The race for the next country representatives at the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) has heated up, several months to the election.
For starters, EALA is an organ of the East African Community (EAC) that was established under Article 9 of the EAC treaty.
The assembly has a membership of nine (9) members who are elected by each partner state; ex-officio members consisting of the Minister or Assistant Minister responsible for the East African Community Affairs from each partner state; the Secretary General and the Counsel to the Community.
With its expansion from the initial three member states of Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania to include Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan, the assembly currently has 54 elected members, and eight ex-officio members, bringing the total to 62.
The current term is expiring in December this year and elections are expected in the same month.
Race heats up
With elections scheduled for December 2021, the race for who the next nine Ugandan EALA representatives will be is already heating up.
A number of opposition political parties for example, have already elected their flag bearers, who are now awaiting to face Parliament.
Last week, the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) elected Harold Kaija, who is the party’s Deputy Secretary General in charge of administration as their EALA flag bearer.
The Democratic Party (DP) elected Dr Gerald Siranda, who is their Secretary General to replace their current representative and Vice-President Fred Mukasa Mbidde who is ineligible to contest again, having been re-elected in 2017.
The Uganda People’s Congress (UPC) elected Fred Ebil.
Uganda’s biggest opposition party, the National Unity Platform (NUP) with at least 57 MPs is however yet to elect their candidate, with party spokesperson Joel Ssenyonyi saying that discussions are on-going internally to see how to manoeuvre what they call misrepresentation of the East African Community Treaty by the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM).
Ssenyonyi, in a recent interview with URN, said that for instance, the FDC in the last 10 years has not had representation (despite being the biggest opposition) because NRM has pushed them out.
“So, Mr Museveni sits and determines who he wants. Of the 9, the 6 that belong to NRM and he then says…okay…we will choose a good DP, a good UPC and a good Independent and that kind of thing,” the NUP mouthpiece was quoted saying.
Leader of Opposition in Parliament and NUP MP Mathias Mpuuga said that they are not in any hurry to choose a candidate for EALA, and they will take their time with it.
A slot for another independent candidate became available when the current representative Susan Nakawuki crossed to NRM in 2020, rendering her ineligible to contest again. Independents will be looking to fill the void.
The ruling NRM is also yet to elect its flag bearer, with sources inside the party saying that they will hold primary elections for the EALA seats in May or June this year. NRM current representative, former Kabula County MP, James Kakooza has expressed interest in retaining the seat he occupied to replace Mathias Kasamba who died in 2021.
Christopher Okumu Opoka, Dennis Namara, Mary Mugyenyi, Steven Odong, Paul Musamali and Rose Akol are the other current representatives who are eligible for re-election and they are all still in the race.
But is EALA effective?
With the race heating up and contestants promising so much, the silence of the assembly in resolving regional issues has got many questioning its ability to deliver on its mandate.
EALA was formed in 1999 with a cardinal mandate to legislate, offer representation and oversight over East African regional affairs but according to analysts, this has not been achieved and the Assembly is said to have remained a sleeping giant.
Opposition kingpin and political pundit Dr Kizza Besigye told NBS Television in a recent interview that EALA has failed to deliver, because it was built on a faulty foundation.
Besigye said that that the 1960 - 1970s Union of East African Nations was stronger than what we currently have in EALA.
“By then, we had the same currency and we did not have to exchange money, we had East African Airways, Harbors,” Besigye said.
Sheila Kawamara who served in the inaugural Parliament however disagreed with Besigye in a separate interview.
Kawamara said that EALA’s role is purely legislative and that that the Assembly has delivered in this regard.
