Who will be Eala fifth speaker?

Mr Oburu Odinga (right), the elect MP to the East African Legislative Assembly (Eala), with the incumbent member from Tanzania, Mr Adam Kimbisa, at the EAC headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania yesterday. PHOTO BY FILBERT RWEYEMAMU

Arusha- Two Members of Parliament are likely to attract the attention of their fellow lawmakers today when the enlarged East African Legislative Assembly (Eala) reconvenes after a six month lull due to long electioneering period in Kenya.

The duo- both incumbents, are reported to be vying for the position of the Speaker who will be elected before the Fourth Assembly gets down to business in Arusha.

Neither of the two; Mr Martin Ngonga from Rwanda and Mr Jean Marie Muhirwa from Burundi could confirm eyeing the top seat but sources close to the regional Parliament said they are among those mentioned.

Election of the Speaker will dominate today’s activities during the First Sitting of the Fourth Assembly, according to a provisional programme issued at the weekend.

Other activities include swearing in of the members and election of the House members to the Eala Commission, which oversees the administrative issues of the regional Parliament.

Although not officially announced, the candidates for the position of Speaker will this time around be either from Rwanda or Burundi, which have had none of its lawmaker in that post since they both joined the East African Community (EAC) in 2007.

Eala, the legislative arm of the Community, was operationalised in 2001 and the Speakers have been from the three founding members of the bloc; Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya.

The other previous Speakers are Abulrahman Kinana from Tanzania (2001 - 2007) and Abdirahin Haithar Abdi from Kenya who served from 2007-2012.

Ms Margaret Nnatongo Zziwa from Uganda served in the same position from June 2012 to December 2014.

However, Ms Zziwa was replaced by Mr Daniel Kidega, also from Uganda, after she was impeached through a vote of no confidence following allegations of abuse of office and nepotism during her tenure.

Both Mr Kidega and Ms Zziwa completed their two five-year-term when the Third Assembly tenure came to an end on June 4.

Mr Ngonga and Mr Muhirwa were both members of the Third Assembly but have been re-elected to the House by their respective National Assemblies for another five years.
Mr Ngonga is the former prosecutor of Rwanda and has been widely mentioned as being fronted by his country for the job.

Mr Muhirwa is a new comer to the regional Parliament.
He joined the House late last year replacing the assassinated Ms Hafsa Mossi in August 2016 and re-elected for another term at Eala in April.

When asked whether he was a candidate for the seat, the youthful lawmaker said: “If I am nominated, I will try. But it is too early now to say I am one of the candidates”.