Kigali, 24 June 2013
President Kagame today received in his office the Kenyan Speaker of Senate, Hon. Ekwee Ethuro who led a delegation of three Kenyan Senators to pay him a courtesy call with whom they discussed various issues related to the legislature of the country after a study tour in the country.
Speaking to the press after the meeting, the Kenyan Speaker of Senate said;
“One of the good things we have gotten out of this visit is the bicameral nature of parliament; the relationship between the Senate and Chamber of Deputies is very cordial, we need to start working on this back home because we are coming from a situation where we had only one institution to two institutions now. The second thing we have appreciated is the issue of gender; we have a constitutional requirement that requires that we should fulfill a certain threshold of female representation by the year 2015 which we are yet to do. It is a challenge and we are all getting worried but this visit has taught us a lot on how to go about it.”
During his stay in the country, Hon. Ethuro also addressed the Senate of Rwanda and was also taken through the process of how Senators are elected, their mandate and how it functions.
“We have invited the Rwandan Senate to also come visit us back home. The issue is not learning from each other but comparing notes and improving on what we have. As Senators we have one primary objective of protecting devolution; we want our counties to work. Kenya has vision 2030 and Rwanda has 2020; you have these similarities and so you want to establish the role that an effective legislature can play to ensure that governments are put to account, to ensure delivery of goods and services as promised and for our region as East Africans to ensure that there is more interactions and improved relations between and amongst the nations.”
ENDS