The tenure of executives and professionals in the service of the East African Community (EAC) is once again on spotlight.
Lawmakers with the regional Assembly say their duration in key posts was 'too short' for them to meticulously execute key projects.
They said during a just-ended virtual sitting that this impacted heavily on the performance of EAC institutions scattered across the region.
The MPs raised their concerns when debating a report on the Lake Victoria Basin Commission (LVBC), an EAC institution based in Kenya.
They said LVBC was currently understaffed, hinting an imminent exit of the current executive secretary at the end of his tenure.
"The perennial under-staffing is hampering the Commission from achieving its objectives", the report said.
It criticised the tenure of five years for the executive secretary, saying it was 'too short' for effective implementation of the projects.
"The short tenure brings negative impacts not only to LVBC but to other institutions of the EAC", said the report.
The Assembly called on an urgent intervention by the EAC Council of Ministers - the policy organ of the Community - to address the crisis.
Through the EAC Adhoc Service Commission, the organ can expedite the recruitment process for all vacancies in the EAC organs and institutions.
The lawmakers further want the Council of Ministers, which has vast powers on staff recruitment at EAC, to reconsider the tenure of the current LVBC boss.
The tenure of the head of institution (LVBC) should be considered "taking into account the need for the EAC to retain highly qualified and experienced experts".
The Eala team which visited the headquarters of the Commission recently suggested LVBC to be allowed to hire temporary staff.
The team decried the long procedures in recruitment to fill the positions left vacant, saying they impacted the human resource capacities.
The Kisumu-based LVBC is one of a dozen institutions of the Community, four of which are based in Uganda, two Tanzania and one each in Burundi, Rwanda and Kenya.
The other, the East African Competition Authority (EACA), is yet to start operations. It is temporarily hosted at the EAC headquarters.
The staff crisis has once again brought to light the recruitment process for the six-nation regional organization.
Generally, the staff of the Community are categorised in three or four levels with the top executives bring appointees of the Heads of States.
These are the secretary general and the deputy secretaries general as well as the Counsel (the chief legal officer) to the Community.
Appointment of the President and judges of the East African Court of Justice (EACJ) also has to be approved by the Summit as is the Registrar.
Another category is that of the executives and these include the heads of departments/units and the EAC institutions.
The bulk of the employees, until recently estimated to be close to 400, are the professionals, most of them recruited on quota basis to each country.
There are also staff hired on fixed term contracts, temporary staff and those recruited for selected regional projects and programmes.
While the tenure of service for the secretary general is a five year fixed term, for the deputies is a three year term, renewable only once.
The 5 year tenure also applies to the heads of semi-autonomous EAC institutions, established to manage projects in respective sectors.
Some analysts believe such time was too short for execution of new projects, especially by the recently established institutions.
Five years is a long period to implement anything as long as the leader is objective and focuses on the set objectives and mandate of the given institution. Where systems are in place, there will always be continuity regardless of who comes in and when! I think we need to move away from wanting to make homes in offices...East Africa deserves better than this!
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