The East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) is the legislative body of the East African community. It brings together Members of Parliament from Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The first meeting of this legislative assembly took place in Arusha, Tanzania, on November 29, 2001, the day after its creation. This first assembly, which was dissolved in 2006, included members from Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.
The second assembly was extended to Rwanda and Burundi in 2007.
A certain number of members are elected for each country. The elected members are approved by the national parliaments. In addition, there are ministers of regional cooperation of each country, as well as a secretary general and an advisor of the community.
It is within this framework that on Wednesday, September 14, 2022, the National Assembly of Burundi met in its ordinary plenary session to approve the Burundian members to be presented to the East African Community (EALA).
The Speaker of the National Assembly first presented the list of candidates received and the origin of their political families represented in the National Assembly before proceeding to the secret and transparent ballot. Thus, 15 candidates were in the running for 9 seats. There were six candidates from the CNDD-FDD party, three from the UPRONA party, three from the CNL and three from the Batwa community.
Although the CNL MPs opted for the empty chair policy after having marked their presence in the hemicycle, this did not prevent the continuity of activities, as the quorum of the plenary assembly was reached.
For the CNDD-FDD party, all six designated candidates were voted unanimously by 85 MPs who were present in the plenary. These are:
Honorable NTAKARUTUMANA Joseph,
Honorable NTISEZERANA Gabriel,
Honorable BURIKUKIYE Victor,
Honorable KARERWA Mo-Mamo,
Honorable SAIDI Kibeya and
Honorable MUHIRWA Jean-Marie

As for the UPRONA party, Mr. NKURUNZIZA Olivier was successfully elected, for the CNL party, Honorable KEZIMANA Cathy was unanimously elected while for the Batwa family Honorable BIGIRIMANA Goreth was also unanimously elected.