Democratic Party (DP) Secretary General Gerald Siranda Blacks has been elected committee chairperson at the regional parliament, the East African Legislative Assembly (Eala).
The Eala fifth Assembly started its sitting on Monday by designating legislators to standing committees. Chairing the sitting was House Speaker Joseph Ntakirutimana.
The functions of the Committees include examining, discussing and recommending to the House on all bills laid before the House, initiating bills within their respective mandate and examining policy matters affecting their subject areas.
The Standing Committees also carry out research in their respective mandate, assess activities of the Community and examine the Community’s recurrent and capital budget estimates.
Each elected Member serves on two committees and membership is twenty one members, while quorum is at least half of the Members.
Siranda said he would work towards promoting dialogue and fostering integration of the regional bloc, the East African Community (EAC).
“By the grace of God I have been elected the head of the committee on Regional affairs and conflict resolution .This marks the start of our journey to dialogue and deepening the EAC integration,” he said.
Months ago, Siranda’s election to Eala, which was supported by Museveni’s ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM), was one of the fruits the DP party has reaped from the cooperation agreement deal signed between the opposition party and Museveni’s government. (Read Story Here).
The other direct beneficiary was DP President Norbert Mao who was appointed Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister. But the deal between Museveni and Mao seemed to be going wrong when the president rubbished the ‘opposition leader’s’ claims on Museveni peacefully handing over power in 2031. (See Details Here).
