EALA to discuss budget as plenary resumes next week

Members of the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) will next week receive and deliberate on the Budget Speech for the next Financial Year when their week-long session begins in Arusha, Tanzania. The speech, a key activity on the Community’s calendar, will be delivered on May 29 by Kenya’s Phyllis J. Kandie, the chairperson of the Council of Ministers. Last year, EALA approved a budget amounting to $131 million to finance the bloc’s activities for the current fiscal year that ends next month. The priorities in 2013/14 budget, according to a statement included consolidation of the Common Market, completion of negotiations and movement towards the East African Monetary Union, investment promotion and private sector development, among others. In January, EALA approved a supplementary budget giving the EAC a go-ahead to expend an additional $ 2.1m for the Financial Year 2013/14 to meet its programmes. “The supplementary budget was earmarked for agriculture, trade and customs, the EAC Financial Management Harmonisation Project and the strengthening of the East and Southern Africa-India Ocean (ESA-IO) Maritime Security Project,” reads the statement. Meanwhile, the EAC education integration Bill is up for debate. The Bill which deals with civic education aims to equip East Africans with the necessary skills and information about the bloc, is informed by Article 7 of the EAC Treaty, providing for people-centeredness and a market driven economy. The Bill seeks to establish a unit within the Office of the EAC Secretary General, mandated to coordinate integration education among the EAC partner states. The proposed unit is to develop educational materials and set standards as well as quality control measures. The Bill also spells out the respective national institutions responsible for conducting civic education. So far, EALA has met with various stakeholders in the partner states to collect views on the proposed Bill which sailed through the first reading in Kampala, Uganda, in January 2014. In March, Rwanda’s Parliament concluded its deliberations on the Bill and proposed that civic education should be carried out by the partner states, while the EAC would carry out monitoring and evaluation. The Parliament opposed the creation of the special unit, saying it would impose costs to the Community which is against Article 59 of the Treaty. In March, Sen. Jeanne d’Arc Mukakalisa, the vice-president of the Senate’s Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Cooperation and Security, told The New Times that: “It is prohibited to enact a law that would impact on the EAC budget, according to the Treaty.” In Rwanda, civic education is conducted by the Rwanda Governance Board, the National Itorero Commission and the Electoral Commission.