Outgoing president Bernard Makuza(Left) hands over to Augustin Iyamuremye
Senator Augustin Iyamuremye has officially taken over office, as the new Rwanda Senate President.
Sen. Iyamuremye was yesterday sworn in as a senator with nineteen other members of the upper house and also elected as the Senate boss replacing Bernard Makuza who has served eight years.
The official handover ceremony of documents of power was conducted on Friday at the Senate offices between the two senators.
Some of the documents exchanged between the two parties included, the Rwanda constitution, senate statute and guidelines, senate resolutions and commission reports, research work, and project activities including the campaign against genocide museum.
The handover ceremony which took a record three hours was also attended by outgoing Senate vice presidents Jeanne d’ Arc Gakuba and Fatou Harerimana who also exchanged their powers with freshly elected vice presidents Esperance Nyirasafari and Dr. Alivera Mukabaramba who will serve five years renewable terms.
“We managed to attain 89% of the work we hard but am sure you will do more than us because you are not new to the Senate. You have worked here before and some of us built on your efforts, ” Makuza said.
Outgoing president Bernard Makuza(Left) hands over to Augustin Iyamuremye
Rwanda Senate passed 723 resolutions in the concluded 8-year term which it submitted to the government for implementation purposes. The resolutions fall within three clusters, namely governance (332), Social (253), and Economic (138) according to an executive summary of activities of the Second Legislature of the Senate (2011-2019).
The Senate held 456 sittings and assessed 145 issues from which it made the aforementioned resolutions and also enacted 270 laws in governance, social and economic sectors, in their term which ended October 10, 2019.
Though this looks like a task and challenge ahead for the new term of Senate bosses, Makuza spend hours explaining and taking the new team through the nitty-gritty of the work ahead.
“This is the first time I have witnessed a lengthy handover and am proud of Sen. Makuza spending his time to prepare us. It is clear that this senate worked in as a team and this is the lesson we are taking in order to do more, though it will be a challenge,” Iyamuremye said.
As part of his first plan, Iyamuremye said he is going to call for a meeting with his team to sharp the next Senate agenda.
“We will need your help (former Senate president) since you are not going to retire soon,” Iyamuremye added.
