Weekly Review

Parliament goes into recess The Chamber of Deputies on Thursday week ended its second ordinary session as MPs go on a month-long break. Rose Mukantabana, the Speaker, was cheerful as she highlighted achievements in the past few months. She thanked the lawmakers for what had been accomplished and urged them to build on the achievements to attain even more, for the country. The Speaker noted that much was achieved in terms of the House’s responsibility in government oversight as well as playing an advocacy role for the population. Among other highlights, Mukantabana noted that it is during the second session that Rwanda was admitted into the Africa Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA). The country also hosted the 42nd CPA annual conference and during the same meeting, Mukantabana took over as president of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association-Africa. Apart from passing legislation, the speaker again noted some of the MPs’ development initiatives such as visiting and supporting widows and orphans of Gisagara, in addition to the donation of houses to vulnerable Genocide survivors in Kicukiro district. MPs back Access to Information Bill The Access to Information Bill, on Thursday, moved past the preliminary hurdle in the Chamber of Deputies as members overwhelmingly backed the document, in principal, agreeing to forward it to a parliamentary standing committee for a detailed scrutiny. Many MPs pointed out that the draft legislation, once enacted into law, will help boost the country’s good governance indicators by enforcing accountability. Minister Protais Musoni who tabled the bill, acknowledged this, noting that government wants it to be an obligation for leaders since it also helps them accomplish their other duties. Meanwhile, the bill’s article 4 notes that some information may be withheld by a public organ or certain classes of private bodies if it, among other things, it causes harm to national security; or impedes the due process of the law or impedes justice. Ex-dissident Ntashamaje returns after 10-year exile A former senior officer with the Rwandese Patriotic Army (RPA) – now Rwanda Defence Forces (RDF) - has abandoned subversive activities and returned home after what he called “three years of deep reflection on what I was involved in against my country.” Gerald Ntashamaje, 54, who was, until his desertion from the army at the rank of Major in March 2000, jetted into the country on Tuesday, August 2, from Belgium aboard an SN Brussels flight, and was received by family members at Kigali International Airport. Asked why he fled the country, Ntashamaje replied: “Up till now I can’t explain why…I have no explanation whatsoever”. The former senior officer deserted when he was on a government mission in Geneva, Switzerland to attend the 56th meeting of the Human Rights Commission. RALGA receives Rwf 750m from the Dutch The Government of the Netherlands allocated an estimated Rwf 750m to Rwandese Association of Local Government Authorities (RALGA) to support the latter’s Strategic Plan 2010-2015. RALGA is an association of 31 local government bodies, comprising the 30 district councils and the City of Kigali. The agreement which will see the financial support disbursed within a period of three years, was signed between RALGA Executive Secretary Theogene Karake, and Jolke Oppewal , the Acting Head of Mission of the Embassy of the Netherlands to Rwanda. Karake said that the funds would contribute greatly towards the implementation of RALGA’s mandate of capacity building, local economic development as well as lobbying and advocacy. The Government of the Netherlands was also among the leading development partners, alongside the Swedish and Canadian governments, to RALGA’s Strategic Plan 2006-2010. Final Gacaca report due in DecemberThe National Service of Gacaca Jurisdictions is set to make public its overall final report since its inception in 2001.This was revealed by the Executive Secretary of the body, Domitille Mukantaganzwa, during an interview with The New Times. She stated that the courts will continue to operate until the drafting of the final report that is now under compilation. Gacaca tried all cases except those involving key masterminds of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. The instigators of the mass killings were mainly political and major opinion leaders who were instead referred to convention Ends