EAST AFRICAN LEGISLATURE COULD BE VEHICLE FOR U.S. REGIONAL

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 DAR ES SALAAM 000088

DEPARTMENT FOR AF/E JTREADWELL; AF/C AKEITH AND AF/EPS
STATE PASS TO USAID/EA
STATE PASS TO USITC
TREASURY FOR REBECCA KLEIN
LABOR FOR INTERNATIONAL LABOR AFFAIRS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EAGR PREL ECON XW ZF TZ
SUBJECT: EAST AFRICAN LEGISLATURE COULD BE VEHICLE FOR U.S. REGIONAL
GOALS

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1. SUMMARY: On January 20, Ambassador Lenhardt paid a courtesy call
on Speaker Abdirahin Abdi (Kenya) of the East African Legislative
Assembly (EALA). Abdi said the EALA had a legislative mandate
through the treaty that bonded the member states. Bills passed by
the EALA had the force of law among all members. Abdi said
trans-border issues like trafficking or money laundering, and
perhaps anti-terrorism and human rights guarantees, were areas where
the EALA could play a key role. On expansion, Abdi said that Sudan
and Somalia had sent inquiries on affiliation, but nothing would be
entertained until both countries underwent elections. Abdi hoped for
more parliament-to-parliament cooperation and that U.S. legislators
would be encouraged to visit. U.S. demarches could be served to
members of the EAL in capitals or in Arusha directly to Committee
heads. END SUMMARY.


2. On January 20, Ambassador Lenhardt paid a courtesy call on
Speaker Abdirahin Abdi (Kenya) of the East African Legislative
Assembly (EALA),based in Arusha, Tanzania. At the outset of the
meeting, Ambassador Lenhardt quipped that the motto for the EAC
should be QBack to the FutureQ since in colonial times and early
independence Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda (and, briefly, an
independent Zanzibar) were part of a regional union with a shared
currency. Abdi laughed in agreement. He added that many who were
against moves toward regional consolidation, like a common Customs
Union, were now singing its praises. Inter-regional trade had in
fact risen. As to a common currencyQthe European UnionQs QeuroQ was
an example of what can be achieved with political will. Joining the
smaller economies of East Africa together should be easier. On the
Customs Union, the trick now was to manage expectations. Now that
it has come into force, most recently there have been three
Ministers saying three very different things to three different
audiences, Abdi said.

3. Ambassador Lenhardt said that President Obama wanted Africa
within the global strategic framework as a partner, not a dependent.
He said he attended an October 2009 conference of regional U.S.
Ambassadors with the outcome being that U.S. Missions in East Africa
would take on more of a regional perspective. East Africa was a
growing market, and regional infrastructural integration would be
key to the future. Abdi agreed, saying that the latter was not an
Qoption,Q but rather a necessity.

THE EALA... AS THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE
--------------

4. Abdi said the real function of the EALA was to represent the
people during East AfricaQs move toward political federation. There
were nine delegates from each member state (45 total). Each state
picked its candidates a little differently. All were chosen by his
or her countryQs parliaments, but were not from them. As the Qmain
arm of the people,Q the purpose of the EALA was to Qeducate the
masses.Q Abdi argued that since the Secretariat Qwas mostly
technocrats,Q few people really knew what was going on in Arusha.
By holding EALA plenaries in rotation throughout each of the member
states, locals could get to know the work of the EALA and, by
extension, the EAC as a whole.

...AS A FAST TRACK FOR REGIONAL LAWS
--------------

5. Abdi said that what was special about the EALA was that it had a
legislative mandate through the treaty that bonded the member states
together. Unlike the consultative assemblies of SADC (Southern
Africa Development Community),COMESA (Common Market of Eastern and
Southern Africa) and other regional entities, bills passed by the
EALA had the force of law in all member states. Only the EU
Parliament had similar authority. Moreover, he asserted, laws
passed by the EALA did not need to be duplicated or re-adopted by
the parliaments of member states. This Qblank check,Q as Abdi
called it, had never really been put to practice. However, on
trans-border issues where there seemed to be a consensus of the five
heads of state (Abdi named issues like trafficking or money

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laundering, perhaps anti-terrorism and human rights guarantees)--
perhaps the EALA could play a key role. Many such issues were
agreed to in principal by individual states but laws were slow to
come by given the pace of nascent African assemblies. Currently,
regional legislation was top-down: agreements like the Customs Union
were signed by heads of State, published as law but then had to be
adopted domestically. Not all regional statutes had to go this
route, Abdi said.


6. In practice, Abdi said, bills debated in the EALA came from the
Executive Branch or the Secretariat, but in principal, bills could
come from the floor of the Assembly. Such bills might be harder to
implement, however, as there would need to be buy-in from a majority
of delegates from each country. The only bill-from-the-floor in
recent times is a proposal to form a Regional Election Commission
that would conduct general elections in all member states yet would
be independent of each ruling government, accountable through the
EAC (East African Community) Abdi said he personally thought it was
a good idea given the problems of elections in all member states and
recalling in particular violence in Kenya and Zanzibar elections.
Nonetheless, he thought such a move would have to wait until full
political federation, since such an organization would push the
limits of sovereignty and probably infringe on the constitutions of
member states.

...AND AS CONFLICT RESOLVER
--------------


7. As for a role in monitoring elections, Abdi said that it had been
done, but an EALA-backed monitoring report on the Kenya elections
had been used by the EU in its human rights reports, causing the
Kenya delegation to vote against such measures. Meanwhile, three
states are scheduled to hold elections this yearQ Burundi, Rwanda
and Tanzania- so this year might not be so smooth, Abdi said.

8. Abdi noted that there were seven committees of the EALA. The
QRegional AffairsQ Committee had a useful possible role for conflict
resolution. On Tanzania, Abdi said Tanzania used Zanzibar and the
Union issue as an excuse to slow-roll TanzaniaQs integration into
the commonweal. Tanzanian politicians needed to show leadership to
allay fears. Sometimes Tanzanian leaders pointed conflicts in the
other partnersQbetween Rwanda and Burundi, within Uganda and the
Kenyan elections, saying Qwe donQt have those problems here and
donQt want them here through the EAC.Q Abdi said that maybe
Tanzania could be more optimistic and say the answer was for
Tanzania Qnot to import conflict but to export peace.Q Meanwhile,
other member states might help with the issue of Zanzibar. The point
was that in this day in age there were no conflicts that were solely
a partner state issue alone. Turmoil in one state affected the whole
region. Meanwhile, the joint union of functioning states (i.e., the
EAC) could serve as a bulwark against the spread of QchaosQ from
just outside the region, Abdi said.

STILL COMING TOGETHER
--------------


9. A more practical role for the EALA was to control the budget of
the various EAC organs. Donor partners still had a broader say in
that regard than the actual EALA, Abdi admitted, but the EALA had
the power to re-allocate monies. Sweden, Denmark and Ireland were
EALAQs biggest donors, but there was just enough money for each EALA
committee to have but one activity per year. A key goal was to have
a professional staff. Of the 27 who were funded and trained during
the last session of the Legislature, Abdi said, only six retuned for
the present session.


10. All in all, Abdi noted that the EALA was only eight years old.
Sure, there were problems, but by-and-large the organization worked
better than some others. He admitted to a rivalry with the
Executive Secretariat (and between him and Secretary-General

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Mwapachu) but said such competition was healthy for democracy. More
broadly, there had been issues of fund oversight, but donors were
becoming more rigorous in inculcating accountability. Overall, Abdi
said parliaments throughout Africa have been very weak. As an
aside, he commented that TanzaniaQs legislature had Qbeen becoming
quite bold.Q This was healthy, and he hoped it was spreading in the
region. RwandaQs legislature was the only really transparent
parliament in his view, while Burundi remained Qa real challenge.


11. On expansion, Abdi said that Sudan and Somalia had sent
inquiries on affiliation. Abdi said that nothing along those lines
would be entertained until both countries underwent elections.
Ambassador Lenhardt noted that sometimes the possibility of eventual
integration could cause states to modify and mature.


13. Abdi hoped for more parliament-to-parliament cooperation and
that visiting U.S. Congressmen would be encouraged to visit.
Likewise, the U.S. could send notes on areas of cooperation--
demarches could be served to members of the EAL in capitals or in
Arusha directly to Committee heads.

DETAILS OF THE EAST AFRICA LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY (EALA)
-------------- --------------


14. The East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) is the independent,
legislative arm of the East Africa Community. It was formally
inaugurated by the Heads of State of the original three EAC Partners
States (Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda) at its first sitting in Arusha
on November 30, 2001. The First Assembly served from 2001-2006. In
2007 Hon. Abdirahin Haithar Hajji Abdi, from Kenya, was elected as
the Speaker of the Second Assembly and will serve until June 2012.

15. The election of Abdi was controversial in that the EAC
unanimously agreed that a Kenyan should be Speaker (since Mwapachu,
a Tanzanian, was EAC Secretary-General). However, there was not
agreement in the Kenyan Parliament as to which political party would
hold the SpeakerQs position. The wrangling went on for some months
until Abdi, from the Kenya African National Union (KANU) party
finally was agreed upon.
MANDATE AND FUNCTIONS OF EALA
--------------


16. Article 49 of the EAC Treaty establishes EALA as the legislative
organ of the Community. Like most legislatures EALA has as its core
functions legislating, oversight and representation. Article 49
further states that EALA:
-Shall liaise with the National Assemblies of Partner States on
matters relating to the Community;
-Shall debate and approve the budget of the Community;
-Shall consider annual reports on the activities of the Community,
annual audit reports of the Audit Commission and any other reports
referred to it by the Council;
-Shall discuss all matters pertaining to the Community and make
recommendations to the Council as it may deem necessary for the
implementation of the Treaty;
-May for purposes of carrying out its functions, establish any
committee or committees for such purposes as it deems necessary;


17. EALA maintains seven standing committees: Accounts; Agriculture,
Tourism and Natural Resources; General Purpose; House Business;
Legal, Rules and Privileges; Regional Affairs and Conflict
Resolution; and Trade Communication and Investment. EALA may also
appoint Select Committees as needed. The composition and leadership
of each of these Committees is equally shared among the Partners
States.
EALA MEMBERSHIP/STAFF
--------------


18. Membership of EALA currently stands at 52, with nine Elected
Members from each of the five EAC Partner States and seven

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Ex-officio Members. Elected Members are voted into their positions
by their respective National Assemblies, though not from the ranks
of those Assemblies. The Treaty for the Establishment of the East
African Community requires that Elected Members should represent the
Qdiversity of views present in their own National Assemblies,Q and
also that their selection meets certain criteria for gender balance.
As such, EALA members come from diverse backgrounds such as
business, NGOs, retired civil servants and politicians. Aside from
the latter, many have little or no parliamentary experience.


19. The Ex-official Membership of EALA consists of one Minister from
each partner state responsible for East African Community Affairs
(currently there are five Ministers; Assistant Ministers may
participate in the Assembly when Ministers are not present. (For
Tanzania, Deputy Minister for East African Cooperation Mohamed Aboud
performs that duty.) The Secretary General of the EAC and the
Counsel to the Community are also Ex-officio Members. They may
participate in debates but have no right to vote in the Assembly.
The Ex-officio Members report to EALA on the implementation of the
Treaty and any other issues of interest to the Partner States.


20. The current staff compliment at EALA is 23, 13 at professional
level and 10 in the general staff category.
LENHARDT