Rwanda’s Hon. Patricia Hajabakiga a law maker at the East African Community Legistilative assembly deserves a pat of her back for moving a Bill on polythene materials control for adoption in all five member states of the regional grouping.
The EAC Polythene Materials Control Bill, 2011 passed in the House late yesterday evening. The Bill pushes closer to an Act of the Community should the EAC Heads of State assent to the same.
The Bill aims at providing a legal framework for the preservation of a clean and healthy environment through the prohibition of manufacturing, sale, importation and use of polythene materials.
Justifying the move to have the regional law in place, Hon Hajabakiga stated that the Bill is intended to control the use of polythenes while advocating the total ban of plastics.
Hajabakiga also notes several dangers of plastics and polythene materials notably soil degradation through burning of wastes, harmful emissions of toxics and the endangering of human and animal lives.
She further indicates that while plastics can be burned, they emit chemicals and the corresponding photo-degradation has consequential impact on human and infrastructure.
Countries such as Bangladesh, Botswana, Israel, Rwanda and France among others have since enacted a similar law, Hon Hajabakiga said.
The Chairperson of the Agriculture, Tourism and Natural Resources Committee, Hon Safina Kwekwe whose Committee the Assembly mandated to look through the Bill, remarked that the Committee had met various stakeholders in the Partner States during the public hearings.
The meetings were called to create awareness of plastics and visit plastic manufacturers with a view to interfacing with them and suggesting for improvements on the Bill.
In its report, the Committee states that Rwanda which has an existing law in place supported the Bill while requesting for inclusion of a clause on alternatives to polythene materials as well as an incentive programme.
Meanwhile, the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) meeting in Kampala also passed key amendments to the Inter-University Council for East Africa Act, giving the body powers to oversee accreditation of tertiary institutions in the region.
Assembly members overruled objections from the council of ministers that had expressed reservations about the amendments which among others, will grant institutions better regional mobility, only to get accreditation from the council to operate regionally instead of multiple applications to individual countries.
Generally, The law will promote, modernise and harmonise EAC university curricula.
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