Tight schedule awaits Parliament from recess

Both chambers of Parliament resume business today when the second ordinary session gets underway. The senators and deputies will be returning to tackle a rather tight schedule loaded with some of the items that have ignited a great deal of public interest in the bicameral parliament’s upcoming business – at least for the coming weeks or months. One notable Order of Business for this session of Parliament is consideration and adoption of the next National Budget, with the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, Claver Gatete, due to unveil his 2015/16 Budgetary Estimates to both chambers of Parliament next Thursday. During a recent extraordinary session, Parliament passed the Budget Framework spanning the next three financial years. In the Budget Framework Paper, tabled in Parliament last month, the government put the Budget for the next financial year at Rwf1.768 trillion, representing an increase of Rwf5.9 billion compared to Rwf1.762 trillion for the current Budget. And, with Members of Parliament having identified a Rwf50-billion gap in what they described as “priority projects” whose cost the government had not included in the Budget Framework, it remains to be seen whether Gatete’s final Budget Estimates will capture the MPs’ proposals. MP Constance Mukayuhi Rwaka, the chairperson of the standing Committee on National Budget and Patrimony, while presenting the committee’s analysis of the Budget Framework Paper recently, said government did not need to look for extra funds to cover the gap but rather to make a few adjustments in sector allocations within the available means. “We are not asking the government to increase the budget because the funds may not be available, but we are asking for the replacement of any unnecessary spending with the priority projects that we have identified,” she said. “And if the projects can’t be funded in the next financial year, then they could be integrated into the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF).” Also up for consideration next week is the written explanation by the State Minister for Energy, Water and Sanitation, Germaine Kamayirese, about the state of sanitation in the country, after she previously failed to convince the Chamber of Deputies in her initial appearance. She is expected to return to the August House next Tuesday, according to tentative Lower House’s agenda for next week. Third term issue Meanwhile, during the course of the second ordinary session, Parliament will also debate on whether or not to call for a referendum to vote on the proposal to amend Article 101 of the Constitution that, in its current form, bars President Paul Kagame from seeking re-election when his current term in office expires in 2017. Parliament has over the last couple of months received millions of public petitions from people of all walks of life across the country, who are demanding a referendum on the issue of term limits, reckoning that Rwandans would go on to lift the restriction which would allow President Kagame to stand again. Speaking to The New Times, yesterday, the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Donatille Mukabalisa, confirmed that the Lower House’s Bureau, comprising of the Speaker and both Deputy Speakers, as well as the chairpersons of all the standing committees, had placed the issue on the agenda of the House for the new session. The session begins today through August 4. “It is public knowledge that so many people have petitioned Parliament seeking a referendum on the Constitution and we have therefore placed it on the agenda of the next session,” she said. She said more petitions were still coming in and they would communicate the exact number of petitioners once the issue is up for debate in the plenary session in the near future. Petitioners say they derive legitimacy to seek the lifting of term limits from Article 193 of the Constitution, which indicates that Article 101 can only be amended through a referendum upon approval by both chambers of Parliament. Parliament has also received at least one petition from an opposition political party, the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda, seeking to retain presidential term limits – maximum of two terms. President Kagame has previously stated that he belonged to the side that wanted the Constitution unchanged but encouraged a healthy debate over the issue. Also on the agenda during the session that kicks off today is consideration of the Bill establishing and governing the long-awaited Maternity Leave Benefits Scheme, which was tabled in the House last month. The government wants the scheme to be operational by next month (when the next financial year begins) to allow working mothers to take their 12-week maternity leave with full salary. Under the scheme, employers will be required to pay women on maternity leave a full salary for the first six weeks, while the last six weeks will be covered by the Fund, to which both employers and employees will contribute. The Bill was received with a standing ovation at Parliament last month, and the lawmakers will be expected to expedite it to beat the June 30 deadline. Under the docket of government oversight, Parliament is also expected to be busy during the second ordinary session of the year. There are two major reports that are pending and MPs will have been keen to clear them – Auditor General’s report for the Financial Year 2013/14 (to be first scrutinised by members of the Public Accounts Committee) and the report by a parliamentary inquiry into alleged mismanagement in the health sector. As is the norm, PAC is expected to summon officials whose institutions featured prominently in the Auditor-General’s report on issues related to possible misappropriation, mismanagement, diversion and misallocation of taxpayers’ money. The committee has spent the last few weeks internalising the AG’s report individually and consulting among themselves. It is also expected that the tabling of the report from the investigations into the health sector, specifically on the performance of the community health insurance scheme, Mutuelle de Santé, will result into the summoning of relevant officials to explain more on the findings. The public insurance scheme, which has registered a decline in the number of subscribers over the last few years, is due to be moved from under the Ministry of Health to Rwanda Social Security Board. editorial@newtimes.co.rw

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Tight schedule awaits Parliament from recess