1. Posted on Friday 15 August 2008 - 15:49

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   Deodatus Mfugale, AfricaNews Reporter in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

   In a move in line with the 2003 Constitution which empowers the President to close Parliament at least 30 days before Parliamentary elections, president Paul Kagame on Thursday dissolved the Lower Chamber of Parliament in the run-up to the September polls.

   

   The polls are slated for September 15, this year. Speaking at a function held at the Parliament buildings in Kimihurura, President Kagame commended the lawmakers for working diligently during the five years that they have been in office. “I commend you especially for your close cooperation with state organs which have enhanced the growth of democracy in our country,” President Kagame said, adding that he was also impressed by the speedy action of the House to increase women representation to 48 percent, the highest mark in the world.
   
   "This high representation has enabled women to attain self confidence and should set an example to other parliaments in the world,” President Kagame said. The President also took the opportunity to call for completion of renovation of parliament buildings which have been in bad shape since the 1994 genocide. The work should have started five years ago when the MPs took office but it is yet to be completed.
   
   Speaking during the function, out-going Speaker Alfred Mukezamfura, said that the MPs passed 220 laws which were published in the Government Gazette and that 44 percent of the laws were of economic nature, 20 pertained to social welfare, 18 percent were on good governance and justice 17 percent.

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Reactions

1. Posted on Tuesday 04 November 2008 00:53

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   bhukabijumiro

   

   
   31 berichten
   Lid sinds April 2008

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   It is encouraging to hear of participatory democracy working well in this African tiny country of Rwanda which fortunately along with Burundi became integral nations of the East African Community of countries. That women representatives in the Rwandan House of parliament has increased to 48 making it the highest in the world is quite commendable.
   
   Rwanda being a tiny country that is rebuilding after the 1994 genocide, needs to match forward not just with the history of the genocide but also with harder work to modernize the countryside and free her peoples from poverty, illiteracy and under-development. It is believed in some quarters that with the size of Rwanda and the amount of money she gets from donor countries, Rwanda should well be on the match for overall general growth and development, freeing her peoples from poverty.
   
   Since President Paul Kagame has championed democracy in this country, it is hoped that his efforts to build democracy will go hand in hand with fast development and the eradication of poverty in addition to the expectations that he will demonstrate his capacity to walk the democratic talk. As the man who led the overthrow of the genocidal wave and its end in 1994, his stay in power since 1994, has been a necessary formative period of reconstruction and strengthening the democractic reigns for his country.
   
   Whether Paul Kagame shall continue in his position as president shall be determined by the Rwanda peoples in a system of participatory democracy in fair, free and stable political campaigns. Personally I think he has done a tremendous work in bringing together the peoples of Rwanda into the spirit of reconciliation- the Batwa, the Hutus and the Tutsis after the 1994 genocide in which over 800,000 human lives perished in the continent's worst genocide in 100 days only. The task of reconciling persons who lost loved ones with those who were looked at as part of the perpetrators has not been an easy one.
   
   We all thank our Rwandan brothers and sisters for this rare spirit of reconciliation, first demonstrated in South Africa of course by our brothers and sisters there under President Nelson Mandela although under different circumstances. It is spiritual that humans learn and practice forgiveness, reconciliation and forging ahead together as one.

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