EAC falls short in ensuring gender balance in its organs

Arusha. What a paradox? Statistics indicate that women constitute about 60 percent of the East African Community (EAC) bloc, currently estimated to be 183 million.

Yet the grim reality is that women are still marginalised in the decision making processes and have limited access to education.

They also lag behind in access to finance and information and communication technologies (ICTs) compared to their male counterparts.

Several measures have been initiated to address the imbalances meted out to female gender;largely blamed on history.

This has been done through enacting and implementing different policies and legal frameworks.

The EAC Treaty, a key document which guides the operations of the regional organization, is also clear in mainstreaming gender in all endeavours.

It emphasizes the role of women - the marginalised group - play in socio-economic development in the partner states.

These include promoting women in business by developing a regional financial facility targeting women-owned businesses.

The initiatives are seen not to be enough in addressing the gender imbalances seen within the ranks of the EAC staff itself.

The outspoken lawmakers with the East African Legislative Assembly (Eala) who raised the matter in the House recently.

Like other opinion leaders, they expressed their concerns on the gender imbalances seen not elsewhere but in the EAC institutions.

The gap is more pronounced with the executive positions and down to the professional cadre at the regional organization’s organs and institutions.

“The top positions should be shared among men and women. It is also time we have a female secretary general,” said Abdikadir Aden, a lawmaker from Kenya.

He was debating a motion urging the EAC Council of Ministers to adopt and implement measures to enhance gender mainstreaming in staff appointments and recruitment.

The Motion for a Resolution of the Assembly was moved by Eala member from Uganda Ms Mary Mugyenyi and seconded by Fatuma Ndangiza from Rwanda.

It called for the Assembly to direct the six partner states to make gender balance compulsory when nominating persons to serve in the regional body.

These have to include the position of Secretary General, the principal executive of the EAC, deputy secretaries general and judges, among others.

An affirmative action for women should also be taken when recruiting general and support staff in the organs and institutions of the Community.

The secretary general, on the other hand, should routinely conduct a gender audit in the EAC organs and institutions to facilitate gender mainstreaming.

The Motion was tabled as part of 16 Days of Activism against Violence to Women and Girls, an international campaign which ended on December 10th.

It emerged that out of the seven directors currently serving at the EAC secretariat, only one is a woman.

Also only one of the heads of the nine EAC institutions spread across the region was a woman.

None of the Judges of the First Instance Division of the East African Court of Justice (EACJ) is a woman while the professional ranks at Eala had only one lady!

The number of total employees serving the EAC, which has its headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania, rotates around 400.

A half of them are working at the Secretariat, the organisation’s executive arm which is responsible for projects’ implementation and budget issues.

At the secretariat, out of a total of 231 staff members, 77 were women and 154 men while at EACJ there were 12 women out of a total of 43 staff members.

A breakdown seen by The Citizen indicated that 22 of the 54 elected Eala members were women while 17 of the combined 37 professional and general staff at the Assembly were women.

The MPs during their sitting appealed to the regional leaders to address “glaring gender imbalances” where the number of men outstrip that of women by far.

However, the outspoken MP from Kenya Mr Aden insisted that time has come for the EAC to have a female secretary general; the topmost powerful position.

“Having a woman at the helm of the organisation is key in the quest for gender balancing,” he told the House.

Under the EAC Treaty, the secretary general is appointed by the Summit of the Heads of State upon nomination by his or her respective country.

He or she is the principal executive officer of the Community empowered as, among others, an accounting officer of the organization.

The post is held on the principle of rotation basis by the six member states in the bloc; Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Burundi, Rwanda and South Sudan.

Despite the glaring imbalance, EAC has had two female deputy secretaries general in the past; Beatrice Kiraso and Jesca Eriyo both from Uganda.

Eala also at one time had a woman Speaker Margaret Nantongo Zziwa (2012-2014) but was ousted and replaced by a man for alleged abuse of office.

Currently the five top positions are those of the SG and his two deputies, Counsel to the Community (the chief legal advisor) and director general of Customs and Trade are occupied by men.

However, Abdullah Makame from Tanzania said women were not entirely marginalized in the region, citing Tanzania which has the first woman president in the region.

Uganda also had the vice president way back in the 1990s while Rwanda is on record for having more women legislators and ministers than many countries.

Dr Makame said the Eala Election Act was clear that one third of the legislators should be of either gender, in particular assuring women of slots in the House.

The East African Court of Justice (EACJ), the judicial organ of the Community, has a track record of a host of women judges in its 20 year history.