The East African Legislative Assembly should be at the forefront of the movement to place regional goals at the heart of the business and concerns of the East African people, says Ambassador Juma Mwapachu.

The Secretary General of the East African Community, Ambassador Juma Mwapachu said this during the 4th  Meeting of the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) which is being held in the Zanzibar House of Representatives Chambers.

"Today, the Assembly occupies a proud place in the great movement of our time in East Africa in contributing to the creation of a better, stronger and more confident community to face the challenges of the globalizing world”, he said in statement issued by Directorate of Corporate Communications and Public Affairs in the EAC Secretariat.

He says that the term of the Assembly would see momentous developments under the 3rd EAC Development Strategy (2006-2010), which sets out the strategic goals of the EAC and time with bound targets to be achieved.

He also urged the EALA to play a leading role in mobilising a collective commitment of the Partner States towards the realization of the comprehensive EPA.

With that, EAC programme demands critical inputs by the 2nd EALA in giving of legal effect to the establishment of several new institutions, notably in Science and Technology Commission, Health Research Commission and Community Civil Aviation Safety and Oversight Agency not forgetting negotiations for EAC Common Market.

And that the Assembly would also make inputs to the considerations of policy and legislation for combating Piracy and Counterfeits like initiation of technical studies on the creation of a Monetary Union and decisions towards a Monetary Union by 2012 among others.

With these demands, he expressed the confidence that the Assembly would rise to the high expectations, which the East Africans have placed on it. And that it was crucial to build a strong foundation of collaboration among the stakeholders and broader constituencies of the EAC to ensure the Development Strategy (2006-2010) is effectively implemented on a timely basis.

Therefore, the Assembly was urged to build on experience and performance of first Assembly to improve and strengthen the capacity and performance of EALA to move our region to higher levels of achievement.

It is believed that ratification process has been put in full gear and that a full Assembly, including the elected representatives from Rwanda and Burundi, would be in place by the time of the next ordinary session of EALA.
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