Rwanda to Have New Draft Constitution in 2003The Legal and Constitutional Commission of Rwanda has expressed confidence that the country's new draft constitution will be ready before 19 July, 2003, a day when the transitional government expires, Rwanda News Agency reported Saturday.Addressing a press conference held at his office in Kimihurura, chairman of the commission Tito Rutaremara emphasized that the commission shall have to draft the new constitution within the timeframe specified by the law. "This commission has the task to execute the constitutional making process within a period of only three years and we are expected to have presented the new draft to the parliament before the transitional period," he said. He further revealed that so far the first phase of training the staff and examining the previous constitutions of Rwanda since independence has been successfully accomplished. The step, he said, is to mobilize the local government leaders who will assist the commission to conduct consultations with the population on the type of the constitution that would suit a post genocide society. The commission is organizing a three-day training seminar for local leaders from July 10 to 12, to prepare for consultations with various categories of the population countrywide. The population, according to Rutaremara, has been classified into peasants who form 95 percent, the elite and Rwandan nationals living outside the country, all of whom the commission shall have to consult. The last phase of the process will comprise of technical legal writing and finally presenting the constitution to the cabinet and later to the parliament to be enacted into law. However, vice chairman of the commission Mukezamfura Alfred has lamented that the Rwandan population is generally indifferent and skeptical about the constitutional making process, which is likely to affect their full participation during consultations. |
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