MISSIONS, ORGANIZATION & FUNCTIONING OF BOTH CHAMBERS OF RWANDA PARLIAMENT :

MISSIONS, ORGANIZATION & FUNCTIONING OF BOTH CHAMBERS OF RWANDA PARLIAMENT : Senate and Chamber of Deputies AND THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND THE PARLIAMENT Presented by Augustin HABIMANA DG – Communication & Outreach

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND As provided for by the Constitution of the Republic of Rwanda of June 2003 as amended to date, the current Parliament of Rwanda is bicameral, composed by the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. In terms of female seats in legislative branch of Government in general, the Parliament of Rwanda is ranked at the top position worldwide as 64% of Members in the Chamber of Deputies and 34.6% members in the Senate respectively, are women.

MISSION OF THE PARLIAMENT OF RWANDA The mission of Parliament of Rwanda is to: • Legislate; • Exercise oversight of Government action; • Representation of the population.

SPECIFIC MISSIONS OF THE SENATE Apart from the common missions for both Chambers, the Senate has the following specific missions: To supervise the application of the principles referred to in articles 9 and 54 of the constitution, election and approval of high ranking officials of public institutions Principles referred to in articles 9 of the Constitution consist of : • fighting the ideology of genocide and all its manifestations; • eradication of ethnic, regional and other divisions and the promotion of national unity;

MISSIONS (Con’t.) 3. equitable sharing of power; 4. building a State governed by the rule of law, a pluralistic democratic government, equality of all Rwandans and between women and men reflected by ensuring that women are granted at least thirty percent (30%) of posts in decision making organs; 5. building a State committed to promoting social welfare and 6. establishing appropriate mechanisms for ensuring social justice and the constant quest for solutions through dialogue and consensus.

MISSIONS (Con’t.) As for principles referred to in articles 54 of the Constitution, they state that : Political organisations are prohibited from basing themselves on race, ethnic group, tribe, clan, region, sex, religion or any other division which may give rise to discrimination. Political organisations must constantly reflect the unity of the people of Rwanda and gender equality and equity, whether in the recruitment of members, putting in place organs of leadership and in their operations and activities.

MISSIONS (Con’t.) To approve the appointment of the Public Officials : • approve the appointment of the President, the vice President and the judges of the Supreme Court, the President and Vice President of the High Court and of the Commercial High Court, the Prosecutor General and the Deputy Prosecutor General; • approve the appointment of the Chairperson and members of National Commissions, Ombudsman and his/her Deputies, the Auditor General of the State Finances and his/her Deputy, Ambassadors and permanent Representatives to International Organisations, Provincial Governors and Heads of Public Institutions and parastatalorganisations which have legal personality; • approve the appointment of other public officials as determined by an Organic Law where necessary.

SPECIFIC MISSIONS (Con’t.) The Chamber of Deputies has the following specific missions: • To initiate bills ; • All bills pass by the Chamber of Deputies. Senate has power to : Amendement of the Constitution, OrganicLaws, Public Enterprises and parastatal organisations and territorial organisation, fundamentalfreedoms, rights and duties of the persons, defence and security, elections, international agreement and treaties. • To adopt the State finance bill; • To proceed to interpellation and motion of no confidence while exercising oversight of Government action.

SESSIONS Both Chambers hold three Ordinary Sessions of two months each. They are convened as follows all along the year: 1.The first Session commences on February 5th; 2. The second Session commences on June 5th; 3. The third Session commences on October 5th; The Chambers of the Parliament may meet in extraordinary sessions.

COMPOSITION OF THE CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES ) The Chamber of Deputies is composed of 80 members : • Fifty three (53) of them are elected by direct universal suffrage through a secret ballot from a final list of names from political parties and private candidates (7/11 Political Parties are represented in the Chamber of Deputies • twenty four (24) female members are elected by specific councils in accordance with the state administrative entities; • two (2) members elected by the National Youth Council and • one (1) member elected by the Federation of the Associations of the Disabled Persons. The Members of the Chambers of Deputies are elected for a renewable term of five years.

LOOSING THE SEAT IN THE CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES Amidst the parliamentary term a Member may lose his/her seat in the following cases: • Resignation from the Chamber of Deputies; • Expelling from the Chamber of Deputies; • Resignation from his/her political organization ; • Expelling from the political organization to which he/she belongs in accordance with provisions of the organic law governing political organizations; • Joining of another political organization; • Death.

Loosing the Seat in the Chamber of Deputies (Con’t.) • In the event of a Deputy loosing or being removed from office when his/her term still has more than one year, the seat vacated devolves upon the person who was next on the list on which he / she was elected. • Deputies who were elected by means other than through lists of political organizations who lose or are removed from office are replaced through fresh elections. The President of the Republic and the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies shall belong to different political organizations.

Power sharing To complete other mechanisms to ensure power sharing, the Constitution also provide the following : The President of the Republic and the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies shall belong to different political Organizations. a political organization holding the majority of seats in the Chamber of Deputies shall not exceed fifty per cent (50%) of all the members of the Cabinet.

THE STANDING COMMITTEES OF THE CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES The Chamber of Deputies has nine (9) Standing Committees named as follows: • The Committee on Political Affairs and Gender; • The Committee on Economy and Trade; • The Committee on Education, Technology, Culture and Youth; • The Committee on Foreign Affairs, Cooperation and Security; • The Committee on Social Affairs; • The Committee on National Unity, Human Rights and Fight against Genocide; • The Committee on Budget and National Patrimony; • The Committee on Agriculture, Livestock development and Environment; • The Committee on Public Accounts.

COMPOSITION OF THE SENATE (Con’t.) Former Head of State become Members of the Senate upon their request to the Supreme Court, but they must have honourably completed their terms or voluntarily resigned from office. The Senators are elected for a single term of 8 years non-renewable. In the event of an elected Senator’s resignation, death, impeachment by a court of law or permanent absence from the Senate on account of any reason when her/his term has a year or more to run, fresh elections are held. In a case of an appointed Senator, the organ which appointed him/her determines his/her replacement. The newly elected or appointed Senator completes the remaining portion of term of office of his/her predecessor, the latter is not allowed to run for the subsequent term’s elections nor be appointed anew as a Senator.

COMPOSITION OF THE THE SENATE The Senate is composed of 26 members. • Twelve (12) Members are elected by the specific Councils in accordance with the administrative entities; • eight (8) Members are appointed by the President of the Republic; • four (4) Members are designated by the Forum of Political organizations; • one (1) Member from Public Universities and Institutions of Higher Learning and • one (1) Member from Private Universities and Institutions of Higher Learning.

SENATE STANDING COMMITTEES There are four (4) Standing Committees in the Senate: • Standing Committee on Political Affairs and Good Governance; • Standing Committee on Economic Development and Finance; • Standing Committee on Social Affairs, Human Rights and Petitions; • Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Cooperation and Security.

STRUCTURES OF EACH CHAMBER Each Chamber has the following organs: • The Plenary Assembly • The Conference of Chairpersons • The Bureau • Standing Committees Each Chamber has in addition, the Committee in charge of the conduct of Members and assessment of the activities of respective chambers. Ad hoc Committees and Commissions of Inquiry may be established for specific purpose.

ORGANISATION IN PLENARY SESSION Members are given permanent seats in the Plenary Hall in accordance with alphabetical order of their surnames. The Parliament utilises ICT in its daily activities especially in Voting system, mailing and correspondence. Legislative activities are open to the public.

ADMINISTRATION The administration of each Chamber is headed by a Clerk, assisted by a Deputy Clerk, in Charge of Legislative Affairs. He/she carries on his or her duties under the supervision of the Bureaus of their respective Chambers. The administration of each Chamber is also made of : • Directorate general for General services and the Directorate General for Planning and Research. • A part from the above mentioned Directorates, the Directorate General for Communication and Outreach and the Directorate General for ICT Development jointly serve both Chambers.

CO-OPERATION BETWEEN THE TWO CHAMBERS OF PARLIAMENT The two Chambers meet in a Joint Sitting in the following circumstances: • Presentation of the Government programme by the Prime Minister; • Presentation of the Government activities by the Prime Minister; • Presentation of reports by Organs provided for by the Constitution; • On the occasion of the public ceremonies provided for by the Constitution (swearing in ceremonies of the President of the Republic, Cabinet Members, etc.) ; • Presentation of the State Financial Bill by the Minister in Charge.

OVERSIGHT OF GOVERNMENT ACTION The oversight of Government action is exercised by the Parliament through the following: • Oral questions; • Written questions; • Hearing before committees; • Commissions of inquiry; • Interpellation. However, the Senate may not proceed to an interpellation nor initiate a motion of no confidence against a Member of Cabinet.

Othersmethods to monitor Governmentactivities Besides the above mentioned methods, the Parliament makes use of the following to monitor the implementation of adequate national policies for population welfare: • Carry out consultation with the Government on key issues; • Interact with the population; • Handle and address petitions from the population; • Consider the Government endeavour to address major challenges of the population; • Work with the Media as one means of communicating with the population and institutions; • Make use of reports submitted to the Parliament by Organs provided for by the Constitution; • Testimony; • Conduct research on specific issues, etc.

PARLIAMENTARY NETWORKS AND FORUMS The two Chambers of Parliament have common Parliamentary Forums and Networks: • RPRPD (Rwanda Parliamentary Network for Population and Development); • FFRP (Rwanda Women Parliamentary Forum); • Amani-Forum; • APNAC (African Parliamentarians Network against Corruption), Rwanda Chapter.

CO-OPERATION BETWEEN THE LEGISLATIVE AND THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH OF GOVERNMENT The Parliament and the executive make use of a number of mechanisms for them to achieve their respective missions. The bills initiated by the Cabinet are tabled to the Parliament and the explanatory note thereon is presented by a Member of Cabinet who represents the Executive before the Plenary Sitting set to consider the relevance or in the Committee Sitting set to consider the entire bill. The recommendations stemmed from the exercise of oversight of Government action are forwarded to the Executive branch of Government for further action. Both the Legislative and the Executive may hold consultative meetings meant to find solutions to crucial challenges affecting the population. They also team up to prompt the population’s participation in the public activities for development

COMMISSIONS AND INSTITUTIONS WHICH REPORT TO PARLIAMENT According to provisions of the Constitution, the following Commissions and Institutions submit their activity reports to Parliament: • The Office of the Auditor General for the State Finances; • The National Commission for Human Rights; • The National Unity and Reconciliation Commission; • The Office of the Ombudsman; • The Public Service Commission; 6. The National commission for the fight against genocide.

MEMBERSHIP IN THE INTER-PARLIAMENTARY ORGANISATIONS In addition to being a member of the Pan African Parliament (PAP) and East African Legislative Assembly (EALA), the Parliament of Rwanda is a Member State of the following sub-regional, continental and international inter-parliamentary organizations: • Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) • Parliamentary Assembly of French-Speaking World (Assembléeparlementaire de la Francophonie); • African Parliamentary Union (APU); • ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly;

MEMBERSHIP IN THE INTER-PARLIAMENTARY ORGANISATIONS 7. Economic Community of the Great Lakes Countries (Forum des Présidents des Chambresparlementaires des pays membres de la CEPGL); 8. Forum of the Presidents of the Parliaments of Member States of the East African Community; 9. Forum of Parliaments of member countries of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region-FP/ICGLR 10. APNAC (African Parliamentarians Network Against Corruption); 11. IPU (Inter-parliamentary Union); 12. Amani Forum; 13. Inter-parliamentary Forum for Nile Basin Countries.

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND THE PARLIAMENT • Parliament passes the laws organising Local entities : Districts, Provinces • Parliament allocates budget to District through National Budget • Parliament through the report of Auditor General Office audit the execution of District budget • Each Member of Parliament choice a District where participate in the District Council Meeting, but when it comes to take decision, he/she can’t vote • Everymember of parliament is facilitated to do a 2-day field visit every mounth

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND THE PARLIAMENT (Con’t) 6. In principle, the draft bill comes from the ideas of Grossroot levels 7. Each ministry which prepares a bill must consult all stakehoders including local entities before the presentation in the cabinet 8. Parliamentary standing committees organise field visits to collect views of the population on some bills 9. Relevant organs and institutions are invited in committee meeting to give their input including local entities where necessary 10. All Committee Meeting are public, so that the population and other officials can participate 11. Local entities implement laws passed by the Parliament

CONTACTS E-mail :info@parliament.gov.rw Website: www.parliament.gov.rw

Thank you for your kind attention!!!

MISSIONS, ORGANIZATION & FUNCTIONING OF BOTH CHAMBERS OF RWANDA PARLIAMENT :