Members of the East African Legislative Assembly have started public hearings, in their respective countries, to gather views that enrich three draft laws paving the way for the establishment of the East African Monetary Union (EAMU).

The EAC Council of Ministers tabled the three draft laws before the East African Legislative Assembly in March.

The draft legislations are; the EAC Financial Services Commission Bill, the EAC Surveillance Compliance and Enforcement Bill, and the EAC Standardisation, Accreditation and Conformity Assessment Bill.

On Wednesday, October 5, MPs François-Xavier Kalinda, Françoise Uwumukiza and Francine Rutazana, members of the regional Assembly’s Committee on Legal Rules and Privilege, held their third session in Kigali with Rwandan officials from different institutions. The Committee is specifically considering the EAC Surveillance Compliance and Enforcement Bill.

"The overall goal of the public hearings is to enable key stakeholders to present their views, comments and proposals for the purpose of enriching this Bill before it is passed by the Assembly,” Kalinda said.

After an interactive meeting with the EAC Secretariat, in March, the Committee decided to engage other key stakeholders from partner states, especially the institutions that will be directly involved in the implementation of the Bill. Public hearing meetings in each country are attended by stakeholders representing governments, private sector and civil society organizations.

The East African Community (EAC) Council of Ministers tabled the three draft laws before the regional Parliament, on March 1.

The EAMI is a transitional mechanism to the East African Central Bank that will issue the single currency expected to be in place by 2024, if all goes according to plan. The regional monetary institute, a precursor to a regional central bank, is one of the four institutions expected to carry out much of the preparatory work for the creation of the East African Monetary Union (EAMU), an important stage in the regional integration agenda.

This is the seven-member bloc’s third pillar of integration preceding the ultimate phase – the EAC political federation.

Public hearings on the EAC Financial Services Commission Bill, 2022, will follow. These will be conducted by the EALA Committee on General Purpose. The legislation aims to promote the integration of financial systems in the region and harmonize regulation and supervisory practices in the non-banking financial sector.

There will also be public hearings on the EAC Standardization, Accreditation and Conformity Assessment Bill.

Once enacted, this law will provide for standardization, accreditation, and conformity assessment of products traded in the community to facilitate industrialization development and trade to make provision for ensuring protection of health and safety of society and environment in the community.

Two other pertinent bills – the EAC Monetary Institute Bill, 2017 and the EAC Statistics Bureau Bill, 2017, were tabled in the Assembly in 2018.

The EAC Monetary Institute Act was assented to by regional leaders but the EAC Statistics Bureau Bill is still awaiting assent.