{Members of the East African Legislative Assembly (Eala) attend a session of the East African Court of Justice in Arusha yesterday. The court threw out an application to stop impechment proceedings against Eala Speaker Margaret Zziwa.}
{{East African Community (EAC) Secretary General Richard Sezibera yesterday said legal advice from his office was ignored by the embattled Speaker of the East African Legislative Assembly.}}
He said the EAC counsel had consistently explained how the regional legislature could have handled an attempt to impeachment Ms Margaret Zziwa, but his advice was rejected by the Speaker, who opted to block the Motion from being debated.
The East African Court of Justice (EACJ), the legal arm of the bloc, last Thursday last week declined to stop Ms Zziwa’s impeachment after she and Mbidde Foundation of Uganda filed a suit before the court seeking interim injunction to prevent the Eala from debating on the Motion.
The court further ruled that the legislators’ move to throw her out of her office did not infringe the Treaty which established EAC although it asserted that Ms Zziwa and the Uganda-based entity can still seek an injunction if they produced sufficient evidence to merit stopping the move against the Speaker.
But Dr Sezibera told the assembly yesterday during the debate on the 2014/15 budget estimates that by refusing the Motion to be debated according to Eala’s Rules of Procedure, the regional parliament under the current Speaker was setting a precedent which would have serious consequences on the EAC and the integration process in general.
“There are consequences which have made the respected House to debate motions which are not on the Order Paper and ignoring those scheduled for discussion,” he said, referring to aborted attempts by a section of the MPs to have the Motion to impeach the Speaker heard.
The EAC boss further pleaded with the assembly to respect the Secretariat, which is the administrative arm of EAC and which is mandated to implement decisions of the EAC Council of Ministers, the policy organ of the Community.
“It is the Council of Ministers which advises the Heads of State Summit. It should be treated with due respect. If you don’t heed the Council we will be undermining the sanctity of the Community.”
Dr Sezibera further warned against turning Eala chamber “into a theatre of unnecessary conflicts”, noting that the people of East Africa had entrusted the MPs and the Parliament to steer the regional integration agenda using the procedures agreed upon.
The remarks by the secretary-general in defence of the Council of Ministers apparently aimed to stem a barrage of criticisms against it from the legislators. Besides being the policy organ, the Council oversees implementation of the EAC programmes, initiates and submit Bills to the Assembly and tables the Community budget.
It came only hours after Ms Zziwa declared before the House that the issue of her impeachment by some Eala members has collapsed and was dead.
“I find that the Motion falls short of the requisite four signatures from all the partner states as a mandatory requirement under Rule 9 on the Removal of the Speaker,” she stated, adding; “The Motion also suffers expiry within the meaning of Rule 9 as its tabling was not crystallized within the requisite seven days. In my considered opinion, it therefore collapsed.”
The Speaker added: “The effect of the Motion is that it can no longer form part of the business of this House. This is my decsion on the matter of procedure that was raised as mandated of the Speaker by Rule 82 (2) of the rules of this House.”
The Speaker further argued that Rule 82 (2) of Eala’s Rules of Procedures grants the Speaker of the Assembly the final powers on the interpretation and application of the Rules of Procedures and that the EA Court declined to take a decision restraining the Assembly from going ahead with a Motion for Removal of the Speaker and ruled that the matter should be resolved using available Rules of Procedure.
NMG
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