Nairobi (Somalia Today) — Somalia has asked Kenya to help break a legal deadlock over its East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) seats. A regional court order has frozen the seats just weeks after Mogadishu elected its first nine representatives to the bloc’s parliament.
Federal Parliament Speaker Sheikh Aden Mohamed Nur held talks in Nairobi on Tuesday with his Kenyan counterpart, Moses Wetang’ula. He appealed for diplomatic support as Somalia fights a case at the East African Court of Justice (EACJ) over the selection of lawmakers.
Wetang’ula said Nur had specifically asked Kenya to help end the stalemate. The row has halted the swearing-in of Somalia’s delegation and slowed its full entry into the Arusha-based assembly.
Court fight over nominations
Somalia joined the East African Community (EAC) as its eighth member after regional leaders approved its accession in late 2023. It deposited its ratification in March 2024.
In mid-October this year, the Federal Parliament in Mogadishu elected nine members to represent the country in EALA. The vote followed Article 50 of the EAC Treaty, which requires each partner state to send nine legislators through an indirect election process.
A group of Somali MPs has now challenged the outcome at the EACJ in Arusha. They argue that the nomination and voting process did not meet the treaty’s standards for political diversity, transparency, and the fair representation of women and other groups.
According to court filings and media reports, the dissenting legislators say the entire exercise lasted about 5 days. Would-be candidates had to pay a mandatory fee of around US$10,000 to qualify.
The critics allege that the list favoured allies and relatives of senior officials and failed to reflect a broad mix of parties and opinions, as envisaged by Article 50(1) of the treaty.
In response, the EACJ issued interim orders that froze the swearing-in of Somalia’s nine EALA members until the case is heard. Judges have not yet announced a hearing date. Somalia’s seats, therefore, remain on hold even as the rest of the regional parliament continues its work in Arusha.
Somali officials insist that the election followed national procedures. They say they will defend the process before the court and argue that the dispute should not derail the country’s broader integration into EAC structures.
Nur seeks Nairobi’s leverage
Officials on both sides described Nur’s trip to Nairobi as unusually consequential, even though it was framed as a parliamentary courtesy call. Wetang’ula ranks among the EAC’s longest-serving parliamentary figures and plays a key role in regional legislative diplomacy.
“Nur requested Kenya’s support in resolving the ongoing stalemate at the East African Court of Justice concerning Somalia’s nominees,” Wetang’ula said after the meeting.
He added that Kenya backs a solution that respects both the treaty and Somalia’s parliamentary mandate.
The two speakers agreed to strengthen a Kenya–Somalia Parliamentary Friendship Group to deepen cooperation and “parliamentary diplomacy” between the neighbours. The group will also handle sensitive regional files that now cut across the EAC’s expanded membership.
Nur also sought Nairobi’s backing as he assumes his new regional role as chairperson of the EAC Bureau of Speakers. Wetang’ula pledged what he called “unwavering support” to help Somalia take up its place across EAC organs once the court matter ends.
Integration gains on hold
The dispute comes at a delicate moment for Somalia’s regional diplomacy.
Officials in Mogadishu sold EAC membership as a strategic leap that would anchor the country in a market of more than 300 million people and give it a direct say in regional decisions on trade, infrastructure, and security.
EALA, based in Arusha, serves as the community’s law-making organ. It debates and passes regional legislation, oversees the EAC’s executive arm, and offers a platform for national delegations to shape policy on issues ranging from customs to cross-border security.
For Somali officials, seeing their first delegation blocked at the court door is more than a procedural setback.
They fear it could undermine public confidence in the value of EAC membership and give critics fresh ammunition to question whether regional promises will translate into real influence for Mogadishu.
Supporters of the court petition present a different view. They say the case offers a necessary test of the EAC’s governance standards and reminds new member states that they must follow the same rules on openness and inclusion that older partners have had to respect in earlier nomination disputes.
The EACJ has intervened before in EALA election controversies in Kenya, Uganda, and South Sudan. In those cases, the court ordered changes to nomination rules. It temporarily halted swearings-in when judges found breaches of Article 50(1).
Somalia keeps one foot in
Despite the freeze on its EALA seats, Somalia is pressing ahead with other regional engagements.
Nur confirmed that the Federal Parliament will send a team to the EAC Inter-Parliamentary Games in Kampala from December 5–15. The move signals that lawmakers still want visibility inside the community even as the court process drags on.
The Nairobi talks also addressed how to encourage the Democratic Republic of Congo, another recent entrant, to participate more actively in EAC activities.
Officials say the concern reflects a broader fear that the bloc’s rapid expansion has outpaced the ability of some new members to integrate into its institutions fully.
For now, Somalia’s nine elected representatives must wait.
Whether they take their seats in Arusha in their current form, or after a court-mandated overhaul of the nomination process, will send an early signal about how far the EAC — and its newest member — are willing to go in treating regional rules as more than words on paper.
