The Cambridge English Dictionary defines a parliament as “a group of elected politicians or other people who make the laws for their country.” The Parliament of Rwanda, consisting two chambers; The Senate and The Chamber of Deputies, was established in 1961 many millenniums after the first parliament was put in place. Several studies say that the oldest parliament in the world is the Icelandic parliament which is said to have started in 930 A.D. It was put in place after Vikings attacked and stole the sea islands of Northern Europe. Called “the Althing”, the inaugural parliament was made up of the country’s most powerful leaders who met to make laws. During the meeting, there was a lögberg (law rock) where the speaker of the gathering sat and would announce decisions out loud to the people. According to the History of Parliament, a British political, social and local history site, the term “parliament” first came into use in 1236. At the time, there were no countries, only kingdoms. As such, kings would periodically invite the most prominent men to a gathering where they would give advice on a few things concerning the kingdom. By mid 1200s, the Roman Empire’s tax law statement, “what touches all shall be approved by all”, had influenced the English kingdom to make decisions that were more inclusive of people in lower social classes. According to Wikipedia, an encyclopaedia, sheriffs would send knights to advise kings on financial matters, such as new taxation laws. However, kings often expected knights to agree rather than advise. Britannica, an encyclopaedia, says that when representation of the commons (this is what they called citizens in lower social castes) grew, the parliament began to comprise opposing sides; people who were in agreement of the king’s policies and those who were opposed to them. Those who were opposed to the policies were often fond of rallying the commons to resist. In essence, the parliament played a hand in the 17th Century English Civil Wars which were based on resistance to the king, and ultimately, led to decline in the power of monarchy. This is according to the National Archives of Britain. According to the New World Encyclopaedia, when Kingdoms gave way to republics, people demanded more and more decision making power until there were democracies. Democracies granted majority rule so that decision making involved citizens. With Europe’s conquest of other countries, democracy and subsequently the idea of parliamentary representation were introduced.
