By The Citizen Team
Posted Tuesday, October 8 2013 at 00:00
Posted Tuesday, October 8 2013 at 00:00
In Summary
If the implementation of the EAC activities is used as a yardstick, then all countries are guilty
Nairobi/Dar es Salaam. The heads of state of
Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda are scheduled to meet later this month in
Kigali amid growing concerns about Tanzania’s apparent isolation by the
“coalition of the willing”.
Rwandan President Paul Kagame will host his Kenyan
and Ugandan counterparts, Mr Uhuru Kenyatta and Mr Yoweri Museveni,
respectively, on October 28 and 29 to discuss joint infrastructure
projects, The Citizen has reliably learnt.
On the agenda will be the planned
Mombasa-Kampala-Kigali standard-gauge railway, an oil pipeline
connecting the three countries, an oil refinery and construction of a
modern port in Lamu, Kenya. It was reported last weekend that divisions
within the East African Community (EAC) had deepened after Burundi said
it was not party to the “coalition of the willing” that has left
Tanzania out.
Some prominent government and business leaders
have said Tanzania has been increasingly isolated by Kenya, Uganda and
Rwanda, whose leaders have met on a number of occasions in recent
months.
EAC Secretary-General Richard Sezibera said in
Nairobi yesterday that he was not aware that Tanzania had been sidelined
or isolated from the regional integration process.
He said alliances among some EAC partner states
that excluded Tanzania were not proof that the largest country in the
bloc was being systematically isolated by its partners.
“From the secretariat point of view, we are not
aware. I can’t say if Tanzania has been sidelined or is a reluctant
partner in the bloc,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the EAC
Secretary-General’s Forum.
Dr Sezibera was pressed by journalists to explain
recent events on economic integration issues from which Tanzania was
excluded and whether they did not confirm that the country was being
eased out of the integration process.
The EAC boss said it was not true that Tanzania
was a reluctant partner in the bloc as claimed in some quarters.
Allegations that the country is delaying EAC programmes were repeated
again yesterday during the forum, which attracted representatives from
civil society organisations and the private sector in the region.
“If the implementation of the EAC activities is
used as a yardstick, then all countries are guilty,” Dr Sezibera said.
He added that it could not be claimed that Tanzania was paying lip
service to EAC aspirations by differing with its partners on issues such
as the use of national IDs as valid travel documents.
“The Treaty is very clear. No partner state can be
sidelined. You know we operate on the principle of subsidiarity and
variable geometry in which every country is allowed enough room for
internal consultations on key decisions,” he said.
He added, however, that the Tanzanian authorities
were “more competent” to explain if the country was being sidelined
because the matter had not been officially brought to the attention of
the Arusha-based Secretariat. The Minister for EAC Cooperation, Mr
Samuel Sitta, said recently that the government was concerned by the way
Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda were sidelining Tanzania in some key regional
projects.
Tanzania’s apparent isolation started in June when the leaders
of the three countries met in Kampala and agreed to fast-track
implementation of some infrastructure projects in the region. This was
followed by another meeting in Mombasa during which the three countries
agreed on how to speed up the political federation process and
construction of oil and gas pipelines, among others.
Dr Sezibera said yesterday that the bloc should
urgently address the issue of immigration, adding that the recent
expulsion of illegal immigrants in Kagera, Kigoma and Geita regions was
done “haphazardly”.
He said EAC countries should in the future devise
better way to deal with illegal immigrants who are East Africans “and it
should be done in the right manner where human rights are not
violated”.
Dr Sezibera confirmed that the team sent by the
EAC secretariat to Kagera Region in August gather facts on the
deportation of illegal immigrants had completed its task.
“For the time being I cannot disclose the contents
of their report. We have instead shared it with the governments,” he
told The Citizen, noting that the tension that gripped the region at the
height of the expulsions was over. Earlier, the Kenyan Cabinet
Secretary for East African Affairs, Ms Phyllis Kandie, urged Rwanda and
Tanzania to meet urgently to resolve the issue of illegal immigrants.
What the EAC Treaty says
The decision by Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda to team
up and undertake infrastructure projects many not be in line with the
integration spirit, but is not against the EAC Treaty.
Article 7 (1)(e) of the treaty, for instance,
provides for the principle of variable geometry, which allows for
progression in co-operation among groups within the Community for wider
integration schemes in various fields and at different speeds;
Furthermore, Article 8 allows the partner states
to, among other things, plan and direct their policies and resources
with a view to creating conditions favourable for the development and
achievement of the objectives of the Community and the implementation of
the provisions of the said treaty.
The article also allows a partner states to
co-ordinate, through the institutions of the Community, their economic
and other policies to the extent necessary to achieve the objectives of
the Community.
The member states are also, individually or
jointly, allowed to upgrade, rehabilitate and integrate roads, railways,
airports, pipelines and harbours in their territories.
They are also allowed to review and re-design their intermodal
transport systems and develop new routes within the Community for the
transport of the type of goods and services produced in the Partner
States.
Reported by Zephania Ubwani in Nairobi and Peter Nyanje in Dar es Salaam
SOURCE: THE CITIZEN
SOURCE: THE CITIZEN
