Ngoga was declared Speaker of the 4th East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) after two rounds of a vote boycotted by Tanzania and Burundi. Earlier, the election was suspended after Burundi and Tanzania, who had presented their own candidates, walked out.
Rwanda’s Ngoga polled 34 votes against Burundi’s Leontine Nzeyimana’s two votes.
Tanzania’s Adam Kimbisa had been eliminated at the first round of voting since none of the 36 members that participated in the election voted for him.
The election followed two days heated debate after the majority of the Burundian and Tanzanian representatives walked out in an apparent move to fail the election.
On Tuesday, there were only two Tanzanian representatives, Jamanne Ngwaru Maghembe and Abdullah Hasnuu Makame, who tried to block the election.
After nearly three hours of heated arguments that saw EALA members attacking the EAC Council of Ministers for trying to “deliberately frustrate” the assembly’s business, Kenneth Madete, the Clerk to EALA, went ahead with the election, citing the regional parliament’s rules of procedure.
Burundi’s minister for EAC Affairs Isabelle Ndahayo and her Tanzanian counterpart Suzan Kolimba protested but they were shut down by members.
“There are times we have to rise above petty issues that we carry from our home countries, why are we becoming victims of a drama which has deliberately been created to frustrate the activities of this assembly?” wondered George Odong (Uganda).
By the time the members agreed to proceed with the election, Ngoga was the only candidate present in the chamber
Ngoga, a former prosecutor-general in Rwanda, defeated Burundi’s Leontine Nzeyimana and Tanzania’s Adam Kisimba. He succeeds Uganda’s Daniel Kidega.