The ordinary meeting of the Summit of East African Community Heads of State is slated for Wednesday 15th April, according to a communique signed by Dr. Vincent Biruta, the EAC Chairperson of Council of Ministers.

The summit which had been postponed twice, in November 2019 and February 2020 will be held via video conferencing on Wednesday this week.

Previous requests for postponement were request sent by members of the Summit with the latest being South Sudan who were in the process formation of the new Transitional Government of National Unity.

To successfully convene a Summit, presence of all partner states is important as decision making is usually by consensus of the quorum. The absence of one or more EAC member states would interfere with the ability of the summit to make decisions.

The agenda on the Summit include the handover of the Chairmanship of the bloc by President Paul Kagame to President Uhuru Kenyatta. The chairmanship is held on a rotational basis.

The summit is also likely to look into the application by Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) requested to join the EAC.

With the world currently fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, regional cooperation in the aspect is likely to feature in the summit as countries seek ways to ensure that they curb the spread as well as maintain the flow of goods and services.

Ahead of the summit, the council of ministers will look into issues such as finalization of the new structure of EAC Organs and institutions approved in October last year and accordingly brief the Heads of State.

The council of ministers is also scheduled to present to Heads of States the budgeting and recruitment processes and the administrative and budgetary matters, including reduction of the recurrent budget and elaboration of an Administration of the EAC Secretariat Act