President William Ruto has officially open the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) special plenary sitting at parliament buildings in Nairobi.

This is during the inaugural session of the 5th EALA Assembly on March 5, 2024.

The 63 EALA members of parliament will hold sittings in Nairobi for the next three weeks until March 20. 

During this period, EALA legislators will hold debates under the leadership of Speaker, Joseph Ntakirutimana.

Speaking during a press briefing at parliament buildings, Ntakirutimana said the EALA Assembly legislators have several bills to be discussed both at plenary and at Committee level.

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“We have different reports and Bills that we will be considering in our sessions here in the country which mainly involve oversight of different partner states,” he said.

For instance, the committee sittings are expected to consider seven reports on oversight of partner states in the trade and transport sector.

In addition the plenary is also tasked with debating bills aimed at addressing challenges affecting member states.

According to EALA standing orders, the sessions are usually held on a rotational basis in the five East African Community partner States. 

However, two of the sittings out of the six held each year have to take place in Arusha, at the EALA headquarters, one of the sessions is usually on budget and it occurs in either May or June.

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Meanwhile, the EALA Assembly has 63 members, out of which 54 are members from member States and 8 ex-official members.

The ex-official members are six Ministers from each member state, in charge of Regional Cooperation. The other two are the secretary general of the EAC and the Counsel to the Community.