East African Comunity/Federation

[Nicholas O]

According to wikipedia the East African Comunity has some big plans. They include:
1. A single tourist visa (suppose to be ready 2006, but to the best of my knowledge still not implemented)
2. A single currency in 2010 or sometime between 2011 and 2015 (hope a set date in 2010 has been fixed and coins and notes already designred ready for minting).
3. A common market and a rotating president, also by 2010
4. A full political union somepoint in the future, 2013 suggested as a possibility.

It seems the wikipedia page hasn't been updated for sometime. I don't live in the region and haven't been able to follow it closely.

What do you guys think of the proposals and how they are coming on. My own suspicion is nice in theory, but the timeline is too ambitious. I also hope things don't get put on a waiting list never to be done, as looks like could be the fate of the single tourist visa.

[Kenguy]

There is a whole section about the proposed federation in the General Africa section. I wonder if it will be possible to find it and transfer it here. Though the common market will definitely be operational from next year. All central banks, stock exchanges and other financial institutions in the region are finalising policies that will lead to intergration by the end of next year. free movement of east Africans could become possible by July next year. There is alot going on but I guess the issue isn't discussed much on SSC.

Im highly sceptical about achieving the full political federation though.

[Kenguy]

Happy birthday: EAC marches on under a new flag

The East African,
By CATHERINE RIUNGU
Posted Monday, November 16 2009 at 00:00

A new song and a new flag. This is what awaits East Africans who will dance to the tune of a regional anthem as the new banner is unfurled on Friday to mark the passing of a decade since the rebirth of the East African Community.

This will herald what EAC Secretary General Juma Mwapachu says is a return to lost glory for the people of the five states — Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi.

Mr Mwapachu said the community has made rapid strides towards integration, progress that has surprised the world’s biggest regional bloc — the European Union — which took more than 40 years to attain what “we are celebrating in 10 years this week.”

In an interview with The EastAfrican in Arusha, Mr Mwapachu said the heads of EAC partner states had committed themselves to give the region’s residents a Common Market as a 10th anniversary gift.

This Friday, they will sign the Common Market Protocol.

It will open the borders within the five member countries of the Community, allowing free movement of people, goods, services and capital.

On the same day, Presidents Mwai Kibaki, Yoweri Museveni, Jakaya Kikwete, Paul Kagame and Pierre Nkurunziza will lay the groundwork for the EAC headquarters building in Arusha.

The operationalisation of both a fully fledged Customs Union and the Common Market — slated for January 2010 and July 2010, respectively — will take the region closer to a Monetary Union (2012) and a Political Federation (2015).

EAC Deputy Secretary General for Infrastructure and Planning Alloys Mutabingwa said the region had moved with speed unequalled by any other bloc.

He said that in Africa, only the EAC is close to achieving a Monetary Union.

Achieving a Political Federation in 2015, said the Deputy Secretary General for Political Federation, Beatrice Kiraso, will put East Africa in the league of the EU.

Mr Mwapachu said East Africa has the opportunity to regain what it lost when the old community broke up in 1977.

But he was quick to point out that what the region has now is a completely new body.

“While many people say we re-established the EAC, I would rather say we established it from ground zero. With no Common Services and no Customs Union,” he said.

He said the region lost 20 years of progress as the original three countries went their separate ways in air transport, harbours, railways, lakes, posts and telecommunications, among other defunct regional institutions.

Of the original shared bodies, only three survived the 1977 break up — the East African Development Bank, the Inter University Council of East Africa and the Lake Victoria Basin Commission.

Nostalgically, he said: “We could have been the most powerful economic bloc in the world considering that we had a union in 1967, well before anyone else.”

In those days, said the secretary general, EAC had centres of excellence, especially in medical research, dealing with tropical diseases that are today a challenge to the Millennium Development Goals.

One such facility, the East African Institute for Medical Research, was based at Usambara in Tanzania.

It brought together a critical mass in research capability, where cutting-edge PhD work in malaria and vector borne diseases research was carried out.

Indeed, according to Mr Mwapachu, the region’s research capacity was second to none and although good work continued nationally (with the facility renamed the National Institute for Medical Research) its status was lost.

Also lost was the hitherto world famous regional Tropical Pesticides Research Institute, based in Tanzania.

Its demise is to blame for today’s up to 50 per cent post-harvest losses, turning the region into a hunger zone.

“The facility was totally rundown,” said Mr Mwapachu

He also cited the region’s airline industry as a glaring example of lost integration opportunities, saying the bloc should have one airline called the East African Airways.

“Air Tanzania collapsed, Air Uganda is rudimentary, though we have a robust world class Kenya Airways with international networks with KLM.”

Mr Mwapachu said that despite the notable achievements of the past 10 years, the region is yet to achieve a collective grasp of the bigger picture, which remains the real challenge — developing an East African consciousness.

Citing the old University of East Africa, Mr Mwapachu said it was a classic example of regionalisation.

The universities of Makerere, Nairobi and Dar es Salaam were its constituent colleges.

If you wanted to be a lawyer, Dar was the place to go, if you wanted to be a doctor you went to Makerere and if you wished to be an engineer, you joined the University of Nairobi.

Today, universities have quotas and different fee structures for locals and East African students, and also a student visa.

Mr Mwapachu says as the region seeks to deepen integration, it must harmonise university education so that qualifications can be standardised across the borders.

[Kenguy]

Businesses to boom in Common Market

The East African,
By FRANCIS AYIEKO (email the author)
Posted Monday, November 16 2009 at 00:00

Big business opportunities await East African citizens as presidents of the five EAC member states sign the Common Market Protocol this week.

The planned signing of the protocol this Friday (November 20) by the heads of state of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi, is expected to usher the region into an era of accelerated economic growth and development.

It will allow free movement of goods, persons and labour in all the five partner states.

Also to be enjoyed under the Common Market are the right of establishment, the right of residence, and free movement of services and capital across the region.

The Common Market is the second stage in the integration of the 120-million people economic bloc.

It comes barely five years after the launch of the Customs Union, the first stage in the integration process.

Under the protocol, negotiated for more than one-and-a-half years since April last year by a high level task force appointed by the five member states, the countries have agreed to eliminate tariff, non-tariff and technical barriers to trade; harmonise and mutually recognise standards and implement a common trade policy.

They have also agreed to remove restrictions on movement of labour, harmonise labour policies, programmes, legislation, social services (education, health, safety), provide for social security benefits and establish common standards and measures for association of workers and employers, establish employment promotion centres and eventually adopt a common employment policy.

They have also committed to remove restrictions on movement of services and service suppliers, harmonise standards to ensure acceptability of services traded; eliminate restrictions on free movement of capital; ensure convertibility of currencies; and promote investments in capital markets (stock exchange), eventually leading to an integrated financial system.

One of the key benefits of the Common Market is the easing of cross-border movement of people.

Under the Common Market, which is expected to come into force next year, East African citizens have the freedom to enter the territory of another partner state without a visa.

Except Tanzania, all the other East African countries have agreed to use national identity cards as travel documents.

The protocol says the host partner states shall, in accordance with their national laws, guarantee the protection of the citizens of other partner states while in their territories.

However, free movement of persons is subject to limitations imposed by the host partner state on grounds of public policy, public security and public health.

Closely linked to this is free movement of labour. East Africans will now work in any partner states.

To make this possible, the partner states have agreed to mutually recognise the academic and professional qualifications granted, experience obtained, requirements met and licences or certifications granted in other partner states.

Also, they have agreed to harmonise their curricula, examinations, standards, certification and accreditation of educational and training institutions.

But even more interesting is the fact that under the Common Market, East African citizens will enjoy the right to establish themselves in any member state.

The right of establishment shall entitle a national of another partner state to engage in an economic activity in another member state without restrictions.

The rights are also applicable to a spouse, child and dependant of the person.

“Companies and firms established in accordance with the national laws of a partner state and having their registered office, central administration or principal place of business, and which undertake substantial economic activities in the partner state shall, for purposes of establishment, be accorded non discriminatory treatment in other partner states,” says the protocol.

Citizens will also enjoy the right of residence in partner states that have agreed to this provision.

The right of residence shall apply to the spouse, child and a dependant of a worker or self-employed person.

Individuals will also be allowed to access and use land and premises in any partner state, except in Tanzania.

The partner states have agreed to adopt “variable geometry” — a system whereby some countries can move faster than others in implementing the Common Market.

This came in handy when it emerged that Tanzania had reservations on the Common Market protocol.

[Nicholas O]

Thats reassuring. Any news of the precise date next year?

Thanks heaps Kenguy for the information. On the plus side if a full political union is achieved East Africa will rival South Africa and Nigeria as the most powerful state in sub-Saharan Africa.

[Kenguy]

Originally Posted by Nicholas O

Thats reassuring. Any news of the precise date next year?

Thanks heaps Kenguy for the information. On the plus side if a full political union is achieved East Africa will rival South Africa and Nigeria as the most powerful state in sub-Saharan Africa.

Actually, the customs union is being signed into place on Friday this week. It will be fully operational by July next year.

About being the most powerful state, it may take sometime to beat the likes of SA but it will definitely have an impact on the African political and economic landscape as we know it.

[Yoniii]

Great news, Unity is the best way forward.