Three vacant seats in the Lower Chamber of Parliament will be filled today as new legislators today take oath before the President of the Republic. New comers in the August House are Jean Damascene Murara, Dr. Ezechias Rwabuhihi and Jean Baptiste Zimurinda, who are respectively replacing Beatrice Nirere, Professor Bikoro Munyanganizi and Gerald Ntwari. “I don’t have the full details of the programme at the moment, but it is confirmed,” Denis Polisi, the Deputy Speaker of Parliament in charge of political affairs said yesterday. Murara takes over Nirere’s seat after the latter was early this year sentenced to life imprisonment after she was found guilty of playing a critical role in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, barely five months into her five-year mandate. She had entered Parliament on the ticket of the ruling Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF), just as Bikoro, former State Minister for Environment, Water and Mines in the Ministry of Natural Resources. Early this year Bikoro tendered in his resignation after his immunity was lifted, following Prosecutor General’s request to investigate him on charges related to tax evasion. He appeared on Tuesday before Kagarama court of instance and pleaded innocent to the charges, but Prosecution requested the court to sentence him to a five-year jail term. Rwabuhihi who takes over his seat is a former Minister of Health and had served as an MP in the last parliament. As for Ntwari from Social Democratic Party (PSD), he had to concede his place for the benefit of Zimurinda after he (Ntwari) was nominated to be Rwanda’s envoy to Belgium, replacing Ambassador Joseph Bonesha. Ends
