Dar es Salaam | Wednesday
THE leaders of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda are expected to meet on Friday to launch a regional parliament and an East African court of justice as their countries edge closer to a single market and political union.
Each of the three members of the East African Community (EAC) has nominated nine members to the East African Legislative Assembly and six judges will be sworn in during the summit to form the East African Court of Justice.
”The launch of the two bodies will facilitate the work of the secretariat of the EAC in the implementation of the EAC treaty,” EAC representative Magaga Alot said on Tuesday.
Presidents Daniel arap Moi of Kenya, Benjamin Mkapa of Tanzania and Yoweri Museveni of Uganda are due to hold their meeting in the northern Tanzanian town of Arusha, where the assembly will be based.
Kenya’s nomination of representatives to the assembly had been dogged by controversy over the appointment of women.
The rules establishing the assembly stipulate that each country sends at least three women to the regional body, but the ruling Kenya African National Union (Kanu) rushed through an amendment in parliament on Tuesday to make it possible for Kenya to be represented by two women.
The revival of the legislative assembly and the court of justice follows the ratification last year of the EAC treaty, which seeks to establish regional institutions and greater economic cooperation.
The Court of Justice will be temporarily based in Arusha before the EAC’s council of ministers decides its permanent seat. The EAC’s secretariat is also located there.
The EAC has already appointed John Ruhangisa, a Tanzanian, as the registrar of the court, which is being set up to ensure compliance with the EAC treaty.
Friday’s summit, to be chaired by Kenya’s President Daniel arap Moi, is to be preceded by a two-day meeting of the council of ministers on Wednesday and Thursday.
The EAC secretariat has organised a series of cultural events to run from Wednesday through Friday as part of the inauguration process.
”The event is expected to bring in leading performers from Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. The festivities are aimed at promoting the people-centred objectives of regional co-operation, integration and development pursued by EAC,” a senior EAC official said.
At a summit in April, the three heads of state launched the EAC second development strategy and endorsed the appointment of the EAC secretary general Nuwe Amanya Mushega of Uganda and his deputy Kipyego Cheluget of Kenya.
The EAC has replaced the defunct East African Cooperation, set up in 1994 in an earlier vain attempt to harmonise tariffs and commercial practices as well as the free movement of people and capital.
In the early 1960s, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda established the East African Common Services Organisation, then, in 1967, created an earlier East African Community which broke up a decade later without having achieved much because of political and economic divergences. – Sapa-AFP