Rwanda to host EALA Assembly in September

VILLAGE URUGWIRO - Rwanda will host the next general assembly of the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) in September, a member of the regional body has said. Patricia Hajabakiga was yesterday addressing journalists at Village Urugwiro shortly after a meeting between President Paul Kagame and an EALA delegation led by speaker Abdirahim Abdi. Hajabakiga is among nine Rwandans who were recently elected to represent the country to the East African Community (EAC) legislative arm. “We agreed during the recent assembly which took place in Nairobi that the venue for the assembly be rotated among member states of the EAC and decided that in September, the assembly will be hosted in Kigali,” said Hajabakiga, who was a cabinet minister before joining the EALA. The General Assembly is held quarterly and sits for a period of two to three weeks at a time. Meanwhile, the EALA Speaker called upon EAC member states to emulate Rwanda’s system of electing representatives to the body. “The system Rwanda used while electing their representatives should be adopted by other member states because many interest groups are represented,” Abdi said. Rwanda’s representatives to the EALA were drawn from political organisations and various interest groups like women, youths and persons with disabilities. Rwanda has the biggest women representation at the assembly as five out of the country’s nine representatives are women. Abdi said he had paid a courtesy call on the President to brief him on the progress made by the EALA especially following last month’s General Assembly in Nairobi, Kenya. The Nairobi Assembly was the first to be attended by legislators from both Rwanda and Burundi, following the joining of the two countries to the EAC last year. The other member countries are Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. Ends

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Rwanda to host EALA Assembly in September