The East African Court of Justice (EACJ) First Instance Division, yesterday, kicked out an application filed by the Speaker of the East African Legislative Assembly (Eala), Margaret Zziwa, to restrain the House from convening, a move that paves way for members of the assembly to vote on her impeachment.

Since early this year, the House has been split into factions with most members pushing for the Speaker’s censure while the rest were against the move.

The bickering took a new twist recently when the Assembly suspended Zziwa to pave way for investigations into her alleged abuse of office by the Legal Affairs committee.

In reaction, the Speaker filed an application to EACJ partly seeking legal interpretation.

The aim of the application was to seek, among others, an order restraining Eala from convening on December 17 (today) to consider a report of the Eala Committee of Legal, Rules and Privileges intended to move a motion to censure the Speaker.

The filing also sought to restrain the Committee from conducting any further investigations in the matter or tabling any report in the Assembly pending the hearing and determination of the main case filed in the court.

The court, in its ruling, deemed it appropriate that the application be heard at the first instance due to the urgency of the matter considering that the report of the committee was scheduled for tabling, discussion and voting today. Zziwa’s fate depends on outcomes of today’s sitting.

The court found that the applicant failed to prove the irreparable injustice the process of the removal may cause her, as had been claimed in the application.

It was also the court’s view that since the applicant made representations to the Committee, to pre-judge the decision of the Committee and that of the Assembly would be unjust.

"The Court noted that the East African Community (EAC) Treaty provides for the removal of the Speaker of the Assembly and so any holder of the office ought to know that their removal is possible and that taking that course of action does not amount to irreparable injustice to the applicant,” the ruling a copy of which has been seen by The New Times reads in part. As a result, Zziwa’s application was dismissed.

In a plenary sitting chaired by interim Speaker, MP Chris Opoka-Okumu, the regional Assembly is expected, before the end of today, to decide whether Zziwa remains in office as Speaker or not.

According to an Eala statement, the one-day sitting in its Chambers in Arusha, will consider the grounds on which the members are seeking to censure Zziwa.

The development follows the adjournment of the sittings on December 2 by the interim Speaker, when a committee chaired by MP Frederic Ngenzebuhoro was given 21 days within which to conclude the investigations and report back to the Assembly.

Ngenzebuhoro’s committee has for the past days been receiving and assessing evidence submitted to it and it has also lined up a number of witnesses, among them, the embattled Speaker, Eala members and staff, and "any other witnesses who it deems necessary for the discharge of their investigative mandate.”

The examination of witnesses commenced on December 9, in Arusha and the Committee intends to conclude its report prior to the today’s sitting.

The Motion for the Speaker’s removal was moved by MP Abdullah Mwinyi (Tanzania) on November 26.

Uganda’s Opoka-Okumu is serving in an interim capacity to handle proceedings related to the process for the removal of the Speaker under provisions of Rule 9 of the Eala Rules of Procedure.

Under the provisions, a motion seeking the removal of the Speaker from Office, is referred by the House to the Committee on Legal, Rules and Privileges for investigation within a specific time frame.

Upon conclusion of investigations, the Committee makes a report to the House with concrete observations and recommendations.

New Speaker

According to what members decide, the motion will either succeed or fail.

"The threshold for success is fixed by the Rules upon the complaints being established as true and the removal process is endorsed by at least two-thirds of the elected Members. If this is the case, the House will proceed to elect a new Speaker,” reads part of the Eala statement.

"If, however, it is established that the complaints carry in-exactitudes or are false and, therefore, the Speaker has no case to answer or where the two-thirds majority is not garnered, the motion will not succeed and will be said to have been lost. Under the circumstances, the Speaker will continue in office without any inhibition from the motion.”

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