KAMPALA – As Uganda’s ruling NRM party prepares for a high-stakes East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) by-election, one aspirant is asking party leaders to do something unusual: read the EAC Treaty.
Dr. Tendo Ronex Kisembo, a confirmed aspirant for the EALA seat, has placed his candidacy firmly on Article 50(2)(e) of the Treaty for the Establishment of the East African Community—the foundational legal document signed on November 30, 1999, by Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda, which entered into force on July 7, 2000, reviving the regional bloc.
The treaty provision explicitly requires that any person seeking election to the East African Legislative Assembly must have “proven experience or interest in consolidating and furthering the aims and objectives of the Community.”
While other aspirants may lean on political connections, Dr. Kisembo is urging the NRM’s top leadership to apply the law as written. He has publicly expressed trust that president Yoweri kaguta Museveni —in his dual capacity as NRM Chairman NRM and Chair of the EAC Summit along with the Central Executive Committee (CEC) and the NRM Caucus, will pay close attention to this treaty provision.
“Article 50(2)(e) is not decorative text,” a source close to Dr. Kisembo’s campaign said. “It is the legal gatekeeper for EALA. Dr. Kisembo’s track record speaks directly to consolidating the Community’s aims—cross-border economic integration, shared prosperity, and the political federation dream.”
While full details of his curriculum vitae are emerging, supporters describe Dr. Kisembo as a professional whose work has consistently touched on:Regional trade and investment facilitation,Cross-border policy harmonization,Grassroots advocacy for the EAC Common Market Protocol
Backers argue this is precisely the “proven experience or interest” the treaty’s drafters envisioned when they signed the pact over two decades ago.
The EAC treaty, which revived the Community after its 1977 collapse, was deliberately designed to prevent EALA from becoming a reward for party loyalists with no regional integration credentials. Article 50(2)(e) is the safeguard.
With a by-election looming, the NRM Caucus faces a choice: default to political patronage or honor the treaty that President Museveni himself, as Summit Chair, is sworn to uphold.
By anchoring his bid in black-letter treaty law, Dr. Tendo Ronex Kisembo has thrown down a gauntlet. The question now is whether CEC members and the Parliamentary Caucus will read the treaty—and act on it.
The EALA by-election date is yet to be set, but the legal bar has already been raised.
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