Joseph Ntakarutimana, a Burundian legislator and deputy Secretary General of the country’s ruling party, was on Tuesday elected new Speaker of the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA). He pledged to foster unity and harmony in the East African Community (EAC). Burundi’s ruling party is the National Council for the Defense of Democracy - Forces for the Defense of Democracy (CNDD - FDD). The 60-year-old parliamentarian was elected during the first session of the fifth EALA Assembly, in Arusha, Tanzania. He replaced Martin Ngoga (Rwandan) – who was the Speaker of the 4th EALA Assembly which started in 2017 and completed its term on December 17, 2022. The electorate consisted of 63 MPs making up EALA. Such MPs were elected by national assemblies of the seven EAC partner States, with each accounting for nine. The partner States are Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Ntakarutimana garnered 54 votes, or 85.7 per cent of the total 63 votes cast. Of the cast votes, 55 were valid votes, and eight spoilt votes. Among the valid votes, only one vote was against him. Initially, four MPs were vying for the EALA Speaker seat. However, three MPs (from South Sudan) confirmed their withdrawals from the race, before the poll took place. They are Thoar Gideon Gatpa; Gai Deng; and Leonardo Anne Itto. “My dream is that we should be one family,” Ntakarutimana said, pointing out that the EALA members should express love, harmony, and unity; free from hatred and dividing people. “I have great joy today for this trust, honour that I have received from you. Whatever we shall do, we will do it in joy, harmony, and mutual respect. Thank you so much,” he said. Ntakarutimana said that he was elected a Member of Parliament in June 1993, with his recent position being a Senator, indicating that he has been a legislator for almost 30 years so far. Other positions he held include being a Burundian envoy in Kenya, and the Ambassador of his country in the United Nations in New York. But, he said that he knows the ups and downs of life. “I also was a refugee. I spent eight years in Europe as a refugee; I know how to be a big man is, and I also know how to be a simple guy is,” he observed. “I have been a governor of my Province, I have been an MP of my Province, I had been a diplomat, but I had to learn how to clean houses, how to cook,” he said. The Speaker of the EALA is elected by the Members from among their members on rotational basis.
