Following months of interruption of normalcy in the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA), a member has vowed to move to the East African Court of Justice seeking to dissolve the House.

Fred Mukasa Mbidde, a Ugandan representative, announced the drastic move yesterday after the Assembly was indefinitely adjourned owing to lack of quorum during a debate that sought to have Shy-Rose Bhanji (Tanzania) suspended over disciplinary issues.

He described what had transpired in the recent past as proof that the Assembly was paralysed and needed a way forward.

"It has been proposed that we are dealing with the Speaker who majority does not want, it has also been said that five members of the EALA commission have resigned. Four chairpersons of committees of the House have also handed in their resignation letters. East Africans are in for a raw deal,” Mbidde said.

As a result of the developments, Mbidde said he was moving to the East African Court of Justice for a declaration that the House is paralysed and use all the resignations as evidence including the outcome of an informal meeting the members held.

"I will petition that we are paralysed and cannot perform the functions stipulated by the EAC Treaty, accordingly the Council of Ministers should be urged to prepare appropriate proposals for the summit on how to deal with the matter and by way of proclamation dissolve the assembly,” he added.

Although the treaty does not have a provision for the Assembly’s dissolution, Mbidde said he intends to petition the court to rule on the matter and urge the Council of Ministers to prepare appropriate proposals for the Summit (organ of EAC Heads of State) on how to deal with the matter and by way of proclamation dissolve the Assembly.

He argued that a time had come for members to reason that if there were all the questions and stalemate around them, it was probably best to seek a fresh mandate.

Mbidde said afresh mandate would ensure that elected leaders would only further interests enshrined in the Treaty.

In Mbidde’s support was another Ugandan MP Susan Nakawuki, who vowed to sign an affidavit to the effect.

"We cannot ignore that taxpayers’ money is being spent and there is no value. In the last one year we have been bickering, fighting among ourselves when we could have done much,” Nakawuki told The New Times.

"It has now reached the brim and an intervention is necessary. If dissolving the Assembly will bring in a team that will serve East Africans and give them value for money, then let it be.”

Yesterday marked the final day of the two-week Kigali EALA session during which members did not discuss any item on the plenary agenda as they spent the time arguing over the controversies.

However, Kenyan MP Abubakar Zein said Mbidde’s line of thought was provoked by the Speaker’s proclamation that "if you cannot have me as Speaker, there will be no Assembly.”

Zein added that no section of the Treaty allowed for such a resolution.

"There is also a clear separation of powers between the executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary. The whole House is not going away; it is only those who have been accused of corruption, mismanagement, misconduct who will be held accountable,” Zein said.

He spoke after a four-hour closed door informal meeting with fellow members.

Losing faith in the Speaker

The lawmakers, after their meeting, announced resolutions that included a declaration that they had lost faith in the Speaker, Margaret Nantongo Zziwa, and would proceed to move a motion to that effect.

The members also resolved that they would proceed with a motion for the removal of the Speaker that was moved earlier this year.

Kenyan MP Joseph Kiangoi, who chaired the informal meeting, said the members had also reaffirmed their determination to have Tanzanian MP Shy Rose Bhanji suspended from the EALA Commission.

EALA Commission is the Assembly’s highest organ and is compossed of 12 members.

Bhanji is accused of misconduct that involved verbal attacks and insults to some members of EALA and EAC leaders during an official trip to the European Union Parliament in Brussels, Belgium.

Members resign

As of last evening, five other members from the EALA Commission had handed in their resignation letters on grounds of crisis of leadership by the chairperson (the Speaker), arguing that it had had a negative impact on their operations as per mandate.

The members include Abubakar Ogle (Kenya), Christophe Bazivamo (Rwanda), Patricia Hajabakiga (Rwanda), Hafsa Mossi (Burundi) and Jeremy Ngendakumana (Burundi).

Four chairpersons of the standing committees also resigned from their positions on grounds that the Speaker had continually undermined them and their committees and that there was a crisis of leadership that had impacted negatively on their work.

For stewardship through the stalemate, Kiangoi said the members had informally formed a crisis management committee which will be chaired by Rwanda’s legislator Patricia Hajabakiga.

This is not the first time Mbidde will be going to the East African Court of Justice. Earlier this year he had moved to the court seeking an order to stop the impeachment of Speaker that was then underway.

The impeachment had been sponsored by Kenyan MP Peter Mathuki over alleged abuse of office and poor governance and leadership skills.

However, the court ruled that the legislators’ move to remove her from office did not infringe on the EAC Treaty.