EALA session opens today

KIGALI -The East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) will, today, resume business with a plenary session at the Parliamentary buildings. This is the forth meeting of the fourth session of the regional legislative body. President Paul Kagame is expected to address a Special Sitting today while President Pierre Nkurunziza of Burundi will also address the summit on Monday. In his capacity as the chairman of the summit of the EAC Heads of State President Nkurunziza will make the State of EAC address. The Assembly, to be presided over by the Speaker of EALA, Abdirahin Haithar Abdi, will, over the next two weeks, discuss legislations crucial to EAC’s integration dispensation. According to the EALA Speaker, the body has taken centre stage in the integration process by providing the required legislative framework and oversight to ensure the integration agenda continues to be a priority. “The involvement of East Africans in the process is fundamental given the fact that it is very much a people-centred process. As such, the Assembly has and will continue to engage the citizens of the region and taking their comments into account when enacting legislation,” he said. He noted that the EAC is at an important phase in the integration process with the Customs Union now fully-fledged and the coming into force of the Common Market Protocol. “The EAC shall, over the next 12 months, hold negotiations of the Monetary Union, the important third step in the four-tier integration process,” Abdi said. “This is in tandem with the directives of the EAC Summit in 2007 that decided to fast track the achievement of the Monetary Union by 2012. The region has realized notable progress, the challenges notwithstanding,” he added. The Speaker noted that it is important for the laws enacted by the EAC to have the full force and take precedent over similar laws in the Partner States on matters related to the Community. EALA legislators will also interact and share experiences with the Members of the Rwandan Parliament, the leadership and the general public, as envisaged under Article 49 of the Treaty establishing the EAC. To be tabled is the EAC Elections Bill, the EAC Service Commission Bill, the Inter-University Council of East Africa, the report of the Committee on Legal, Rules and Privileges on the adherence to the Treaty by Partner States, among others. Ends

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EALA session opens today