The current Parliament will sit today for the last time as it gives way to the next one slated to be voted in a month from today.
The last Parliament has sat and passed the test of time. Its tenure has set the limits high which its successor will be hard-pressed to achieve or surpass.

With over 290 bills passed, most of which were an attempt to correct the errors, imbalances and discrimination policies of the past, this Parliament deserves the accolades that will ring this afternoon in the Kimihurura chambers.

The first post-Genocide Transitional National Assembly (TNA) lasted nine years, but it cannot be blamed for not achieving what the outgoing one has done; but it laid the foundation on which a new nation was built.

It had much to be proud of; it sailed the uncharted waters of rebuilding the nation from the ashes of the 1994 Genocide of Tutsis, giving priority to reconciliation and justice for the survivors and economic remodelling.

The other major issues that the TNA tackled was accountability by public servants and it ruffled a few feathers when it impeached some ministers, fellow House members, and even set the ball rolling in meting out the same to a sitting Head of State.

The outgoing House also faced a few daunting tasks and none bigger than the Genocide ideology which had managed to seep through many sections of our society, especially among school children.

Education ministers came under sustained heat from members of parliament and they were lucky to survive the onslaught for doing little to tackle the vice.

The next select group of people’s representatives will have to prove that they are not there to warm the seats.

The electorate will expect that the mandate given to the new MPs is not put to waste, but will be used to steer this country to greater heights.

Otherwise, a big Merci for the last five years.

Ends