A week is enough to sensitise Rwandans on Referendum, says Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker of the lower chamber of Parliament, Abbas Mukama, has said that seven days were enough to explain the clauses that are going to be amended in the constitution ahead of the referendum on December 18th. “As members of parliament, we act on the will of the people we represent. The review wasn’t short at all because by the time throngs of citizens lined up at parliament to request for the amendment of Article 101, mentally, they knew that their wish would be acted on accordingly. Actually, we are the ones who delayed them,” he said. He added that petitions started coming in almost six months ago and for the citizens, the waiting is well-overdue. He further said that if it was a request by the Executive, things would have been different, but with the people’s will, that’s where all constitutional power comes from. Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Abbas Mukama. (Timothy Kisambira) Members of Parliament and the Senate commenced sensitisation activities in 416 sectors across the country on Friday to explain how they executed the people’s request to amended Article 101 of the constitution and other amendments that were made during the process. Among other things, Mukama also said that they will engage the citizens on other changes made in the constitution; explain to what referendum is all about and how they can exercise their right to make decisions for themselves. “We intend to explain to them all matters relating to the referendum and how it is important for them to take part in it. We shall also explain some changes we made in the constitution. For example, Senators and The Chief Justice had their term limits changed from one term of eight years to five years of two terms. We did this to streamline their working operations,” he added. He also added that while most people had petitioned that the constitution be amended to remove term limits, instead they decreased the number of presidential term limits from two terms of seven years to two terms of five years. “We made changes in term limits for senators and the chief justice in order to streamline their work. We also changed the preamble to constitution by adding our fore fathers who fought the liberation of this country so that it can raise a spirit of patriotism among the people,” he added. Voting will take place on December 18 across the country with polling stations open from 7am and close at 3pm. Over six million voters are expected to participate. The Diaspora will cast their votes on December 17. editorial@newtimes.co.rw

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A week is enough to sensitise Rwandans on Referendum, says Deputy Speaker