Eala plans to hold sessions in Juba

Speaker, Mr Martin Ngoga.

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The Speaker, Mr Martin Ngoga, said with South Sudan already admitted as a member of the East African Community (EAC), the country is eligible to host the House sessions.

The East African Legislative Assembly (Eala) says it will hold its first session in Juba, South Sudan.

The Speaker, Mr Martin Ngoga, said with South Sudan already admitted as a member of the East African Community (EAC), the country is eligible to host the House sessions.

“Eala would at an appropriate time hold its sittings in the country as part of its rotational principle,” he said during his meeting with South Sudan president Salvar Kiir in Juba last week.

He added that the EAC was closely monitoring peace talks between the government and rebels led by the former Vice President, Mr Riek Machar. Mr Ngoga, a lawmaker from Rwanda who was elected Eala Speaker last December, assured President Kiir that discussions were underway with relevant authorities to hold a session in Juba.

Fragile security situation in South Sudan has been worrying EAC legislators, something that has been cited as a hindrance to its integration to the community. Since its admission in the bloc in 2016, high level teams from the EAC secretariat and other organs have been to Juba to take stock of the situation.

Although holding of Eala sessions is done on rotation basis among the EAC partner states, a fragile security situation may put this on hold.

In August 2016, Eala suspended holding sessions in Bujumbura, Burundi following the assassination of an Eala member from that country, Ms Hafsa Mossi.

For South Sudan, however, full integration of the country into the EAC has picked pace in recent months with the recent training in Arusha of the country’s media practitioners on the process.

It was resolved at the end of the workshop that was that the Juba authorities should urgently strengthen the communications function to improve access to information on EAC by the media.

EAC secretary general Liberat Mfumukeko called for fast-tracked integration of the country into EAC in order to enable the country to benefit from intra-regional trade and cross-border investments.

An activity plan on integration of South Sudan would be on agenda of the leaders’ summit in Kampala, Uganda later this week.