ARUSHA - The 10th ordinary summit of EAC Heads of State Wednesday confirmed the appointment of Alloys Mutabingwa as the new East African Community (EAC) Deputy Secretary General in charge of Planning and Infrastructure.

Mutabingwa, who has been Rwanda’s representative at the Arusha based International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), was nominated by Rwanda for the position last year.

Jean Claude Nsengiyumva was nominated by Burundi for the same post and he was also appointed yesterday as Deputy Secretary General in charge of Productive and Social Sectors.

The two new appointees were sworn-in before the five EAC heads of State and promised to exercise their respective functions with loyalty as staff members of the EAC.

The Summit, which was chaired by President Paul Kagame, also renewed the contract of Beatrice Birungi Kiraso from Uganda as the Deputy Secretary General in charge of fast tracking the political federation of the regional bloc.

The same function also saw Justice James Ogoola sworn as a judge of the East African Court of Justice in the Appellate division.

The two appointments bring to four, the number of Deputy Secretaries General of the EAC, including that of Julius Tangus Rotich from Kenya who is the Deputy Secretary General in charge of Finance and Administration. Currently, Juma Mwapachu from Tanzania is the EAC Secretary General.

The idea of the new EAC deputies was mooted during the 7th Extra-ordinary Summit held in October last year which endorsed the decisions of the Council of Ministers to split the position of Deputy Secretary General (Projects and Programmes) into two.

The position of Deputy Secretary General (Projects and Programmes) was previously held by Ambassador Julius Onen from Uganda, whose contract expired this month.

EAC Deputy Secretaries General serve a three-year renewable contract.

Ends