THE CURRENT stalemate of the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) should serve as a litmus test on a future East African political union. Tensions have been simmering for some time now, with previous attempts to impeach the Speaker hitting a dead end at the last moment when some members crossed the floor. The whole session has been a circus that sometimes turned rowdy and brought disrepute to the institution, something that our legislators should not be proud about. Going by what transpired in Kigali during the latest session, something is terribly wrong with the Assembly: Work has been paralysed and taxpayers’ money poured down the drain as a few members held EALA hostage. It might now need the intervention from the Heads of State to clear the deadlock because EALA has failed to clean its own house. What the current imbroglio goes to show is that the House is not immune from vested interests, which, if not rectified, could spell disaster for the future of the Community. But it could also be a blessing in disguise for the EAC. The outcome of the current mess could be an opportunity to plug some loopholes in the Treaty that have made EALA come to this point. Even if the Assembly is dissolved, as some legislators have made their wishes known, the same ghosts might come to revisit its successors if the interests of East Africans are not put above all others.
