Zephania Ubwani
21 May 2011
Arusha — The East African Community on Thursday unveiled its budget for the 2011/2012 financial year in Arusha but said it was worried by the slow pace of implementing the Common Market Protocol.
The regional organisation says besides a host of legal and regulatory frameworks that are yet to be amended to pave the way for its smooth implementation, some people in the region still appear uncomfortable with the trade pact.
Negative tendencies
“There are negative tendencies that have persisted, affecting the mindsets of all kinds of actors in the regional integration process,” noted Ms Hafsa Mosi, the chairperson of the EAC Council of Ministers.
In a speech read on her behalf by Kenya’s assistant minister for East African Cooperation Peter Munya, she promised that the EAC and affiliated institutions would strive to address the concerns raised over the matter.
The protocol came into force in July last year and is aimed at paving way for the free movement of goods, services, capital and labour. It is expected to be one of the platforms through which to realise regional economic integration.
Ms Mosi, who is the Burundi minister for EAC Affairs, admitted there was great concern across the region over the rather slow implementation of the Common Market Protocol.
“The launching of the Common Market in July last year was a major and historic achievement. There is, however, a negative perception that has accompanied this same landmark achievement,” she pointed out.
She called for the urgent intervention of the partner states to rectify the situation “and expedite rather than settle for a leisurely approach to the actualisation of the Common Market”.
Ms Mosi suggested the first measures should aim at changing the frameworks holding back the implementation of a single regional market.
“There are legal and regulatory frameworks that need to be put in place in order to breathe life into the declarations on the various free movements of the factors of production under the Customs Union and Common Market operations,” she noted.
Ms Mosi’s speech was read out during the presentation of the EAC Budget for 2011/2012 to the East African Legislative Assembly (Eala) currently holding sessions in Arusha.
She requested the regional Assembly to approve the record budget for the community of $109,680,319 (Sh9.4 billion) and which exceeds the 2010/2011 approved budget of $32,025,876 (Sh2.7 billion) by 41 per cent.
The 2011/2012 budget allocation to the EAC organs and institutions is as follows: EAC Secretariat, which is the administrative arm of the community ($50,220,383); Eala ($ 11,679,682); East African Court of Justice ($3,289,104); and the Lake Victoria Basin Commission ($44,491,150).
The EAC further plans to spend $1.6 million on the conclusion of the EAC Monetary Union Protocol, another $1.6 million to deepen cooperation in defence, security and political matters and $3.8 million on the implementation of the EAC Institutional Review and on capacity building.
The Council chairperson pledged the EAC Secretariat would work closely with the East African Business Council to ensure that bottlenecks hindering the smooth implementation of the Common Market Protocol were removed.
“These efforts would be intensified. We recognise clearly that the actualisation of the Common Market Protocol depends on resolute political will and a clear, focused determination to make the EAC Common Market a vibrant reality,” Ms Mosi added.
During the coming fiscal year, EAC intends to spend at least $10,274,605 (Sh886 million) on the implementation of the Common Market Protocol alone, she informed the assembly.
She implored East African leaders not to take the implementation of the protocol lightly and instead reward its timely and swift adoption and launch with equally swift and effective implementation.
The protocol has elaborate trade and development dimensions and seeks regional cooperation in infrastructure development, agriculture development and food security, regional industrialisation and harmonisation of educational curricula.
“We need to apply ourselves seriously on the realisation of these programmes that will lead to a real Common Market and a strong and truly regionally integrated economy and cohesive East African society,” she concluded.
AllAfrica – All the Time
Taken from:
EAC Chief Frustrated At Slow Pace Towards Common Market