The East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) has proposed enactment of an omnibus law to harmonise national laws pertaining to the Community.

The Assembly is of the view that such a move shall cure existing challenges of harmonisation of partner states’ laws.

An omnibus bill is a single document that is accepted in a single vote by a legislature but packages together several measures into one or combines diverse subjects.

The Assembly, which is winding up a two-week sitting in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, also wants the Council of Ministers to direct the Sectoral Council on Legal and Judicial Affairs to hold regular meetings and prioritise harmonisation of laws for EAC in order to facilitate full integration.

The call for an omnibus legislation is one of the recommendations by the Assembly’s Committee on Legal Rules and Privileges (LRP) following its February 22-26 oversight work on the harmonisation of national laws in the EAC context.

During debate in the House, MP Martin Ngoga (Rwanda) called for a rethink of strategy in the way the Community undertakes its mandate as it advances the objectives of integration. 

"Why are we not publishing East Africa Law Journals? There are over 600 laws that we need to harmonise to make EAC realise a Common Market and we must move faster,” Ngoga said, suggesting that EALA takes the lead.

"It is the Assembly’s role to make laws and we should not take back the matter to partner states” he said. "We must reassess our mode of work.”

MP Shyrose Bhanji (Tanzania) said that slow implementation of harmonising laws was retrogressive.

"We also need a special strategy to popularise the laws passed by the Assembly among the citizens,” she said.

Lawmakers approved the committee’s report on Wednesday. MP Dora Byamukama (Uganda), a member of the committee, told the Assembly that, among others, the purpose of their work last month was to make recommendations on how to improve the process of harmonising national laws pertaining to the Community.

She reminded the Assembly that harmonisation of national laws is one of the critical steps required to facilitate regional integration.

Byamukama added: "It is a process that has to go hand in hand with other undertakings of partner states; otherwise, all agreed programmes and stages of integration will be hampered by the different national laws.”

Her committee is mandated to oversee the implementation of Chapter 24 of the EAC Treaty, which provides for cooperation in legal and judicial affairs. 

Article 126 provides that partner states shall, through appropriate national institutions, take all necessary steps to harmonise all their national laws pertaining to the Community.

Last month, the committee was informed that partner states are at different stages of implementing directives of the Council of Ministers on harmonising national laws.

Byamukama said that: "The committee observed that partner states are very slow in amending their laws to comply with the directive of the Council of Ministers. Criteria used and timelines for harmonisation of laws are also unclear.”

In the past, EAC partner states established a sub-committee on the Approximation of National Laws in the EAC context.

Byamukama said this sub-committee adopted approximation of national laws, a process of aligning national laws with commonly agreed principles of law without necessarily making them uniform, and development of model laws as approaches to the harmonisation of national laws pertaining to the Community.

A model law, on the other hand, is a model of legislative text on a specific area of law that is recommended to the partner states for adoption and enactment as part of their national law.

Regarding the development of model laws, Byamukama said, the major objective of model laws is to align the different national laws without necessarily coming up with a uniform piece of legislation.

But during their oversight tour, her committee observed that the phrase "model law” connotes a law enacted by the Assembly and not a legal framework that can be used by partner states to develop their national law. 

"In order to avoid this ambiguity, the committee was of the view that the phrase model laws in this context should be referred to as ‘model legal frameworks’ since EALA is the only EAC Organ with the mandate to enact laws,” she said.

Sub-committee challenged

Meanwhile, members of the committee on Legal, Rules and Privileges report that in the process of undertaking its activities, the sub-committee faces challenges including: partner states’ different legal systems; national laws written in different languages; and conflicting commitments of members of the Task Force.

Byamukama said: "There are many areas of laws that need to be harmonised. The harmonisation process requires comprehensive research and review; however, Law Reform Commissions do not have adequate financial resources to support the activities of the sub-committee.”

Lack of monitoring mechanism to ensure that partner states comply with the adopted approximation proposals is another reported hitch.

Recommendations by the committee on Legal, Rules and Privileges also include that the Council of Ministers addresses challenges of the Sub-committee and provides the Sub-Committee with adequate resources in order for it to continue producing model legal frameworks which EALA could utilise in the enactment of EAC laws.

editorial@newtimes.co.rw