By Asha Elmi - Reporter
Uganda, 14 November 2025 — Somalia will host the next East African Community (EAC) Conference of Parliamentary Speakers in May 2026, the Somali Parliament said on Friday.
The decision was adopted at the 20th Meeting of the Bureau of Speakers of the East African Community in Kampala, where Somalia’s Parliament Speaker, Sheikh Adan Mohamed Nur ‘Madoobe’, was elected Chair of the Bureau for the 2025–2026 term.
He succeeds Moses Wetangula, Speaker of Kenya’s National Assembly, who has led the EAC Speakers’ Bureau since 13 November 2024.
In his remarks, Madoobe said the choice of Mogadishu as the next host city comes at a time when EAC member states are intensifying efforts to strengthen regional integration, deepen inter-parliamentary cooperation and support political stability.
He reaffirmed Somalia’s commitment to active engagement in the bloc, which it formally joined in 2023.
More from Somalia
The Bureau of Speakers brings together the heads of national parliaments across the EAC and plays a key role in coordinating legislative agendas, harmonising parliamentary procedures and promoting collaboration among partner states.
Madoobe’s new role relates specifically to the leadership of the Bureau of Speakers, not the Speakership of the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA).
EALA — the legislative organ of the EAC — has its own Speaker, elected directly by the Assembly’s 72 members for a five-year term.
Somalia recently elected its first nine representatives to EALA, marking its full integration into the regional parliament.
The 2026 meeting in Mogadishu will be the first time Somalia hosts a high-level EAC parliamentary gathering, a development viewed as a significant milestone in the country’s regional diplomatic engagement.
