The East African Community (EAC) Council of Ministers on Tuesday, March 1, eventually tabled before the regional Parliament three draft laws which will pave way for the establishment of the long-overdue East African Monetary Institute (EAMI).

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

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 EAMI is a transitional mechanism to the East African Central Bank that will issue the single currency that is expected to be in place by the year 2024, if all goes according to plan. This 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. 

The EAMU is the six-member bloc’s third pillar of integration preceding the ultimate phase – the EAC Political Federation. 

The three draft laws are among the vital items on the order paper that could not be tabled last week as lawmakers decided that they would not proceed in the absence of Ministers in charge of EAC Affairs – and nothing would eventually be implemented.

The EALA Speaker, Martin Ngoga (Rwanda) said it was a "big positive development” since it was the first time the Council of Ministers was tabling three bills at once in the House.

"They are bills that are taking us to another level of integration. We will work together with the Council to make sure that we process these bills as soon as possible,” Ngoga said.

The draft legislations were tabled by Rebecca Kadaga, Uganda's first deputy Prime Minister and Minister for EAC Affairs who stood in for Kenya's Cabinet Secretary for EAC Affairs, Betty Maina.

Maina who is now Chairperson of the Council of Ministers virtually took oath to join the Assembly on Tuesday as an ex-officio member. She takes over from Kenya’s former Cabinet Secretary EAC and Regional Development, Adan Mohamed, who resigned on February 8, to vie for a political seat in the forthcoming general elections in his country.

Addressing the Assembly shortly after taking oath, Maina "sincerely” apologised on behalf of the Council for the interruption in parliamentary business last week due to her predecessor’s resignation.

Ngoga said what happened last week was an unfortunate situation the Assembly hopes does not repeat.

He said: "We hope that unfortunate situation has reminded everybody that we have to take matters seriously.” 

Shedding light on the Bills, Kenya’s Permanent Secretary EAC, Kevit Desai told The New Times that the EAC Financial Services Commission Bill, 2022, upon its enactment and ascent, is to promote integration of financial systems in the community and harmonize regulation and supervisory practices in the Non-Banking Financial Sector.

The EAC Surveillance Compliance and Enforcement Bill, upon its enactment and ascent, will among others, have the function of assessing the attainment of macroeconomic convergence by EAC Partner States and to regularly monitor and enforce adherence to the macroeconomic convergence criteria by the participating Partner States.

"Macroeconomic convergence criteria is one of the mandatory requirements that must be attained for the establishment of EAC Monetary Union,” he said.

He said the EAC Standardization, Accreditation and Conformity Assessment Bill, "upon its enactment and ascent, is to 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.”