EALA to study proposal to sanction defaulting nations

The East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) is set to consider a petition by the region’s civil society body, which last week threatened to sue member states that default on their financial obligations. Through their grouping, known as the East African Civil Society Organisation Forum (EACSOF), rights groups have also proposed sanctions to defaulters. They also threatened to petition the East African Court of Justice, noting that they were perplexed by the failure of partner states to meet their financial obligations to the EAC. This, they said, was effectively in breach of the Finance and Appropriation Acts of the community. In a petition to regional lawmakers, EACSOF said failure to achieve 100 per cent compliance is a threat to the survival of EAC. Average aggregate contributions for the 2018/19 financial year were at just 59 per cent to the EAC, which is already suffering a zero per cent budget increase for almost a decade. MP Aden Omar Abdikadir, the Chairperson of EALA’s Committee on General Purpose, on Monday told The New Times that his committee had received the petition and was awaiting for the directions from the House. Abdikadir explained that the normal parliamentary procedure is that the Speaker, Martin Ngoga, will commit the report to the relevant committee. In this case his committee and the Speaker will direct the committee to report back to the House with recommendations on the petition content. “Given the urgency of this matter I expect things to move with speed. As a committee, we are ready to deal with the petition as soon as it’s given to us by the House,” he said. “The matter raised by the petitioners is real and will give it its due considering in the soonest time possible.” The ongoing sitting in the House in Arusha, which started on September 16 ends on October 5. For years now, EAC partner states have had challenges with honouring their financial commitments to the now six-member regional economic community. EACSOF is also seeking an interpretation of Article 143 [Sanctions] of the EAC Treaty, which addresses the issue. The article stipulates that a partner state which defaults in meeting its financial and other obligations under the EAC treaty “shall be subject to such action as the summit may on the recommendation of the Council, determine.” The forum questions whether the failure by partner states to remit contributions shows a lack of commitment to the Community. Regarding the way forward, among others, EACSOF seeks action by EALA especially by engaging the Council of Ministers to recommend to the Summit to invoke article 143 and 146 on Partner States that have met the criteria of activation of that particular article. They also want the parliament to put a question to Tanzania as to why the host partner state, which is also a pioneering partner state did not clear the 2018/19 contribution (89 per cent) and that until the first quarter of 2019/20, no remittance had been made. In addition, they want lawmakers to put a question to Kenya as to why this other pioneering partner state did not clear the 2018/19 contribution (98 per cent) and that until the first quarter of 2019/20, no remittance had been made. The regional civil society forum also wants to the Council to explain why at the end of the first quarter it were only Rwanda and Uganda that had remitted for 2019/20. editor@newtimesrwanda.com

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EALA to study proposal to sanction defaulting nations