The East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) will hold its next two-week sitting in Kigali with the EAC Disaster Risk Reduction Bill 2013 and the EAC Forestry Management Bill 2014 top on the agenda.

Next week’s special sitting of the Assembly is expected to be addressed by President Paul Kagame, according to a statement.

The EAC Forestry Management Bill 2014 seeks to promote the development, protection, conservation, sustainable management and use of the forests in the East African Community (EAC), especially trans-boundary forests ecosystems, in the interest of present and future generations.

The Bill whose debate was adjourned at EALA’s last sitting in Nairobi, in October, seeks to espouse the scientific, cultural and socio-economic values of forests, and to harmonise national forest laws.

Last month’s adjournment, at committee stage, followed a motion tabled by the chairperson of EAC Council of Ministers, Dr Harrison Mwakyembe, as he sought more time to enable Tanzania to make its input.

He informed the House that Tanzania was going to its national polls in October, and that it was necessary for the debate to be put on hold until a new Government was in place to effectively enable it to make its input.

The EAC Disaster Risk Reduction Bill 2013, on the other hand, seeks to provide a legal framework for intervention and assistance for people affected by climate change and nature-related hazards and to protect the natural environment through integration of comprehensive disaster risk reduction and management practices in the EAC.

Debate on the Bill had moved for a second reading in August 2013, but was halted following a request by the Council of Ministers to consult and consider its policy implications.

The EAC ministers further called for the taking over of the Bill for appropriate amendment and re-introduction as a Council of Ministers’ Bill. At the same time, the move was to allow for pursuit of the ratification of the EAC Protocol on Peace and Security which, among other objectives, provides for co-operation in disaster risk reduction management and crisis response.

During the Kigali plenary sittings, the House is also expected to debate a number of reports.

EALA sittings are held under the principle of rotation in line with Article 55 of the EAC Treaty.

editorial@newtimes.co.rw