RT. HON ABDI BIDS PRESIDENT KAGAME FAREWELL IN KIGALI

Speaker of EALA, Rt. Hon Abdirahin Abdi (L) and President of the Republic of Rwanda, H.E. Paul Kagame.

...EALA Speaker warmly received at Village Urugwiro
 

EALA, Kigali, Rwanda

The President of the Republic of Rwanda, H.E. Paul Kagame today received the Speaker of EALA, Rt. Hon Abdirahin Abdi at Village Urugwiro (State House) in Kigali, Rwanda.

Speaker Abdi was in Kigali to bid H.E. Kagame farewell as the end of his tenure as Speaker of the regional Assembly approaches.   In his remarks, President Kagame hailed EALA for the steadfast commitment to the EAC integration process which he noted continued to be strengthened.

He remarked that he had personally benefited from the friendship of the Speaker, Rt. Hon Abdirahin Abdi and found it an immense pleasure as well to interact with Members of the 2nd Assembly.

The Speaker on his part thanked the President of Rwanda for his amity to EALA and to him in his personal capacity and noted that the EAC region was more the richer following the entry of Rwanda into the economic bloc.

Present at the meeting was the Minister for EAC in the Republic of Rwanda, Hon Monique Mukaruliza.

The meeting was part of the Speaker's official tour to capitals to bid farewell to the EAC Heads of State.   

Last Friday (May 3, 2012), Rt. Hon Abdi visited Bujumbura where he proffered his farewell message to H.E. Pierre Nkurunziza of the Republic of Burundi.

Rt. Hon Abdi shall be retiring from EALA after ten years of service to the regional Assembly.   He first joined the Assembly in November 2001 and was a Member of the House for five years.   

He is the only Member from the Republic of Kenya who was re-elected for a second term.   In June 2007, Rt. Hon Abdirahin Abdi was elected Speaker of the Assembly, a position he relinquishes on June 5, 2012.