Editor,A couple of months ago the East African Community (EAC) Secretary General stated that the envisaged EAC Monetary Union was on course to be achieved in 2012. I found it quite amusing considering that the Customs Union, which should have been in place five years ago, and the Common market three years ago, are not yet fully effected. I have no doubt we will continue to be told that the planned Political Union for the EAC partner states will be achieved by 2015. It is bad to have unrealistic dreams.Joe, Remera***************************Editor,WELCOME to the real world of conferences, meetings, workshops, etc. I once attended a UN ICT conference in Malaysia with over 1,000 delegates and the longest debate was where the venue for the next conference would be held. Ninety per cent of the delegates simply behaved like tourists. A rough estimate of the conference budget could have financed the ICT budget for five years for the African countries.

Conferences are a huge business for western multinationals yet they provide absolutely nothing for the poor in developing countries. Agnes,  Kigali