COMPOSITION OF THE East African Legislative Assembly. Articles 48 and 50 of the Treaty for the Establishment of the EAC providing for the membership and election of members of the East African Legislative Assembly.
The membership of EALA currently stands at 62, with nine Elected Members from each of the six EAC Partner States and eight Ex-officio Members. Members are indirectly elected, being 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 the Members should represent the diversity of views present in their own National Assemblies, and also that their selection meets certain criteria for gender balance.
The Ex-official Membership of EALA consists of those Ministers of each Partner State responsible for regional co-operation. Assistant Ministers may participate in the Assembly when Ministers are not present. The Secretary General of the EAC and the Counsel to the Community are also Ex-officio Members.
Article 50 (1) provides;
“The National Assembly of each Partner State shall elect, not from among its members, nine members of the Assembly, who shall represent as much as it is feasible, the various political parties represented in the National Assembly, shades of opinion, gender and other special interest groups in that Partner State, in accordance with such procedure as the National Assembly of each Partner state may determine”.
