Nineteen years since it was formed, East African Community member states are pulling in different directions on various issues.
Libérat Mfumukeko, the EAC secretary-general and head of its secretariat, spoke about the gains made, the challenges the regional bloc faces and its blueprint for the next 20 years.
The heads of state summit didn’t take place as planned last year, the third time it was postponed. What went wrong?
The chair then consults his fellow presidents on their availability. They can delay a summit owing to other engagements.
An African Union meeting, for instance, would take precedence over an EAC summit. Ours is just to convene and to facilitate a summit.
What’s the position of the community on trade and border hostilities between Uganda and Rwanda?
Conflicts may be of political or economic in nature, and some take longer to resolve. We can’t dictate to disputing countries on what to do. Countries generally address their own issues through bilateral talks. That said, the community intervenes using the established mechanisms. That’s all we can do.
When leaders of our member states admitted South Sudan to the community in 2016, they believed that having it in the EAC family would make it easier to support them. Already, South Sudan is benefiting from all our programmes, including peace and security, training, infrastructure, energy and production in agriculture.
We have recently secured a grant from the African Development Bank (ADB) to help South Sudan strengthen its banking sector. We had also given the country three years to join our customs union, to do favourable business with the rest of the region. As EAC, it’s our duty to defend their interests.
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has expressed interest in joining the bloc. What’s the progress of the admission?
EAC and the secretariat received the request from DRC through the chair of the summit, President Paul Kagame.
The matter will be on the agenda during the next summit. Member states will consider the request and follow the same procedures observed when Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan were admitted. The feeling of our partner states on this issue is still unknown.
Different militia groups that have wreaked havoc in the region have often used DRC as their base. What’s the significance of DRC joining the bloc?
If they join EAC, they’d be coming with their vast territory, large market and natural resources.
DRC would be coming to the bloc with their troubles as well. As one of us, it’d be up to us to help them resolve their conflicts. Our peace and security programmes would apply to them.
We are an institution of partner states that consults and refers to their leadership on every matter. If leaders don’t agree on guidelines drafted by the community, they’ll never implement them. If we agreed to remove taxes on all our imports, for instance, but one country failed to cooperate, our customs union protocol would never work. As a community, we can’t impose our decisions on any country.
Goods move faster today from the port of Mombasa to other EAC countries because of improved infrastructure and our one-stop border posts. Our customs union and clearance functions have made access to other markets in the region easier, by eliminating visa fees and wastage of time.
Where would you say the community is failing?
Netherlands, which is the size of Rwanda, has a GDP of more than $800 billion.
There’s no reason whatsoever why, 60 years after independence, we should be languishing in poverty as a region.
