Eala activities on hold as row on Kenya’s list rages

Thursday’s naming of the Senate’s representatives to the committee handling the nomination of Kenya’s representatives to the regional assembly was a good sign for those hoping to be nominated, but indications are that there is going to be a fight between Jubilee and the National Super Alliance.

Each of the six member states of the East African Community (EAC) is required to send nine representatives to the regional assembly according to the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) Elections Act of 2011.

PARLIAMENT

The member states include Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda and South Sudan with Kenya required to submit her list by end of this month.

Jubilee has already indicated its intention to nominate more members than it was entitled to in the last Parliament, when the nomination was tactically delayed.

Speaking on the motion to establish the selection committee, Mr Aden Duale, the leader of majority in the National Assembly, said that Jubilee will get six slots, up from the five it was entitled to in the last Parliament.

He said this was based on its numbers currently.

Suna East MP Junet Mohamed (Nasa) threatened that his party would not submit names to the panel unless “our rightful share is guaranteed,” a move that could further cripple the operations of the assembly.

COALITION

“If the sharing of the nine slots is not done properly, we will not participate in that process. The coalition will decide on whether to bring maximum number of names required or the exact number as per the slots we are required to get,” Mr Mohamed said.

The sharing formula is pegged on the party strength in the National Assembly.

Mr Mohamed blamed Jubilee for the latest indicators of a possible hitch saying the numbers enjoyed by Jubilee and Nasa in the last parliament have not changed.

In the last parliament, Jubilee had a combined 167 MPs- TNA with 86, URP 72, Alliance Party of Kenya five and four from Narc.

With the exception Narc, all the other parties merged ahead of 2017 election to form Jubilee Party that has maintained its numbers at 167.

SINGLE PARTY

Nasa, then Cord, had a combined 133 MPs with Raila Odinga’s ODM commanding the most MPs at 95 for a single party.

But the Nasa numbers reduced to 122 MPs after the August 8 elections.  

The inaugural fourth session of EALA was to commence early June but was pushed forward because of Kenya’s delay in submitting her list.

With the exception of Kenya, all the EAC members have submitted their representatives.

But they cannot transact any matters including the preliminary business of electing their speaker, deputy or even form committees as Kenya continues to haggle over its list of representatives.