EALA GIVES ULTIMATUM OVER OUTSTANDING ARREARS

 

The East African Legislative Assembly (Eala) has issued an ultimatum on outstanding arrears for its members. 

The regional Assembly wants outstanding emoluments owed to the lawmakers be paid within seven days.

Short of settling the arrears within the specified time, the Assembly will file a suit before the East African Court of Justice (EACJ).

The organ tasked the East African Community (EAC) Council of Ministers, the policy organ of the Community, to have the issue resolved.

They want the ministerial organ to direct the EAC Secretariat to ensure all the outstanding emoluments of the MPs and Eala staff are paid within seven days. 

The ultimatum was given early last week in a virtual sitting of the regional Assembly which debated various bills and committee reports.

 

The Assembly decried that decisions and deliberations that concern the welfare of Eala members and staff have lately been unmet.

Abdikadir Omar Aden, an Eala member from Kenya

Moving the Motion, Abdikadir Omar Aden, an Eala member from Kenya, said the Assembly had contractual obligations to the members and staff

These, according to him, include settlement of a raft of their outstanding emoluments they deserve. 

Mr. Aden informed the House that  members' emoluments were outstanding since March last year when Eala opted for virtual sittings in the wake of Covid-19.

Ms Gai Deng said it was high time the EAC should address the challenges facing its organs, including its legislative organ.

"We have moral responsibility  to ensure our partner states make all remittances", she told the House.

She said although the EAC Secretariat has struggled to raise funds from the donors, poor remittances from the partner states was also a matter of concern.

The  EAC Secretariat is an executive organ of the Community with vast powers on budgetary matters, including mobilization of resources.

Ms Suzane Nakauki (Uganda) said Eala members should not be subjected to begging "for what is rightfully ours".

She urged the House to unanimously agree to give the Secretariat seven days to remit the outstanding dues. 

The outstanding payments for the MPs which has brought the House on collision course with the Secretariat include the sitting allowances and daily subsistence allowances (DSAs).

The latter (DSAs) has been a bone of contention.The Secretariat insists such payment was only eligible if it involved traveling.

Ms Wanjiku Muhia (Kenya) termed the Motion timely, saying the dues owed "were indeed legal given their very nature". 

Other MPs who spoke defended the Assembly mandate as an oversight body of the Community with powers to legislate. 

"Eala's mandate should not revert to addressing administrative matters", insisted  Ms Odda Gasinzigwa from Rwanda.

The tiff over allowances for Eala members started early last year during the height of Covid-19 when it opted for virtual sessions.

Among the MPs claims are daily subsistence allowances (DSA) during the House sittings held virtually since April 2020. 

EAC Secretariat has been opposed to DSAs on grounds they did not entail travelling.It based this on the EAC financial regulations.

Others are sitting allowances during the sessions.The secretariat say the MPs deserve sitting allowances as among the lawmakers' privileges articulated in the EAC financial regulations.

However, it probably could not be paid in time as EAC has been short of funds until very recently when the budget was passed.

The other is DSAs during the MPs' visits to the border areas during the height of Covid-19 in March/April last year.

Additionally, at one time the MPs and Eala staff members claimed they had not been paid salaries or the salaries were delayed.