Crisis-ridden Eala set to pick Speaker today
A Rwandan member of the East African Legislative Assembly, Dr James Ndahiro, is helped by a colleague, Ms Patricia Hajabakiga, also from Rwanda, to vote on Wednesday in Arusha. The confidence vote ended with the ouster of the erstwhile Eala Speaker, Ms Margaret Zziwa. PHOTO | PETER SARAMBA
What you need to know:
- Move comes after the erstwhile Speaker, Ms Zziwa from Uganda, was voted out by her colleagues on Wednesday following a no-confidence over alleged poor performance
Arusha. The new Speaker for the East African Legislative Assembly (Eala) will be elected today as criticisms mount on the endless crisis which has plagued the regional Parliament.
“With these endless conflicts there is a danger of the people of East African losing trust in this House,” warned the executive director of the Arusha-based Pan African Lawyers’ Union (Palu), Mr Donald Deya.
He said the voting out of Margaret Nantongo Zziwa, an Eala MP from Uganda, as Speaker by three quarters of the MPs on Wednesday was enough indication that she had lost support of fellow legislators.
However, Mr Deya declined further comment, saying he was still digesting the findings of a report of the Eala Committee on Legal, Rules and Privileges which was tabled before the House on Wednesday and which recommended the sacking of Ms Zziwa.
A regional business analyst Simon Mapolu said it was a pity Eala was losing a lot of time and resources on ‘petty issues’ instead of debating the pending bills and development programmes.
“They have not endorsed bills. They have to change and deliver for the benefit of East Africans. We are not interested in petty fights among individuals,” he told The Citizen.
He noted that at a the time the EAC and its organs were lagging behind schedule in the implementation of the EAC Treaty, the MPs were fiddling over personality issues.
Mr Moses Nswila, the President and CEO of Friends of East Africa, a lobby group based here, suggested that Eala and other EAC institutions should devise mechanisms to resolve differences among individual MPs.
Ms Zziwa was on Wednesday ousted as Eala Speaker following accusations of incompetence, abuse of office, nepotism and intimidation of lawmakers as well as Eala staff. She has repeatedly denied the allegations. Mr Nswila proposed to the EAC partner states to seek new ways to pick Eala members by the masses instead of the current system where they are elected in the National Assemblies of the respective countries.
Ms Zziwa, the first female Speaker of the regional Assembly and who has held the position since 2012, becomes the first one to be ousted through a vote of no confidence.
Her successor would be elected today and would ideally come from Uganda, according to a senior Public Relations Officer with Eala, Mr Bobi Odiko. The election will take place at 3:30pm when the House reconvenes.
“The House cannot transact any business without a Speaker. The one to be elected tomorrow (today) will ideally come from Uganda, basing on the principle of rotation,” he said.
The winner for the seat will have to get at least two thirds of the votes or the support of 30 of the total 45 Eala members in the first round.
In the event of failure to garner the required number, the vote will be repeated and the winner will require a simple majority to be declared the fourth Speaker of Eala, the legislative arm of the Community.
Legislators seeking to vie for the post were expected to start collecting the forms from the Office of the Clerk from yesterday until mid-day today.
Until late yesterday, there was still no information on the possible candidates from Uganda who will contest for the prestigious position under which he or she will be directing all activities of the House and its Committees.
