NRM nominates 115 for six East African Legislative Assembly seats

Dr Tanga Odoi, the NRM electoral commission chairperson, said the 155 will be duking it out for the 6 seats the NRM has in the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA).

“This level of interest is a sign the party and its organs are very vibrant. It shows people are interested in what NRM does. To have 115 members showing interest for EALA is a good sign and record that has never been made,” Dr.Tanga said.

Out of this deluge of candidates, the majority are youths whose candidatures became a flood-tide when the party removed the Shs 2 million nomination fees.

“The youths used to complain they could not pay the Shs 2 million. We wanted to test the waters and if this is the right thing, we shall go with it.”

Among the 115 are retreads such as James Kakooza, Denis Namara, George Odongo, Rose Akol, Mary Mugenyi and Paul Musamali who are the current representatives on the NRM ticket but are seeking re-election.

The 115 names will be sent by the ruling party electoral commission to the Central Executive Committee which will sluice the candidates to get the successful aspirants who will then participate in the party primaries,

Those who leap the NRM primary hurdle will have their names sent to parliament for election.

Article 50 (1) of the East African treaty states that, “the National Assembly of each partner State shall elect, not from among its members, nine members of the assembly, who shall represent as much as it is feasible, the various political parties represented in the national assembly, shades of opinion, gender and other special interest groups in that partner state, in accordance with such procedure as the national assembly of each partner state may determine.”

As of the Fourth Assembly, the East African Legislative Assembly has 62 members, of which each member state submits 9 elected members, and 8 ex-officio members. According to Article 50 of the East African Community Treaty, members are elected by their respective country's national legislature.

Each term in EALA is five years and the law states that an MP can serve for only two terms.