DECISIONS BY THE EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY DENT THE IMAGE OF THE REGIONAL BODY
(Posted 03rd March 2016)
As news from the ongoing Head of State Summit in Arusha / Tanzania are emerging is consternation and disappointment spreading too over some of the decisions taken.
The agreement of Heads of State to pass the Secretary General’s job to a Burundian regime crony in particular has led to a series of acid comments received here.
‘This looks like Burundi’s illegal regime has been rewarded just days after another mass grave was discovered. The suspected killers are security operatives and militias loyal to the dictator. This decision was taken by the same people who advocate for African countries to leave the International Criminal Court in favour of African solutions for human right abuses and crimes against humanity. It is clear now for us who suffer in Burundi that it is only the ICC which can save us and bring the killer regime to book‘ commented one Burundian now living in exile in Uganda, an opinion often echoed by others too.
The second controversial decision was the admission of South Sudan to the 5 member state regional body, which received mixed reactions. While a smaller section of those commenting applauded the principle enlargement of the East African Community to now 6 member states with over 160 million people forming a supposedly common domestic market, has the majority of comments harshly critiqued the news.
‘South Sudan is not ready for this. I recall when Rwanda was an applicant country it took them years and an enormous effort to harmonize laws, regulations and all. South Sudan has not harmonized. Their country is a mess. Their rogue regime does not match even the theoretical requirements of human rights, respect for law and all. Their currency is almost useless and therefore of no value to the other EAC members. The country owes huge money to suppliers in Kenya and Uganda. Investors have began to withdraw from South Sudan. Harassment and murders of traders from Uganda and even Kenya have remained unsolved. Only a few months ago did Kiir [South Sudan's regime leader Salva Kiir] want to deport all Kenyans and Ugandans. Rwanda when it joined was ready and still a lot of work needed to be done. South Sudan is absolutely not ready and the decision to admit them to the EAC is very much premature and only politically motivated because they are part of the NCIP group [Northern Corridor Integration Project countries]’.
Contacts within the NGO sector also questioned what impact the decision to appoint a Burundian as new Secretary General of the EAC will have vis a vis development partner decisions to suspend aid to Burundi and and imposing sanctions on the regime.
The EAC depends to a substantial part on the goodwill of development partners for budget support as the member states have never been able to finance the secretariat’s functions and activities in full. Several development partners in fact have in the past gone on record that Burundi cannot be part of programmes funded by them unless the EAC overall would risk losing funds.
Some other decisions though were widely welcomed, such as leaving the rotating presidency of the EAC in the hands of Tanzania’s President John Magufuli instead of passing it to Burundi and for launching a new state of the art East African Community passport, which is chip equipped and machine readable as international conventions now demand. Previous editions were still handwritten and only valid to travel within the EAC while the new travel document will, according to Arusha based sources, be valid for travel beyond the EAC too with details still to be worked out.
Other questions asked and needing answers are travel arrangements for East African citizens to South Sudan. Travel within the EAC is Visa free and yet does South Sudan still demand Visa fees from East Africans. One travel agent demanded to know if the Interstate Pass travel arrangements for expatriates living in the NCIP countries will now be adopted by South Sudan too, which while a member of the NCIP group had refused to accept this arrangement and also remained outside the common tourist Visa which was launched two years ago between Uganda, Rwanda and Kenya.
Others asked if currency restrictions will be lifted anytime soon to bring South Sudan in line with common practice of other EAC countries and when a harmonized legislative, regulatory and policy regime will be launched in South Sudan to align the the new member to the requirements of the existing member countries.
Only time will tell how the joining of South Sudan into the East African Community will affect the EAC or in turn influence governance issues within South Sudan, where the new government arrangements are still not fully implemented.
