Members of the East African Legislative Assembly have finalized plans to tour the East African Community Partner States (Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania and Uganda) to collect stakeholders’ views and submissions on the envisaged East African Community Electronic Transactions Bill 2014.
The visit which involves the Assembly’s Committee on Communication, Trade and Investment chaired by Ugandan representative Mukasa Fred Mbidde, has split itself into two groups in order to be more effective and Members shall undertake simultaneous tour of the capitals starting 1st march 2015.
The first group shall visit Dar es Salaam, Nairobi and Kampala while the second group will navigate Bujumbura, Kigali and Kampala.
Key stakeholders to be visited include ministries responsible for ICT, finance as well as trade, commerce and tourism, key government functionaries including the offices of the Attorneys General and the Law Reform Commissions as well as the Law Societies and enforcement agencies.
The legislators are also expected to touch base with the representatives of the Private Sector including the East African Business Council and the respective Private Sector Federations in the Partner States, then after both groups will then converge in Kampala, Uganda, on 4th March , 2015, to consider the views and to synthesize the input into a report.
The EAC Electronic Transactions Bill, 2014 aims at making provision for the use, security, facilitation and regulation of electronic communications and transactions, and to encourage the use of e-Government service and to provide for related matters.
The Bill is premised on Article 103 of the Treaty for the Establishment of the EAC in which Partner States recognizing the fundamental importance of science and technology in economic development, undertook to promote co-operation in the development of science and technology in the Community.
By Walakira Nyanzi