EALA to debate Bill on environment

By Joyce Namutebi

THE East African Legislative Assembly is to debate a Bill which seeks to protect the natural environment.

The EAC Disaster Risk Reduction Bill 2013 is one of the Bills on the agenda during the assembly sitting which takes place in Kigali Rwanda from Monday (November 22) to Friday December 4, 2015, according to communication from Arusha.

The Bill seeks to protect the natural environment through integration of comprehensive disaster risk reduction and management practices in the EAC.

The Bill further seeks to provide a legal framework for intervention and assistance to people affected by climate change and natural related hazards.

The Assembly to be presided over by the Speaker, Daniel Kidega is expected to be addressed by the President of the Republic of Rwanda, Paul Kagame during a special sitting.

Another key Bill, The EAC Forestry Management Bill 2014 will also be debated. The Bill seeks to promote the development, protection, conservation, sustainable management and use of the forests in the Community especially trans-boundary forests ecosystems, in the interest of present and future generations.

It also seeks to espouse the scientific, cultural and socio-economic values of forests and harmonise national forest laws.

The Assembly adjourned debate on the Forest Management and Protection Bill, 2014 at its last Sitting in Nairobi in October 2015.

The adjournment at Committee stage followed the successful Motion for the same, tabled by the Chair of EAC Council of Ministers, Dr Harrison Mwakyembe, seeking for more time to enable the United Republic of Tanzania to make input, the release said.


Mwakyembe told the House that Tanzania was expected to go to the polls in October and that it was necessary for the debate to be put on hold until such time that a new Government is in place to effectively enable the Partner State to make its input.  Debate on the EAC Disaster Risk Reduction Bill was halted following a  request by the Council of Ministers to consult and consider its policy implications.

The EAC Ministers’ further called for the taking over of the Bill for appropriate amendment and re-introduction as a Council of Ministers’ Bill

During the Plenary Sittings in Kigali, the assembly is also expected to receive and to debate on a number of reports.  They include that of the Committee on Accounts for the Audited Financial Statements of EAC for the Financial Year ended 30th June 2014 and the Committee on Agriculture, Tourism and Natural Resources report on the sensitisation workshop on standards by the African Organisation of Standardisation (ARSO).                                              
 
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