Mitali opts for cabinet, drops Parliamentary seat

KIGALI - The president of the Liberal party (PL) Protais Mitali is not on the list of legislators scheduled to swear in for their parliamentary seats today. Mitali dropped his recently won Parliamentary seat in order to retain his cabinet seat as a Minister for Youth. He is replaced by Charles Kamanda who was number five on the Liberal Party list of 52 candidates. “It was a question of incompatibility of the two offices…I cannot do Parliamentary work as well as Ministerial work, so I chose to remain in Ministerial office,” Mitali said yesterday on phone. He said that he wrote to the National Electoral Commission informing it of his decision. He added that his party followed the law to replace him with Charles Kamanda. Chrysologue Karangwa, the chairman of National Electoral Commission confirmed the development. Charles Kamanda told The New Times that he was happy to receive the news that he would go to Parliament. On September 15, 2008 Rwandans thronged polling stations to vote for their legislators in the second Parliamentary elections since the 1994 Rwanda Genocide. The elections were lauded by both international and local observers as highly organized and free of malpractises. Ends