Africa-Press – Uganda. Uganda will have to nominate another lawmaker to replace the fallen Mathias Kasamba at the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA).
Officials of the Regional Assembly in Arusha could not confirm this but regulations require the void to be filled upon the death of a member.
Kasamba, 57, died at a Kampala hospital on Tuesday where he was admitted for three days after reportedly collapsing in his home.
“He was a dedicated member of Parliament and hard-working”, tweeted EALA Speaker Martin Ngoga.
He said the late Kasamba was one of the active legislators in the House and contributed enormously to the debates.The outspoken lawmaker was until last week seen in the plenary sessions of EALA now held virtually due to the Covid-19 outbreak.
EALA officials could not say if another MP from Uganda would be elected to fill the position, now vacant.Each of the six East African Community (EAC) partner states has nine members to the Assembly.
The tenure for all the elected members to EALA, which is the legislative organ of the EAC is five years, renewable once.The late Kasamba was elected into the Fourth EALA (2017-2022) in December 2017 and was to end his first term in late 2022.
Unconfirmed sources at EALA had it that a new member from Uganda will have to be nominated by the Uganda government to fill the void left by the departed regional legislator.
The late Kasamba was one of the outspoken lawmakers in the House and passionate about the agriculture sector. He repeatedly advocated for the creation of an EAC institution dedicated to the development of agriculture.
