Rwanda: Who Was Senator Donatille Mukabalisa?

Donatille Mukabalisa, a Senator and former Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies who also served as leader of the Liberal Party (PL), has died on Thursday, July 30, due to an illness. She was 66.

According to a statement released by the President of the Senate, Mukabalisa died while receiving treatment at King Faisal Hospital (KFH).

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Born in Nyamata, Bugesera District, on July 30, 1960, Mukabalisa got married in 1983 and was a mother of three children.

She held a bachelor's degree in law. Before joining politics, she worked as a law lecturer at Kigali Independent University (ULK). She also worked with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), where she spent 16 years.

She later ventured into private business, particularly in the transport and petroleum sectors.

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Mukabalisa began her parliamentary career in 2000 as a member of the National Transitional Assembly, where she served until 2003.

Following the adoption of Rwanda's Constitution, she was elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 2003 and served as a lawmaker until 2011.

In 2011, she was appointed to the Senate before returning to the Chamber of Deputies in October 2013. She was elected Speaker of Parliament, a position she held until June 2024.

In 2022, Mukabalisa was elected chairperson of the Kigali Parliamentary Assembly during the 145th Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Assembly held in Kigali.

Following the end of her term as a member and Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Mukabalisa was designated to the Senate by the National Consultative Forum of Political Organisations (NFPO) on September 19, 2024, where she served until her death.

Mukabalisa was elected chairperson of PL in 2016, becoming the first woman to lead the party.

Read the original article on New Times.