President William Ruto’s
nominee for the Secretary-General of the East African Community (EAC), Veronica
Nduva, will be sworn in on Friday during the bloc’s Heads of State Summit.
Kenya’s nominee judge
for the East African Court of Justice Zablon Muruka Mokua will also be
appointed to the First Instance Division on the same day.
Mr Mokua, a former
member of the County Assembly of Kisii for Bassi Central Ward, will replace
Charles Nyachae who resigned early this year.
“EAC Heads of State are
set to convene virtually for the 23rd Extra-Ordinary Summit of the EAC Heads of
State, on Friday, 7th June 2024,” a statement from the EAC Secretariat reads.
In addition to the two
appointments, the leaders will consider the report of the consultative meetings
by the summit's chairperson, South Sudan President Salva Kiir Mayardit, on
partner states relations.
The summit is taking
place at a time when the regional bloc is facing a critical cash crunch.
Many programmes of the
EAC have stalled in the past few months due to the crisis blamed on
non-remittance of dues amounting to about $40 million by partner States.
Only Kenya has
up-to-date remittance records at the EAC. Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda have
relatively small balances.
According to documents
seen by The EastAfrican, some $39,883,765 from the partner States was outstanding
as at May 17, 2024. Since then, only Burundi has contributed $600,000 of
its $12.7 million due.
The change of guard at
the EAC was triggered by the recall on March 8 of Peter Mathuki, who was
besieged by legislators over accountability claims at the Secretariat.
Amid a crescendo of
accusations of unauthorised expenditure by the regional legislative assembly,
President William Ruto recalled Dr Mathuki and nominated him as Kenya’s
ambassador to Russia. And Parliament cleared him to take up the new job.
Kenya first nominated
Caroline Mwende Mueke for the post but replaced her in a last-minute U-turn
with Ms Nduva, the Principal Secretary for Performance and Delivery Management
in the Ministry of Public Service.
Mr Mokua, who is set to
join the EACJ bench, is the subject of a court case in Kenya where the regional
Bar, who cite contravention of Kenyan national laws, are questioning the manner
and procedure of his nomination by President Ruto.