-review the changes, which will again need to be approved in a joint sitting,” he said. Makuza told journalists that the whole process of amending the constitution involved 15 stages, 13 of which have now been closed within four months. Among the changes made by the Senate are those relating to power sharing, political pluralism, functions of political organisations, media functions and power of the Parliament. Earlier, senators had raised concerns on power sharing with respect to how coalitions during elections should be formed, an issue which was left to be resolved by organic law governing the parliament. The revised constitution has also seen some new provisions at the Senate level, including articles relating to national dialogue, replacement of a member of the Chamber of Deputies and immunity for Members of Parliament and procedures for their prosecution. According to Senator Chrysologue Karangwa, there was earlier confusion on how power is shared at the government level after a multiparty coalition during elections. “Article 62, section three, which provides for how members of the Cabinet should be selected, is a bit confusing especially in case of coalition of political organisations prior to any elections if we are to consider proportionality principles,” he said. The same article states that Cabinet members are selected from political organisations on the basis of seats held by such political organisations in the Chamber of Deputies. However, a political organisation holding the majority of seats in the Chamber of Deputies shall not exceed 50 per cent of all members of Cabinet. Other competent persons may be appointed to Cabinet. Other concerns expressed by Senators touched the new provisions on the last national authority to handle authentic interpretations of laws. “We have seen that, unlike before, authentic interpretations will be handled by Supreme Court as opposed to the Parliament; can’t this provide room for abuses or conflicts of interest? Why give it to the supreme court which is often laden with a tight schedule,” asked Senator Jacqueline Muhongayire. Jean Nepomuscene Sindikubwabo, the chairperson of the senatorial political standing committee that revised the amendments, explained that coalition of political parties does not necessarily guarantee power sharing since after elections parties maintain their independence. This can only happen when the party has fused with another; in that respect the authority that appoints Cabinet members will consider members of that party as coming from one, since they will be sharing the same ideology and vision, he explained. Sindikubwabo added that the Parliament had entrusted the Supreme Court as the last authority to interpret all laws, therefore, finding no excuse for failure to interpret the national constitution. Other changes are about right to call for a referendum, from which members of the public and Supreme Court can as well call for a referendum unlike in the past, where it was only provided through the power vested in the President. The same amendments show that organic law, in the actual hierarchy supersedes international treaties and ordinary law, which was the opposite in the past. The Lower House of Parliament in October unanimously voted to reduce presidential term limits from seven to five years renewable once. The change will be preceded by one transitional presidential term of seven years for which President Paul Kagame, should he choose to run, will be eligible. Should the revised constitution be endorsed by Parliament, it will be subject to a national referendum. editorial@newties.co.rw

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Senate passes constitutional amendments