This post discusses the chamber of duties of Rwanda, it also explains the history of the lower house of Rwanda and the composition of the house.
HISTORY
Rwanda had a unicameral legislature, National Assembly of Rwanda, established in January 1961. It was dissolved following the coup d’état of 1973.Then followed by National Development Council, 1982–1994, and moved unto the transitional National Assembly, 1994–2003.
Unicameral Transitional National Assembly of Rwanda was established in 1994 following Rwandan Civil War. It was replaced in 2003 by a bicameral legislature, where the chamber of deputies is the lower house of the bicameral legislature.
Read: POLITICAL HISTORY OF RWANDA
THE CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES
The Chamber of Deputies is the lower house of the bicameral national legislature of Rwanda. It was created under the new Constitution adopted by referendum in 2003
The Chamber of Deputies is a body elected by the population and entrusted with acting on behalf of the population.
The Main functions and powers of the Chamber of Deputies include:
– Representing the population;
– Passing legislation;
– Scrutinizing and overseeing executive action.
COMPOSITION
The Chamber is made up of 80 deputies. Of these, 53 are elected for five-years term by proportional representation and 24 are elected by provincial councils; of the remainder, two are appointed by the National Youth Council, and one by the Federation of the Associations of the Disabled.
The Chamber of Deputies of Rwanda has 80 members including:
• 53 elected in universal suffrage through a secret ballot;
• Twenty-four (24) women are elected by specific councils in accordance with the administrative entities;
2 members elected by the National Youth Council;
• 1 member elected by the federation of the Association of the Disabled.
A great amount of the Chamber of Deputies business is conducted in Committees and adopted in Plenary Session.
The Parliament of Rwanda was put in place, after transitional period, through elections set up from 29 September to 2 October 2003. It started working in October 10, 2003, after the swearing in ceremonies of members of two chambers.
THE SPEAKER OF PARLIAMENT
HE. Mukabalisa Donatille serves as Member of Parliament and Speaker of Chamber of Deputies since 04 October 2013. Mukabalisa previously served in different capacities. She served as Senator from October 2011 to August 2013); Member of Parliament, Chamber of Deputies and Deputy Chairperson of Standing Committee on Political Affairs (September 2008-2011). She was also Member of Rwanda National Transitional Assembly and Deputy Chairperson of the Standing Committee on Economy and Trade (2000-2003).
WOMEN IN PARLIAMENT
Rwanda’s parliament has the highest percentage of women in a single house parliament worldwide. The government has reserved 24 out of the 80 seats in the Chamber of Deputies for women. The 24 seats allocated to women are divided up between each province and the city of Kigali, where they are elected by an assembly made up of various councils and committees’ members.
More women were granted seats due to the effects of the Rwandan Genocide on the population. After the Genocide against the Tutsi, the population was made up of more women than men, and this was reflected in the makeup of Parliament.