By FRED OLUOCH

More by this Author

The East African Community may consider amending the Treaty to allow members of the East African Legislative Assembly to be elected through universal suffrage.

Experts say this would do away with the dependency on political parties in partner states to nominate candidates which has often resulted in disagreements that have now crippled the operations of the 4th Assembly.

This would be in line with the Economic Community of West African States and the EU parliament, whose members of are elected by citizens of various partner states who vote like any general elections. 

Kenya has crippled the operations of Eala after political parties disagreed on the number to be nominated for elections in parliament and the regional assembly will now have to wait until after the elections in August.

READ: EALA in limbo over Kenya, South Sudan MPs

Bobi Odiko, senior public relations officer at Eala, told The EastAfrican that the assembly is not against universal suffrage as this is one of the ways in which it can effectively represent the citizens of East Africa.  

Mr Odiko said that the debate on amending the Treaty to include universal suffrage started with 2nd assembly and was carried forward by the 3rd whose life came to an end on June 4. He said that Eala members have also been calling for amendment of Treaty to increase representative from each partner state from 9 to 15 to better represent the region.

“Universal suffrage would need funding, but even if such were to be achieved, the vehicle of the political party and or independent candidature would still remain essential in determination and the said elections,” said Mr Odiko.

Section 4(2) of the East African Elections Act, 2011 requires the National Assembly of each partner State to elect members of the new assembly within 90 days before expiry date of the outgoing assembly.  

Mr Odiko said that all national assemblies were expected to have elected and forwarded the same to Eala by March 2017 in time for the inauguration of the 4th assembly which had been slated for June 5, but was stopped by the East African Court of Justice after a citizen of South Sudan filed an injunction opposing the election of his country’s Eala members. President Salva Kiir subsequently withdrew the nine South Sudan members elected in March.

READ: South Sudan revokes EALA nominations

“The Treaty can be amended to allow for enhancing the operations of Eala and the EAC at large. Certain provisions may be included or strengthened to ensure timely elections of members and within a timeframe to avoid a lacuna from the end of the life of one assembly to the new one,” said Mr Odiko.

The Kenyan parliament went on recess on June 5 without electing Eala members after a disagreement between the opposition Cord, which had nominated the exact four members, and the ruling Jubilee Party, which was demanding that the opposition provide more names to allow free choice.