The East African Legislative Assembly has proposed enactment of an omnibus law to harmonise national laws pertaining to the Community and to institute an administration law for the Common Market Protocol.
The Assembly is of the view that such a move would cure existing
challenges of harmonisation of partner state laws concerning the
Community. At the same time, the Assembly wants the Council of Ministers
to direct the Sectoral Council on Legal and Judicial Affairs to hold
regular meetings and to prioritise harmonisation of laws for EAC in
order to facilitate integration within the set time frames.
In order to meaningfully facilitate cooperation in legal and
judicial affairs as provided for under Article 126 of the Treaty, EALA
has urged EAC Council of Ministers to expedite implementation of the
entire Article which obliges partner states to harmonise legal training
and certification; encourage standardisation of judgments of courts
within the Community as well as establish common syllabus for the
training of lawyers.
Late yesterday, EALA approved the report of the Committee on Legal
Rules and Privileges on the oversight activity on the harmonisation of
national laws in the EAC context. The report presented to the House by
Dora Byamukama on behalf of the chair of the Committee, Hon Peter
Mathuki, follows an oversight activity carried out by the Committee in
February 22-26, 2016.
Chapter 24 of the Treaty provides for co-operation in legal and
judicial affairs. Specifically, Article 126 (2) (b) of the Treaty
provides that “partner states shall through their appropriate national
institutions take all necessary steps to harmonise all their national
laws appertaining to the Community.”
In line with that Treaty provision, EAC partner states established
a sub-committee on the approximation of national laws in the EAC
context.
During the oversight activity, the Committee was informed that
partner states were at different stages of implementation of the
directives of the Council of Ministers on harmonisation of national
laws. It further observed that partner states were slow in amending laws
to comply with the directive of the Council of Ministers on
harmonisation of such laws. Further on, the criteria used and
timelines for harmonisation of laws is also unclear.
The Committee cites a number of challenges, naming some of them as
frequent changes in the membership of the task force, conflicting
commitments of members of the task force as well as different legal
systems.
In addition, the slow pace in the implementation of the
harmonisation agenda at national level and the lack of monitoring
mechanisms to ensure Partner States comply with the adopted
approximation proposals are also cited.
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