A session of the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) here on Tuesday ended in ugly drama as more than half of the members opted to remain outside the chamber.
EALA Speaker Margaret Zziwa
The Speaker, Ms Margaret Zziwa, was forced to adjourn for 15 minutes to wait for other MPs to join their colleagues. But the situation did not change after resumption and she had to make a roll-call count.
“Honourable members, only 15 MPs, plus the Speaker, are in the House. Rules require at least a half of the full house and the Speaker. I hereby adjourn the session to tomorrow,” she declared.
EALA has 45 MPs plus the Speaker. The House was scheduled to deliberate on holiday bill, but things ended prematurely after hardly 10 minutes. Several MPs told the ‘Daily News’ that there was tension in the House and that the walk-out was deliberate.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, some Tanzanian MPs said EALA was divided on the venue of the meetings. There are those who want the sessions to rotate among five East African Community (EAC) member countries, while others particularly Tanzanians demand them to be held at EAC headquarters in Arusha.
“EAC headquarters is here. We now have our own building it had cost about 40bn/- donated by donors…..Tanzania also provided land for the building.
“When sessions are held outside Arusha, we have to rent buildings. We have to pay allowances to staff. This is expensive,” one legislator explained. “EALA has no enough funds, it depends on contributions from members and external donors for its survival,” one member argued. Other MPs refused to talk to journalists, saying no one has the right to speak on behalf of EALA, but only the Speaker.
“EALA decisions are made democratically. I cannot speak for EALA,” one member from Kenya said. Earlier on, the MPs had started deliberating on a bill seeking to make November 30 a public holiday in all five member states. November 30 is the East African Community (EAC) Day.
EAC comprises Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. The geographical region encompassed by the EAC covers an area of 1.8 million square kilometres, with a combined population of about 132 million.
The bill, moved by Mr Abubakar Zein Abubakar (Kenya), states that the day would be the opportunity to reflect on the vision of integration and celebrate progress already made. “It will also be the opportunity to educate citizens on the integration process and build citizens to citizens’ engagement.
“On this day, citizens and other persons who have championed integration or have provided exemplary services to the community will be honoured.
“The official celebrations shall be held in rotational order in the partner states and the partner state hosting the celebration shall propose a theme,” reads the bill in part. It further proposes that there should be exhibitions during the week preceding the EAC Day to showcase various aspects of East African life.
By JOHN KULEKANA, Tanzania Daily News
