Posted in Press Release
East African Legislative Assembly, Arusha, September 12, 2018: The East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) resumes its Sitting in Arusha, Tanzania, next week. The Assembly convenes for the First Meeting of its Second Session which runs from September 16th, 2018 until October 6th, 2018.
Key items at the Sitting include the debate on the East African Community Statistics Bill, 2017 and the East African Community Customs Management (Amendment Bill) (No 2), 2017.
The EAC Statistics Bureau Bill, 2017, seeks to establish the Statistics Bureau as an Institution of the Community under Article 9 of the Treaty and Article 21 of the Protocol on Establishment of the EAC Monetary Union. The Bill provides for the functions, powers, governance and its funding with a view to establishing the institution responsible for statistics in a bid to support the East African Monetary Union.
The Bill is in line with Article 21 (c ) of the Protocol on the Establishment of the EAC Monetary Union which provides for the Summit, on the recommendation of the EAC Council of Ministers to establish an institution responsible for statistics as one of the institutions to back the EAC Monetary Union.
The EAC Customs Management (Amendment) (No 2) Bill, 2018, is intended to provide for customs administration to receive advance information regarding the goods being moved across national border(s) ahead of the arrival of the vessels carrying the goods. In order to facilitate this, the Assembly anticipates to amend section 24 of the previous EAC Customs Management Act to require a master or agent of a vessel to provide advance information relating to consignment in the vessel. The Bill was introduced to the House by the Chairperson of the Council of Ministers, Rt Hon Dr Ali-Haji Kirunda Kivejinja during the Plenary in Nairobi in May 2018.
Both Bills sailed through the First Reading and were committed to the Committee on Communication, Trade and Investment (CTI), which is carrying out the public hearings this week in Arusha.
Other significant issues at the forthcoming Plenary are key meetings of the legislators with the EAC Executive.
The EAC Council of Ministers and the Secretary General are expected to interact with the Committee on Accounts on the EAC Audited Accounts for the Financial Year ending 30th June, 2017. A similar meeting with the Committee of Trade and Investment shall also be held to enable the Committee and the Secretary General to deliberate on the EAC Customs Management (Amendment) (No 2) Bill, 2018 and the EAC Statistics Bureau Bill, 2017.
The Sitting is also to be interspersed in Week 1 by rigorous Committee work as well as further induction for Members largely on audited accounts and the EAC Budget processes and framework. The whole House will also meet with the International Committee of the Red Cross at a seminar that shall deliberate on small arms and light weapons.
The Assembly which holds six Plenary Sessions in every Financial Year, has a principle of rotation. Its last sitting was in Nairobi in May-June 2018 while the last time it met in Arusha was on March 5-23, 2018, for the Third Meeting of the First Session of the 4th Assembly.
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For more information, please contact:
Bobi Odiko
Senior Public Relations Officer
East African Legislative Assembly
Arusha, Tanzania
Tel: +255-27-2508240
Fax: +255-27-2503103
Cell: +255-787-870945, +254-733-718036
Email: BOdiko [at] eachq.org
Web: www.eala.org
About the East African Legislative Assembly:
The East African Legislative Assembly is the Legislative Organ of the East African Community. Its Membership consists of a total of 62, of whom 54 are elected Members (9 from each Partner State) and eight ex-officio members (the Ministers responsible for EAC Affairs from the Partner States, the Secretary General of the Community and the Counsel to the Community).
The East African Legislative Assembly has legislative functions as well as oversight of all East African Community matters. The enactment of legislation of the Community is put in effect by means of Bills passed by the Assembly and assented to by the Heads of State, and every Bill that has been duly passed and assented to become an Act of the Community and takes precedent over similar legislations in the Partner States. EALA has to date passed 79 pieces of legislation.
Posted in Press Release
East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, 30th August, 2018: A two-day Pre-Budget Conference for the EAC Organs and Institutions for the Financial Year 2019/2020 is underway at the EAC Headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania.
The Conference is being attended by Members of the General Purpose Committee of the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA), Permanent and Principal Secretaries, senior officials from Partner States, Heads of EAC Organs and Institutions, and staff from the Secretariat.
Gracing the opening session of the Conference was Uganda’s Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of East African Community Affairs, Mrs Edith Mwanje, who commended the Secretariat for convening the meeting and involving key stakeholders in the Community’s Budget Cycle.
Addressing the delegates, Hon. Abdikadir Omar Aden, the Chairperson of the Committee on General Purpose of EALA noted that EAC had registered commendable milestones which should be applauded and up-scaled to greater heights and achievements. However, he noted that there were challenges impacting on the smooth operation of projects and programmes, which need to be addressed urgently.
He disclosed that the Assembly was giving notice of the intention to, among others, introduce a Public Finance Management Bill that will fill all the gaps existing in the EAC Budget Act of 2008, whose provisions are continually disregarded.
He disclosed that EALA will pursue changes in recruitment (transparency), Human Resource matters in the Community as well as conditions of service of the staff of the Community, which fall under the mandate of the Committee on General Purpose. “It is no longer business as usual where policy decisions are made at the behest and will of particular entities, groups and even individuals”, noted Hon. Abdikadir Omar Aden.
The Chair of the General Purpose Committee pledged to lay a firm foundation for better cooperation between all stakeholders, Organs and Institutions of the Community.
On his part, Eng. Steven Mlote, the Deputy Secretary General in charge of Planning and Infrastructure, who represented the Secretary General, cited achievements made in the implementation of programmes under the four Pillars of EAC integration during the Financial Year 2017/18.
These included, among others, completion of the necessary arrangements for roll-out of all products within EAC to be transacted under the Single Customs Territory; enhancement of application of the Electronic Cargo Tracking System on the Northern Corridor; enhancement of customs automation in all Partner States through upgrades of the Customs systems and migration to more advanced and robust systems; and initiation of an inter-connectivity program to address weaknesses in customs valuation and monitoring of goods across the region.
The region made stride in completion of the construction of twelve (12) One Stop Border Posts (OSBPs). These include (Holili/Taveta; Rusumo; Ruhwa/ (BR)/Ruhwa (RW); Nemba/Gasenyi; Kagitumba/Mirama Hills; Busia (KE)/Busia (UG); Mutukula (TZ)/Mutukula (UG); Malaba (KE)/Malaba (UG); Kabanga/Kobero; Horohoro/Lunga Lunga; Sirari/Isebania; and Namanga).
He disclosed that to promote the region’s textile and leather industries, the review of the EAC Common External Tariff (CET) was underway, to among other outcomes, set rates that will provide incentives for value addition, as well as cushion the industry from dumping. On the other hand, Partner States had taken measures to promote the textile and leather sectors through enforcement of conformity with Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) requirements, particularly for the used under-garments and synthetic shoes.
The Deputy Secretary General highlighted the challenges impacting on implementation of Community activities that include slow disbursement of funds by Partner States. “For instance, the status of contribution by Partner States towards the EAC main budget as of 29th August, 2018 was at 6% per cent, thus seriously affecting implementation of the activities planned for the first Quarter of the Financial Year 2018/19”, asserted the EAC official and urged Partner States to remit their contributions in time to enable the EAC Organs and Institutions deliver on their mandates.
The Deputy Secretary General proposed seven (7) global priority areas during the Financial Year 2019/20 to be considered by the Conference namely; consolidation of the Single Customs Territory (SCT) to promote intra-EAC trade; development of regional infrastructure (roads, railways, ports, energy, etc.); and enhancement of free movement of all factors of production and implementation of commitments on other areas of cooperation as envisaged under the Common Market.
Others include enhancement of regional industrial development through investment in key priority sectors, skills development, technological advancement and innovation to stimulate economic development; implementation of the Roadmap towards the EAC Monetary Union; promotion of regional peace, security and good governance, and completion of the Constitution-making for the EAC Political Federation; and finally institutional transformation, focusing on implementation of the Institutional Review recommendations, alternative financing and improvement of performance management at the EAC Organs and Institutions.
It is expected that at the end of the Conference, consensus and agreement will be developed in relation to the Community’s Global and Sector-specific priority areas for the FY 2019/20.
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For more information, please contact:
Mr Owora Richard Othieno
Head, Corporate Communications and Public Affairs Department
EAC Secretariat
Arusha, Tanzania
Tel: +255 784 835021
Email: OOthieno [at] eachq.org
About the East African Community Secretariat:
The East African Community (EAC) is a regional intergovernmental organisation of five Partner States, comprising Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda, with its headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania.
The EAC Secretariat is ISO 9001:2008 Certified
