Media Wire Express Correspondent
Outgoing East African Community (EAC) Secretary General Peter Mathuki could leave office sooner than the maximum six months after a recall. This is after the bloc signaled for a Heads of State summit for April 15.
In a letter dated March 28 and addressed to EAC Council of Ministers, the chairperson, South Sudan’s EAC Affairs Minister Deng Alor Kuol said they will convene virtually on March15 before the Summit decides on Mathuki’s fate on the same day.
The Summit, the EAC highest decision-making body, will then be expected to swear in Caroline Mwende Mueke as the 7th secretary general. Ms Mueke will become the third Kenyan to hold the post after Francis Muthaura, who served from 1996 to 2001, and Mathuki (2021-2024).
“I hereby notify you that President Salva Kiir has requested the Heads of States to hold an extra-ordinary Summit virtually on April 15, 2024 to be preceded by the EAC Council of Ministers session virtually on the same day to consider the appointment of Ms Caroline Mwende Mueke as the Secretary General of the East African Community,” said Hon Kuol.
“Therefore, I hereby direct the secretariat to send out Note Verbale to Heads of State and equally facilitate both Council and Summit sessions respectively.”
Outgoing East African Community (EAC) Secretary General Peter Mathuki could leave office sooner than the maximum six months after a recall. This is after the bloc signaled for a Heads of State summit for April 15.
In a letter dated March 28 and addressed to EAC Council of Ministers, the chairperson, South Sudan’s EAC Affairs Minister Deng Alor Kuol said they will convene virtually on March15 before the Summit decides on Mathuki’s fate on the same day.
The Summit, the EAC highest decision-making body, will then be expected to swear in Caroline Mwende Mueke as the 7th secretary general. Ms Mueke will become the third Kenyan to hold the post after Francis Muthaura, who served from 1996 to 2001, and Mathuki (2021-2024).
“I hereby notify you that President Salva Kiir has requested the Heads of States to hold an extra-ordinary Summit virtually on April 15, 2024 to be preceded by the EAC Council of Ministers session virtually on the same day to consider the appointment of Ms Caroline Mwende Mueke as the Secretary General of the East African Community,” said Hon Kuol.
“Therefore, I hereby direct the secretariat to send out Note Verbale to Heads of State and equally facilitate both Council and Summit sessions respectively.”
Once she is sworn in, the summit will propose the date when she assumes office, a move that will bring to an end the three-year period that Dr Mathuki has been at the helm of the regional bloc.
Ms Mueke, is currently the regional coordination advisor in the Management and Coordination Unit of the UN Regional Directors’ Team for Eastern and Southern Africa, based in Johannesburg.
Dr Mathuki, on the other hand, is scheduled for vetting before Kenya’s parliament on April 8, even though he is yet to officially resign from his post, a move that is causing confusion within the EAC secretariat.
Essentially, only he can decide if he wants to go for vetting for the ambassadorial role and there is no law barring a serving secretary general from attending to some other job interview.
When President William Ruto nominated him last month, he indicated he had ‘recalled’ him from the EAC and Dr Mathuki hasn’t conducted any public business for the EAC since.
Mr Kuol said that the decision to convene the summit meeting was necessitated by President Ruto’s request to recall Dr Mathuki from the office of the EAC Secretary General and subsequently his appointment as Kenya’s envoy to Moscow.
The treaty establishing the EAC is silent on how a secretary general can be removed from office apart from, if the holder has served a five-year tenure to the end or through natural occurrence such as death or incapacity.
Source: East Africa News
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