The East Africa Legislative Assembly MPs have today managed to pass the Inter University Council for East Africa bill despite heavy protests from the East Africa Council of Ministers.

The bill, which was passed by the assembly today, will establish a regional body to accredit universities that wish to establish themselves in the region.

The chairman of council of ministers, Peter Munya tried in vain to block the bill from being passed, noting that the assembly should wait for the review process with partner states to be finalized before legalizing the body.

Munya further explained that there are parallel accreditation institutions in each partner state and each needs to do further consultation.

However, this was rejected by several MPs, including the mover of the bill, Wandera Ogalo, who insisted that with harmonization of the education policies on accreditation, it would be easier for universities to establish themselves across the region.

The Speaker of the assembly, Abdirahim Abdi later put the question, with the legislators unanimously voting for the passing of the bill.

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Uganda working through its representative in the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA), Wandera Ogalo thought an amendment of the Inter University Council of East Africa in order to have a unified mode of accrediting higher institutions of learning in the region and create a one stop center for all institutions in the region.

We hear Ogalo wanted the head offices of the council to be based in Kampala. The line ministers from Rwanda, Tanzania, and Burundi led by Kenya’s East African Affairs minister, Peter Munya, disagreed with the amendments.

Uganda had wanted the law to be amended to allow foreign institutions to be accredited at the regional level. However the ministers rejected the proposed close saying that foreign powers could be hiding behind Uganda to impose their education policies and wishes on East Africa.

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The Ugandan representative to the East African Legislative Assembly Dan kidega has demanded the East African governments through the East African council of ministers to agree on the method of dealing with the problem of water hyacinth reported on lake Victoria again.

This followed the EALA committee on  Accounts on the East African community for year 2010 chaired by Bernard Mulengan reporting that water hyacinth on lake Victoria is a burden to the vessel’s operation and no efforts are in place to stop the hyacinth .

Kidega said that the East African countries should agree on the methods to remove the water hyacinth on Lake Victoria by use of mechanical approach, use of insects like beetles or use of chemical to spray the hyacinth.

The East African MPS who are now sitting in Uganda parliament noted that the vessel given to the East African community by UK’s Department of international Development in 2004 for use on Lake Victoria to improve safety of navigation and research is not operational due to water hyacinth reported on Lake Victoria waters.

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