Constitutional amendment back in Parliament

Following its approval by the conference of chairpersons of parliamentary commissions, the amendment of the constitution yesterday went back to the House for a final adoption. Presenting a report on the amendments, deputy Speaker of Parliament in charge of political affairs, Denis Polisi, said that the changes on the law aimed at merging all three previous amendments. the new law now has ten titles, 19 chapters and 192 articles, he said, adding that the conference of chairpersons sat 14 days consecutively to work on the amendments. Some of the new introductions in the law include the authentic interpretation of law that will be done by the Supreme Court unlike the previous arrangement where it was done by the Parliament. In common law, the interpretation of law is done by the court and it’s this system that we adopted. However, the Supreme Court can decide to consult the parliament in case there is a need, said Polisi. In an interview with Speaker Rose Mukantabana, she said that one of the reasons for the amendments was to make it open and accommodative. “The constitution was so precise that every time there was need to make changes in some areas, it required first amending the constitution which was not proper and time consuming. We are changing it in a way that there won’t be need to amend it frequently,” she said. The current constitution has so far been amended three times since its official adoption in 2003. The constitution obliged many laws to go through the Senate before they are officially approved; in this case, the new amendments reduce the number of laws that pass through the Senate. “The current constitution has an option of allowing as many organic laws as possible, we have changed that, only the organic laws that are mentioned in the constitution are allowed,” she said. She, however, added that the amendment did not require a referendum since it did not tackle the fundamental principles. Article 193 of the current constitution indicates that if the constitutional amendment concerns the term of the President of the Republic or the system of democratic government based on political pluralism, or the constitutional regime established by this Constitution, especially the republican form of the government or national sovereignty. Ends

National

Constitutional amendment back in Parliament