Christophe Bazivamo, the Deputy Secretary General of East African Community (EAC) has raised concerns over delays in implementing and expanding portability of social health protection benefits among member states.
Cross-border social benefit portability is the migrant’s ability to preserve, maintain, and transfer acquired social security rights from one private, occupational, or public social security scheme to another, independent of nationality and country of residence.
The scheme means migrants can bring acquired social rights such as health insurance, retirement pensions among others from their host country back to their country of residence or from their country of residence to another country where they move to for labour.
Bazivamo speaks during the opening of five-day discussions on migration issues which have gathered Regional ministers in charge of EAC affairs, those of Internal Affairs
Failing to enable such portability risks impeding international labor mobility or jeopardizing individuals’ ability to manage risk across their life cycle according to experts.
The proposed scheme is priority number 7 of EAC Health Sector Investment Priority Framework running from 2018 to 2028 which requires over $2.7 million to be implemented.
The framework requires expansion of health insurance coverage and social health protection.
Each partner state should establish and expand their National Health Insurance and social protection schemes to support the Universal Health Coverage.
The member states are required to implement and expand portability of such benefits of social health protection as part of the overall social protection agenda in support implementation of the EAC common market ideals.
However, Bazivamo said that this is lagging behind.
"Free movement of professionals such as land surveyors, engineers, accountants, architects is not working as it was wished to be. It is still lagging a bit behind.
This is the same also when it comes to social health benefits portability or transferability in our region. So this is a process which is undergoing and we expect may be to conclude it with the council of ministers by June 2022 but is a challenge where we cannot move with our social benefits,” he said.
He was speaking in Kigali on Wednesday during the opening of five-day discussions on migration issues which have gathered Regional ministers in charge of EAC affairs, those of Internal Affairs, officers from labour departments and directorates of Immigration from Partner States, the EAC Secretariat, and International Organization for Migration (IOM) as well as other UN agencies.
Other free movement barriers
One of the examples of the other barriers hampering free movement, experts say, is the use of National Identity cards as travel documents in EAC.
For instance Tanzania doesn’t accept national identity cards as travel documents to enter this country like other EAC members.
This five-day discussions on migration issues in EAC
"We have been distributing national IDs which are machine readable as travel documents in East Africa. One can move from Rwanda, Uganda, and Kenya using National ID. This should work in all states,” Bazivamo said.
Some countries have also not adopted Single Tourist Visa which could otherwise boost the free movement of goods and people in the region.
According to Bazivamo such barriers are contrary to EAC common market protocol.
The protocol aims to ensure free movement of goods, people, services, labor and capital, use of a single currency for daily transactions within the Common Market, form political federation as well as the customs union.
"Recently we have actually developed a Common market scorecard to see how far partner states are performing in implementing provisions of common market protocol but we have found that in many areas we are still lagging behind. The regional consultative process comes in to bring all stakeholders together to collectively discuss and mobilize resources for priorities set out,” he noted.
He said that there are arrears that need to be fast-tracked for greater achievements
Delegates in group photo the opening of five-day discussions on migration issues which have gathered Regional ministers in charge of EAC affairs, those of Internal Affairs.
"We should bring integration closer to the people,” he said.
Among the free movement achievements include using IDs as travel documents in some members, movement of students and teachers, EAC passport, electronic cargo tracking system, use of ICT in facilitating cross borders among others, he said.
Bazivamo said that they are now thinking of East African Community Health Pass as a regional platform to facilitate movement of travelers in the region to help quick verification of Covid-test results which Rwanda has already launched.
Fidèle Abimana, the Ag. Permanent Secretary at The Ministry of Service and Labour added, "When we talk of integration we have not yet reached free movement of labour where anybody can go and work in any country in the East African Community,” he said adding there is need for domesticating and harmonizing laws.
Mohammed Abdikier, the Regional Director for East and The Horn of Africa said that EAC is a home for 195 million people including five million international migrants, 2.8 million refugees and asylum seekers, 2.4 million displaced persons in need of free movement and related benefits such as jobs.