By Zephania Ubwani, The Citizen Bureau Chief
(email the author)
Posted Saturday, August 31 2013 at 23:35
Posted Saturday, August 31 2013 at 23:35
In Summary
Arusha. The East African Community (EAC
reiterated yesterday that it was not against bilateral or trilateral
agreements by its partner states.
Secretary general Richard Sezibera maintained that
such initiatives not involving EAC directly were not likely to weaken
the regional organisation or its programmes.
He told reporters after formally launching the
Online EAC Brand Survey that Tanzania was not being sidelined in the
community following recent meetings of Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda leaders.
Tanzania was not invited to the meeting involving
presidents Uhuru Kenyatta, Paul Kagame and Yoweri Museveni in Mombasa
early this week.
Burundi, the other EAC partner state, and South
Sudan, were represented in Mombasa where the three presidents signed
ambitious plans to fast-track the East African political federation.
The leaders jointly launched a new berth at
Mombasa Port as well as the construction of a new standard-gauge railway
line from the Kenyan port city to Kampala.
The railway line will later be extended to Kigali,
Rwanda. The three presidents also directed their responsible ministers
to report back on the progress on the proposed Eldoret-Kampala-Kigali
oil pipeline.
But Dr Sezibera maintained that such initiatives,
rather than weakening EAC, they were “advancing our mandate of
integrating the region, especially if the projects are within the EAC
development framework”.
He made the same remarks in Arusha on Monday after
addressing journalists on what the regional body was doing to defuse
tension between Tanzania and Rwanda following the recent spats.
Yesterday, he emphasised that he had made the EAC
position clear on initiatives taken by its member states bilaterally or
trilaterally and that such moves were not posing a threat to it.
On Monday he said: “The three countries (Kenya,
Rwanda and Uganda) were trying to implement or fast-track what is within
EAC framework. It’s a good initiative but to me this is not the first
time such a thing is happening.”
According to him, initiatives taken by individual
states without going through the Secretariat include the tripartite
arrangement between Tanzania, Burundi and Rwanda on the central corridor
railway line.
Kenya and Uganda have jointly operated a railway line from
Mombasa to Uganda for years; Tanzania and Uganda have a memorandum of
understanding on power transmission.
Non-involvement of Tanzania and Burundi in such
consultations have raised eyebrows in the region. The two governments
have not given their official positions on their feelings for being
sidelined from the key talks.
When he launched the Online EAC Brand Survey in
the presence of senior officials from two other organs of the community,
the East African Legislative Assembly and the East African Court of
Justice, Dr Sezibera said: “The EAC is carrying out a brand survey to
gain a better insight into how it is perceived by stakeholders and the
community in general.“
source: The citizen
source: The citizen
