The saga over South Sudan nominees to the East African Legislative Assembly (Eala) took a new twist on Thursday after a government it was decided that fresh elections should be held to elect the country’s representatives.

James Mayen Oka from the ministry of Justice said the country’s Parliament, known as Transitional National Legislative Assembly, would soon elect a fresh list of members for Eala to replace those who were reportedly handpicked by President Salva Kiir.

He made the pledge as a South Sudan national withdrew an application filed recently before the East African Court of Justice (EACJ) which restrained the swearing in of those recently picked as the first Eala members from that country.

“The Speaker of the Transitional Assembly has revoked the nomination of Eala MPs from South Sudan. There will be fresh elections”, he said as Mr. Wani Santino Jada withdrew the case in which he challenged the manner in which the nominees were picked on March 11th this year.

Following the application,EACJ on June 6th granted an ex-parte order restraining Eala from administering the oath of office or recognizing the nine candidates from his country, challenging the manner in which they were picked.

Mr. Jada, who was represented by a prominent advocate Donald Deya,said his country’s candidates for the Fourth Assembly (of Eala) were not democratically elected but merely hand picked by President Salva Kiir on March 11th, 2017.

This, he said, was in violation of Article 50 of the Treaty for the Establishment of the East African Community (EAC) which says the nine members of the Assembly to be elected shall represent, as much as feasible, the various political parties and shades of opinion.

He said in his application against the Attorney General of South Sudan, the Speaker of the Parliament (of South Sudan) and the EAC Secretary General that the nine nominees were appointed vide an impugned process.

But the First Instance Division of EA Court ruled yesterday that hearing of the application would not continue because the South Sudan government and the Speaker had committed themselves to hold a fresh election of Eala MPs.

The planned election of the legislators for Eala would meet the requirements of Article 50 for the Establishment of the East African Community (EAC).It could not be established when the election will take place.

South Sudan, the youngest member of EAC on March 11th this announced a list of nine as new Eala members for the Fourth Assembly whose inauguration is still uncertain.

They are Gabriel Garang, Gai Dheng Nhial, Joseph Okelle, Anna Itto, Gabriel Alaak Garang, Thomas Duoth, Gedion Gatban Thoan, IsaaAiz Justin and Adil Elias Sundeng.

With the South Sudan case now clear, the situation is still cloudy for the official inauguration of the regional Parliament in the near future because Kenya is yet to forward the names of its nominees.

Eala candidates are normally elected in the National Assemblies of each partner state. Kenya, which is bracing for the August 8th General Election, will have its National Assembly dissolved anytime from now.

There are reports that the election of representatives from Kenya will have to wait until after the elections.

This, it is feared, will paralyze the activities of Eala for some months because the regional Assembly cannot be constituted and conduct its business in the absence of MPs from one partner state.

Source: All Africa

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