Written by Bobi Odiko
Forty five regional legislators and ex-officio members have their plates full in Kampala, Uganda, attending the third meeting of the third session of the second August regional house which runs from February 9 for two weeks.
The Assembly is deliberating on a number of key areas for EAC in terms of legislation with the consideration of a number of bills and various committees' reports. President Yoweri Museveni officially opened the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) sessions at the chambers of parliament in Kampala.
According to the Speaker of the Assembly, Hon Abdirahin Abdi, notable businesses set for consideration during the ten-day sitting would rope in debates and passages of the Tourism Bill 2008, Lake Victoria Commission Bill 2007 and the debate on the Election Bill 2008.
In addition, deliberation on other motions and resolutions, consideration of various committee reports and questions to the EAC Council of Ministers would take place.
The meeting comes 'hot on the heels' of the recently held 5th Inter-Parliamentary Relations Seminar commonly referred to as the Nanyuki Series which delved in-depth into the Common Market protocol.
EALA has further called for two important meetings on the sidelines of their sessions: a regional conference on persons living with disabilities and another meeting to be attended by the members of its general purposes committee to deliberate on the draft regional HIV and AIDS Bill. The latter is organised by the East Africa Law Society.
The role of EALA as an organ of the EAC is fundamental. It operates as the legislative organ of the Community performing a number of functions conferred upon it by the Treaty establishing the EAC. It further has set Rules of Procedure as stipulated in Article 60 of the same Treaty.
It is a given that the regional laws enacted by EALA have the full force of law and take precedence over similar laws in the Partner States on matters related to the Community. Section 4 of Article 8 of the Treaty suggests that community laws, organs and institutions shall take precedence over similar national ones on matters pertaining to the implementation of the Treaty. In simple terms and according to my understanding, the legislation passed by the EAC is therefore meant to prevail over the national laws in the five Partner States.
The six million dollar question is whether this takes place in full and in reality, or not. In a sense yes, but the uptake could indeed be better.
It is pleasing that the region is beginning to witness enhanced collaboration with the national assemblies of the Partner States. From time to time, Partner States have been seen or tend to be on record to align their laws to the EAC law.
EALA has to date enacted 21 Bills. All EAC Partner States have enacted laws domesticating the EAC Treaty. However, this needs to be made clear in the law governing the Partner States.
It may be recommended that a study be carried out to find out the degree of variance with which the EALA laws have been domesticated and or the uptake of the laws of approximation.
With it comes the need for enhanced publicity. EALA anticipates that it shall in the not too distant future acquire a fully fledged broadcast unit aimed at enabling the regional parliament to keep citizens informed about the Bills in the house and any developments thereof in the regional integration process.
It is envisaged that the comprehensive broadcast unit shall mirror the broadcast systems currently in use at the US Congress and UK's House of Commons according to information from the Community. In the interim, EALA hopes to provide both audio and video streams to media stations for transmission to the public on a trial basis.
This is essential so that the citizens of the regional bloc are fully informed and become aware about the work of EALA and the EAC in general so that on the wider front, the ideals and aspirations of the East African Community - that of unification and oneness is realized.
The writer comments on socio-economic issues and is based in Arusha |
