Members of Parliament in the Lower Chamber of the House and senators will today hold initial debates to examine petitions sent by millions of Rwandans to amend Article 101 of the Constitution. The public has been invited to attend the debate in Parliament and follow closely in the media how the country’s legislators handle the demands for the change of an article in the Constitution that limits the head of state to only two seven-year terms in office. “We would like to invite you to the parliamentary sittings that will examine the relevance of the people’s petitions submitted to the parliament asking for the amendment of the article 101 of the constitution on presidential terms,” Parliament said in a release yesterday. The sittings will take place simultaneously and separately in both plenary halls—the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate—starting from 9am. Unlike other full House plenary sessions which normally happen in the afternoon at 3pm, the debate on article 101 will take place in the morning to allow Rwandans from different parts of the country to attend the proceedings. “It’s going to be in the morning to allow Rwandans to follow the proceedings,” Donatille Mukabalisa, the Speaker of Parliament, told the legislators yesterday. Millions of Rwandans have petitioned Parliament to amend article 101 of the Constitution to remove presidential term limits calling for President Paul Kagame to run for a third term in office in the 2017 presidential elections. editorial@newtimes.co.rw
