The East African Court of Justice (EACJ) has put a permanent injunction on the parliament of Uganda, the Attorney General and the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) prohibiting them from conducting EALA elections until the rules of procedure are in conformity with article 50 of the Treaty that forms the EAC.

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This will further delay the country when it comes to electing their EALA members after missing the April 14 deadline set for all Member States.

The judgment declined to guide parliament on how elections will be conducted because that is the work of the national parliament and court.

EACJ also said that the EALA parliament shall not administer oath of office, accept and record names of any persons elected until the Ugandan parliament makes rules of procedure conforming to Article 50 of the treaty.

“What the court has done has been our position from the start; that making rules that conform to the Treaty is our work and not that of the court. The committee is prepared to move ahead and make the rules so that there after, whoever is dissatisfied can go to court,” said Fox Odoi, chairman of Uganda’s Parliamentary Committee of Rules and Privileges.

According to article 50, the National Assembly of each Partner State shall elect, not from among its members, nine members of the Assembly; who shall represent as much as it is feasible the various political parties represented in the National Assembly, shades of opinion, gender and other special interest groups in that partner state, in accordance with such procedure as the National Assembly of each partner state may determine.

Uganda had previously sent two sets of MPs, many from the ruling NRM party, because of its numerical strength in parliament and two others from the official opposition party, the FDC. This was contrary to the said article because that method of voting discriminates against other political parties, which are represented in the House.

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The judgment follows a plea in which the Democratic Party sought court interpretation on why their party wasn’t represented in EALA.

DP legal adviser Mukasa Mbiide lodged a case before the court arguing that the rules of procedure for election of members of EALA did not conform to the provisions of the Treaty.

Tanzania and Burundi are the only countries in the region that have elected their members to the regional assembly.

In Kenya and Rwanda, the process has been delayed because of the amendments into national legislation.

The Kenyan National Assembly is yet to debate on the new rules tabled a few weeks ago by Defence and Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Adan Keynan, before the elections are conducted.

The current term for members of the EALA ends this June and it was expected that by April 15 all elections would be completed in all the member states. 

Each country is represented by nine members who serve a renewable term of five years, except the Speaker, whose position is rotated among member states.

By SHEILA NATURINDA and CHRISTABEL LIGAMI