Eala MPs to seek views on regional health Bill

The East Africa Community Sexual and Reproductive Health Bill is taking shape towards its enactment into law,  with an aim of  harmonising issues of sexuality and health across the region.

The chairperson of the General Purpose Committee of the East African Legislative Assembly (Eala), Mr Denis Namara, said they will soon transverse all the seven-member states to meet legislators for their views.

“For example, about child marriage in South Sudan, children aged 14 years are allowed to marry and yet in Uganda, one has to be above 18 years. So we need to harmonise on such and other differences,”  Mr Namara said on Friday during a dialogue with Ugandan MPs in Entebbe over the Bill.

Mr Namara said the most controversial clause in the Bill is that of termination of pregnancy.“This is because in Burundi, they believe that a pregnancy should not be terminated even on medical grounds. They believe that it is only God who can terminate a pregnancy and yet in member countries such as Uganda and Kenya, a pregnancy can be terminated on medical grounds,”  he said.

Objective

The Bill also seeks to protect and facilitate the fulfilment of the life course sexual and reproductive health and rights of all persons in the region.

Anchored on Article 118 of the Treaty, the Bill seeks to have partner states committed to cooperate generally in health and specifically in the development of reproductive health and harmonise national health policies and regulations to achieve quality health.

Dr Charles Ayume, the chairperson of the Ugandan parliamentary Health Committee, cautioned colleagues across the region to cosider people’s rights and science as they begin debating the Bill.

“Some of the contentious issues in this Bill are centred on the age of consent and termination of pregnancy but as MPs all over the region give their views on this Bill, science and human rights should be able to co-exist,” Dr Ayume said.

Ms Fatia Kiyange, the executive director at Centre for Health, Human Rights and Development, said the EAC sexuality Bill is timely given the huge number of girls in Uganda about 600,000 who were sexually abused during the two years Covid-19 lockdown.

The Namisindwa District Woman MP, Ms Sarah Netalisire Kayagi, said views of all relevant stakeholders should be incorporated into this Bill before it becomes law.