AfricaPress-Tanzania: THE East African Legislative Assembly (Eala) has called for joint regional and coordinated approaches to mitigate the Covid- 19 pandemic in the East African Community (EAC).
Eala members said at a virtual (via a videoconference) meeting chaired by Eala Speaker Martin Ngoga that such initiatives would complement existing preventive measures taken by each partner state.
During the meeting, members provided feedback on their recent activities in the partner states and appraised developments in the same with regard to the level of preparedness to combat Covid-19 caused by coronavirus.
Salient issues of the findings of various chapters of Eala in partner states include enhanced measures by each country to effect social distancing, use of facemasks and screening in some of the states, sensitisation and handwashing initiatives, among others.
The members noted that EAC member countries’ economies, like all others in the world, lauded EAC governments’ efforts made to provide stimulus packages to address economic challenges.
The session was called to report on recent activities taken by Eala to assess preparedness by partner states to combat the Covid-19 pandemic in the EAC region between March 18 and April 7 this year.
On March 17, at its 45th meeting held virtually, the Eala Commission noted with concern the alarming spread of Covid-19 in the East Africa region and the globe.
In light of this, the Eala Commission moved ahead with the assessment of preparedness and awareness creation on Covid-19 in partner states.
Eala further asserted that members continued and concluded activities according to plan and in so doing, operated in compliance with guidelines provided by respective states.
The findings were reported during the meeting on Thursday as the current sitting (4th meeting of the 3rd session) continued.
Speaker Ngoga acknowledged the feedback and directed that the report be tabled for debate during the forthcoming EALA Plenary.
Over the last three weeks, all the six committees of the House continued convening virtually in the respective EAC capitals to consider their various reports before tabling and debating them.
The Eala Commission also held its statutory meeting online to consider and approve its activities for this May.
Eala has taken the video conference approach in line with preventive measures in the partner states and the globe to commit to containing the Covid-19 pandemic by minimising and restricting movements.
At the Eala Commission meeting of April 20 chaired by Speaker Ngoga, members noted with concern the impact of Covid-19 on humanity.
The Commission thus resolved to continue with its planned activities through videoconferencing in Arusha and the EAC partner states.
