East African Legislative Assembly, Nairobi, Kenya: March 17th, 2023: The President of the Republic of Kenya, William Samoei Ruto, has today called for an immediate review of the EAC Treaty.
The President was speaking today at State House Nairobi, while hosting the Speaker of EALA, Rt. Hon. Joseph Ntakirutimana.
President Ruto said that the current Treaty came into effect when the Community was made up of three Partner States. He appreciated that the Community had recorded many achievements towards the integration process. However, he took note that the Treaty should be aligned to the current structure of the EAC which is made up of seven Partner States. “The Treaty should indeed be amended to accommodate all the Partner States considering that they all have different cultures especially language. “ He stressed.
The Speaker of EALA sighted the use of French and Kiswahili as one of the amendments that should take precedence. He decried the use of English only as an impediment to seamless communication in the Assembly, now that it had members from the DRC which is a French speaking country.
The Speaker of EALA also called for the full implementation of the Administration of EALA Act 2012, which should allow the Assembly to run its affairs effectively. “The absence of the operationalization of this Act has caused EALA to continue depending on temporary staff, some of whom have served the institution for over 15 years. “ The Speaker said.
The meeting was attended by the Cabinet Secretary for the East African Community, Arid and Semi Arid Lands (ASAL), Ms. Rebecca Miano, the Principal Secretary in the same Ministry, Mr. Abdi Dubat, members of EALA; Hon. Omar Hassan, Hon. Zipporah Kering and Hon. Kanini Kega. They were flanked by officials from the Ministry of EAC as well as EALA.
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