KIGALI - The fourth East African meeting of the sectoral council on legal and judicial affairs did not take place because representatives from Burundi and Tanzania were absent.

The meeting, which was supposed to take place on June 23 in Kigali ahead of the EAC Heads of State summit, has now been pushed to September.

It was supposed to discuss a report by deputy attorney generals, solicitor generals and permanent secretaries made during an April meeting held in Arusha, Tanzania.

Uganda’s Attorney General and Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Khidu Makubuya, and his Kenyan counterpart, Amos Wako arrived in the country earlier.

"According to the rules of procedure for the East African Community, it is mandated that no meeting can take place when one of the members is missing,” said Alex Mukunzi, the coordinator of legal and translation in the Ministry of Justice. 

However, the members present continued with the rest of the programme on the agenda which included visiting Gahanga TIG camp, and Ntarama Genocide Memorial site.

When The New Times tried to establish why Burundi and Tanzania did not show up, it was informed that the Tanzanian minister had expressed apology, citing a lapse in information flow as the cause of not coming. However, there was no word from Burundi.

"It is becoming an area of concern for us, as regards Burundi. We communicated to them earlier, we put in a lot of time and resources; they don’t show up, and don’t even communicate,” added Alex Mukunzi.  

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