EDITORIAL: Stop personality clashes at Eala and serve people!

 

Posted  Friday, October 31  2014 at  11:11

In Summary

• For a week or so now, the august House’s activities have come to a standstill because of the so-called scandal to do with Tanzanian representative Shyrose Bhanji. On Wednesday, the sitting to deliberate on the move to suspend the MP from the Eala Commission came to a halt due to lack of quorum just minutes before the vote.

The latest developments in the East African Legislative Assembly (Eala) cast doubt on the credibility of the regional organisation and the quality of those elected to serve the people.

For a week or so now, the august House’s activities have come to a standstill because of the so-called scandal to do with Tanzanian representative Shyrose Bhanji. On Wednesday, the sitting to deliberate on the move to suspend the MP from the Eala Commission came to a halt due to lack of quorum just minutes before the vote.

The House had shelved the first business on the Order Paper to debate a motion that sought to review the rules of procedure that had been interrupted in March to debate her suspension.

But just as members were readying themselves to cast the vote after a three-hour debate, Ugandan MP Susan Nakawuki pointed out that though the number of legislators in the Assembly was more than the required three-quarters of the total, Tanzania did not have the more than three members required.

The motion to suspend Ms Bhanji from the Eala Commission, whose duties include organising the business and programme of the Assembly, had been moved by MP Dora Byamukama (Uganda) and seconded by Christophe Bazivamo (Rwanda).

The legislators in favour of the motion insisted that the “indiscipline” case was a matter of public concern and affected the image of the Assembly and EAC citizens.

Ms Byamukama told the House that Ms Bhanji had proved that she was incapable of serving on the commission as she had engaged in gross misconduct that included derogatory remarks targeting others--including leaders of the regional bloc--and causing havoc on an Amsterdam—Nairobi flight earlier this month.

Very poor 80 million people

While we do not have sufficient details on that incident, we can say that the way the matter has been handled has tainted the image of Eala. Today, there are about 80 million citizens of the EAC countries who cannot afford two meals a day. Yet their representatives are getting hefty allowances seemingly for bickering and adjourning sessions.

There are major economic, political and social challenges that affect EAC citizens more than Ms Bhanji’s alleged gross misconduct. It is annoying, therefore, when our MPs choose to reduce the assembly to a theatre of the absurd rather than focus on productive issues.

We do not intend to vouch for misconduct on the part of any leader at any level, but we are disappointed that the Bhanji issue has become an agenda big enough to stop the serious regional business that should be taking place in Kigali.

The very same Eala was recently involved in a power tussle when some Tanzanians members colluded with their counterparts from Kenya and Uganda to instigate the ouster of the Speaker. This situation greatly affected Eala sessions. Now, just when we had come to believe the august House was back in business as usual, we are being treated to another episode in the Bhanji saga. What will it take to get our regional MPs to spend quality time on what they are paid to do?