Constitutional amendment enters final phase

After months of deliberations in both Chambers of Parliament, lawmakers will today make final decisions to amend the constitution, The New Times reports. They will decide on which articles to scrap and which ones to be added to the seven-year old set of laws. The current constitution has so far been amended three times since its official promulgation in 2003. The Deputy Speaker of Parliament in charge of political affairs; Denis Polisi, yesterday said that a joint committee, comprising members of both the Lower Chamber and the Senate, would meet today to agree on some articles that had initially not been agreed upon. “The Parliamentary Committee will consist of the Speaker of Parliament (Rose Mukantabana), the Vice Speaker (Jean Damascene Ntawukuriryayo), MPs Alfred Gasana and Françoise Mukayisenga,” he said adding that he would also be part of the team. The team representing the Senate was not yet known by press time. The committee will sit and discuss several articles before they take a decision, hopefully by the end of the day. If approved by the joint Committee, the draft amended constitution will be taken to both chambers of parliament. Upon being passed, the changes in the law will merge all three previous amendments. The new law will have ten titles, 19 chapters and 192 articles. With the new constitution, laws passing through the Senate will decrease significantly. Information from parliament indicates that the new constitution will not necessitate a referendum before approval. Ends

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Constitutional amendment enters final phase