Ugandan delegation tours Parliament

KIGALI - A Ugandan delegation of local leaders, civil servants, academics, student leaders, media, and Pan-Africanists is in the country on a fact finding tour. The team had an interactive session with Rwandan lawmakers, Friday, especially with MPs from three standing committees of the Chamber of Deputies including the Public Account Committee, and the Foreign Affairs Committee. At the start of the interactive session, the leader of the Ugandan team – Omar Muwaya Bongo, who is also the Mayuge District LC5 chairperson, noted that they have come “to copy the different concepts in Rwanda.” “We want to understand legislative practices in Rwanda. We wanted to understand policy issues in Rwanda. How parliament functions, how successful parliament has been in implementing and monitoring government policies,” Bongo said. “It does not take a genius to see that indeed, the Rwanda parliament has succeeded. As we were moving along the streets of Kigali, we observed a number of successes.” Bongo said, back home, they face numerous challenges, especially at legislative and local levels, of making policies and implementing them. “How have you been successful? What did you do? What is the extra component needed? How best can we learn from you?” Gideon Kayinamura, of the lower chamber’s Foreign Affairs Committee, told the visitors that the Rwandan Parliament has “done a lot of things since 1994 after RPF Inkotanyi overthrew the genocidal government, in July 1994.” “We had to start a process of building this nation, from scratch, to where we are today, 17 years later. I will perhaps put emphasis on the role of parliament in promoting good governance.” Kayinamura then noted that the House promotes good governance in three ways; enacting laws that are people centred, overseeing government activity, and working and looking after the interest of the people. “The second role that this parliament plays is to oversee government activities. Unlike in other countries in the Commonwealth, in Rwanda, we do this oversight more efficiently because a minister cannot be a member of parliament because he will not be able to oversee his own activities,” Kayinamura said. “This is one of the most hardworking parliaments in the world, for, the facts speak for themselves. From the transitional parliament we had in 1994, to 2003, we enacted 278 new laws. The second legislature of 2003 to 2008, we enacted 287 new laws. This current legislature, we are half way through and we have so far enacted 173 new laws.” Kayinamura stressed that “all these laws” are about improving governance, economic performance, justice and international development. On Bongo’s question about how to rise above the challenge of political leaders being held hostage by the people they lead because of votes, Kayinamura reiterated the importance of enacting ‘people centred laws” by getting the peoples’ in-put before laws are passed. Also important, Kayinamura noted, is “the second component of the sensitization of the people about the law that is being voted, because it is in their interest.” During their three-day tour which ended yesterday, the visitors had plans to visit Genocide memorials, meet civil society groups, and the Mayor of Kigali city, among others. Ends