Talks on EAC Federation on Course

(Business Week)--National consultations on the proposed East African Community (EAC) political federation are on course in the two new partner states of Rwanda and Burundi, a two-day follow-up mid-term review workshop on national consultations has been told.

The EAC deputy secretary general, Ms. Beatrice Kiraso said negotiations on the EAC common market were also in high gear. She said in order to fast track the integration process, the summit of the EAC heads of state directed that the EAC common market protocol be in place by early 2010 while the EAC monetary union by 2012.

Though the timeframe for the political federation was not fixed, the outcome of the national consultations on the EAC political federation in the Republic of Rwanda and the Republic of Burundi was very instrumental in paving the way for political integration in general, Kiraso noted.

She informed delegates that in all the sensitisation workshops so far undertaken in the partner states, the most frequently asked question has been; where is the road map for the political federation? ‘The road map shall only be developed after the two national consultations of Rwanda and Burundi have presented their report and findings of the national consultations,’ Kiraso said.

She said as the EAC integrations deepens and widens, the need for a central political authority to consolidate the gains that will have been achieved from integration cannot be over-emphasised.

Economic integration is certainly, significant, but there is need for clear mechanisms for equitable distribution of the benefits of integration, enforcement of policy decisions and exploitation of the existing economies of scale in all sectors through a single planning unit.

Kiraso said the EAC political federation is not an event but a process which calls for institutional development through development of policies, mechanisms and frameworks that lay the foundation for the ultimate stage of the EAC integration - the political federation.

‘That is why the Secretariat is working towards developing a regional framework on good governance, which encompasses four major pillars namely; democratization processes; justice and rule of law; anti-corruption, ethics and integrity and human rights and social justice,’ Kiraso said.

The chairperson of the National Consultations Committee (NCC) Burundi, Mr. Bucumi Julius commended the government of Burundi for its active participation in the EAC integration process. He noted that though Burundi was behind other EAC partner states in terms of development, ‘the vision of the country is to catch up with the others and EAC political federation provides that opportunity.’

Bucumi informed delegates that the government of Burundi granted all the necessary financial support to the NCC at the beginning of September, 2008 and the NCC had covered over 65 per cent of the work.

The vice chairperson of the NCC Rwanda, Ms. Oda Gasinzigwa hailed the government and people of Burundi for the warm hospitality accorded to the Rwandan delegations during their stay in the country. She said the NCC Rwanda received all the support from government to carry out its mandate of educating the people of Rwanda on the East African integration and collecting views on fast tracking the political federation.

She informed the delegates that NCC Rwanda had covered over 80 per cent of the work. She said that in the recently concluded Parliamentary elections in Rwanda, 56.2 per cent of the elected MPs were women.

After a review of the remaining work load, the two NCCs agreed to complete and submit their reports of the findings to the EAC Secretariat by November 28. The reports will then be submitted to the Summit of EAC Heads of State for consideration and further guidance on the outcome.

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