ABOUT RWANDA
Facts
R
wanda, popularly known as a land
of a thousand hills is a stable East
African country, easily accessible from
Kenya and Uganda. It is relatively easy,
safe and simple to travel around. It is
landlocked, surrounded by Uganda to
the north, Tanzania to the east Burundi
to the south, and the Democratic
Republic of Congo to the west. It has
five volcanoes, twenty-three lakes and
numerous rivers, some forming the
source of the River Nile.The country
lays 75miles south of the Equator,
880miles west of the Indian Ocean
and 1250miles east of the Atlantic
Ocean-literally in the heart of Africa.
Government
R
wanda is a Presidential unitary
Republic that is based upon a multiparty
system governed under the constitution
that was adopted in 2003 replacing the
transitional constitution that was put in
place in 1994. The President of Rwanda is
the Head of State and Commander in Chief
of the Armed Forces. Among his other
responsibilities are powers to create policy,
administer government agencies, exercise
the prerogative of mercy, negotiate and
ratify treaties, etc. The President is elected
by popular vote every seven years, and
appoints the Prime Minister and members
of Cabinet. The Rwandan Parliament
is composed of two chambers, namely
the Senate and the lower chamber-the
Chamber of Deputies serving 5 year terms.
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The members of the Senate are selected
by a variety of bodies and they serve eightyear terms. Rwanda has low corruption
levels and the constitution provides for
an Ombudsman whose duties include
prevention and fighting of corruption. There
is an existing policy of zero torrelance to
corruption and any corrupt tendencies are
handled seriously. The current constitution
divides Rwanda into provinces, districts,
cities, municipalities, towns, sectors
and cells with each subdivision and its
borders established by Parliament. The five
provinces act as intermediaries between the
national government and their constituent
districts to ensure that national policies are
implemented at the district level.