The Speaker of Parliament Donatille Mukabalisa on Wednesday, August 4, officially concluded the activities of the lower chamber sending the lawmakers on a one-month break with a call on them to use the safety guidelines available to check on the wellbeing of the constituents in their areas. Mukabalisa reminded the lawmakers that it is almost two years since they have had to manoeuvre around due to Covid-19 challenges but thanked them for their commitment to ensuring that the job was done well. “We are all in the midst of challenging times but it is our duty to continue moving and to ensure that we use the safety precautions in place to check on our constituents who are currently going through challenges posed by this pandemic,” she said. During the concluded session, the lawmakers assessed the basis of 28 bills and passed 23 laws. Mukabalisa pointed out that most of these laws are connected to the establishment of the Kigali International Financial Centre and some are already into force since they already appeared in the national gazette. For the others, the Speaker said that they are being reviewed before being handed over. She reminded that as part of its oversight duties, the parliament had received among others, the Minister of Education, Valentine Uwamariya to respond to concerns raised by the Auditor-General in his 2019 report regarding poor financial management that has been reported at the University of Rwanda for a while. The Parliament also received the Minister of Infrastructure Claver Gatete who was invited to shed light on the issues of poor management of the Water and Sanitation Corporation (WASAC) and Rwanda Energy Group (REG). Extra-ordinary session Before they break off, the lawmakers will return to parliament from Monday, August 9-13 where they spend time approving some urgent laws. They include the one concerning the €85million loan issued by the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) in July this year. The funds will go directly into providing relief to the private sector and will be injected into rebuilding businesses that were hit hard by Covid-19. They will also look at the agreement between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) pertaining to protecting and promoting trade between the two countries. The agreement was signed in the DRC city of Goma in June this year.
