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Eala to debate gender, plastics Bills in Nairobi

Friday November 18 2016

The East African Legislative Assembly (Eala) is set to hold an 11-day sitting in Nairobi beginning Monday, with President Uhuru Kenyatta expected to address the event.

According to a statement by the East African Community Secretariat, the third meeting of the fifth session of the third Assembly will be presided over by the Speaker Daniel Kidega.

Top on the agenda during the two-week period is the address by President Kenyatta to a special sitting on November 29.

Two key Bills will also be discussed; the EAC Gender Equality and Development Bill, 2016 and the EAC Polythene Materials Control Bill, 2016.

“The gender Bill seeks to ensure there is equality, protection and development in the community,” reads the statement.

Plastics ban

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The EAC Polythene Materials Control Bill, 2016 moved by Rwanda's Ms Patricia Hajabakiga, aims at providing a legal framework for the preservation of a clean and healthy environment through the prohibition of manufacturing, sale, importation and use of polythene materials.

The Bill was introduced during the sitting held in August 2016 in Arusha, Tanzania.

READ: Kigali feted for banning plastic bags, managing forests

Also to be deliberated in the Nairobi sitting are reports from various committees of the House, including that of the sensitisation activities in the partner states and a report on the activity with the EAC Audit and Risk Committee.

The report of the Committee on Legal Rules and Privileges on the Oversight Activity on Approximation and Harmonisation of the National Laws in the EAC context and another on Procurement of Health and Group Staff Insurance shall also be tabled.

The culmination of the plenary session will be the Inter-Parliamentary Relations Seminar (Nanyuki Series) where members of the national assemblies from across the five partner states are expected to attend on November 30 to December 2.

Conceived in 2003, the seminar is one of the avenues through which Eala and the Houses in the respective states interact as per the requirements of Articles 49 (2) and 65 of the Treaty for the Establishment of the EAC.

The seminar, which is the 10th in series since inception, is anchored on the theme: Good Governance and Poverty Reduction in East Africa.

The forthcoming seminar is intended to discuss the gap between theory and the realities on the ground in contemporary East Africa as it analyses the
correlation between good governance and poverty reduction efforts.

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