Assembly Passes EALA Elections Bill 2011

The EALA Elections Bill 2011 has passed the Third Reading. It now awaits assent by the EAC Heads of State before it becomes law. It further adopts Report on Capital Markets’ Regionalisation beseeching region to expedite harmonization of regulatory frameworks in securities market

The Bill received overwhelming support on the floor of the House after proposed amendments sailed through at the Bill Committee stage and following the adoption of the Report from the Committee of the whole House.

The object of the Bill moved by the Chairperson of Legal Rules and Privileges Committee, Hon Frederic Ngenzebuhoro, is to provide a framework for the laws, regulations and procedures relating to elections of Members to the East African Legislative Assembly and for matters incidental thereto. The Bill has three parts, part one being Preliminary while part two constitutes clauses on elections of Members of the Assembly.  Part three of the Bill consists of Miscellaneous clauses.

The Bill shall now be printed with amendments before the Speaker sends the assent copies of the Bill to the EAC Heads of State for their assent (signatures). It shall become law if assented to by all EAC Heads of State.
 
Meanwhile, EALA debated and approved the Report of the Committee on Communication, Trade and Investment on Capital Markets Regionalisation. The report follows the oversight work of the Committee on Communication, Trade and Investment (CTI).

The objective of the oversight activity which took place on August 28-31, 2011 in the Partner States was to assess the status of implementation of capital markets’ regionalisation projects in East Africa.   The assessment saw the Committee visit the Capital Market Authorities in Dar es Salaam, Nairobi and Kigali.

The findings suggest the importance of capital markets encouraging local savings and channeling them to productive enterprises, fostering growth of related financial services like pensions and provident fund schemes and offering companies a choice of sources of long term-capital among others.

The Committee noted several challenges hampering the environment for the growth of capital markets. It cited existing disparities in trading, clearing and settlement infrastructure making market access difficult for investors, lack of harmonised legal and regulatory framework and hindering common tax regimes and investors policies as some of the impediments to the otherwise thriving sector.

The Committee through its Chairperson, Dr James Ndahiro presented six recommendations.  It urged the Council of Ministers to work on a roadmap to regionalize the Capital Markets under the Financial Sector Development and Regionalisation Project (FSDRP) and to align the same with the Common Market Protocol. On mobilization of long term capital, the Committee urged Partner States to use the existing financial infrastructure in a bid to fund more projects.
 
“The existence of capital markets infrastructure (Central Depository Systems, Automated Trading Systems and Trade Reporting Systems) will ease the speed, security and efficiency with which transactions are taken”, Dr Ndahiro said, citing Kenya and Uganda as examples where funds were raised in the road infrastructure and telecommunications sectors respectively.

Partner States were also told to improve financial literacy through sensitization and capacity building programs by investing in the broader financial sector including banking, insurance, pensions and microfinance SACCOs among others.

In conclusion, the Committee requested to the Council of Ministers to extend Observer Status to the EAC, the East African Securities Regulatory Authorities and the East African Securities’ Exchanges Association.

Parliament winds its sessions on Thursday, September 15, 2011.