Civil Society Organisations in Uganda want the regional parliament to take a more defined role in ensuring negotiations leading to the Trade and Investment Partnership Agreement (Tipa) between the EAC and the United States are comprehensive and all-inclusive. 

The CSOs under the aegis of the Southern and Eastern African Trade Information and Negotiations Institute (SEATINI)-Uganda petitioned the Speaker of EALA, Margaret Nantongo Zziwa, at the Ugandan Parliament on Tuesday. 

EALA is the East African Legislative Assembly, the legislative arm of the five-state East African Community.  

They are calling on EALA to monitor development and to request for updates on the Tipa negotiations from concerned ministries to ensure transparency and accountability, according to statement from the assembly, which is currently in session in Uganda. 

Accordingly, SEATINI-Uganda are concerned that the negotiations are tilted in favour of the US with the power nation negotiating on the basis of 2012 USA Model bilateral Investment Treaty.   

SEATINI head and the leader of the delegation, Ambassador Nathan Irumba maintains that the template is generally tailored to protect the US without addressing their obligations and the rights of the EAC countries.   

"We need a template that is acceptable to all,” Irumba stated. 

Receiving the petition signed by 22 organisations, the EALA Speaker, Zziwa, said there was need for a conducive environment to enable fair competition among regional investors. 

She said that the dispute resolution mechanisms in the agreement presented a challenge to East Africans terming it out of reach, and noted that "we need to address it as a matter of urgency.”

The petition further decries what it terms as onerous drafting of several provisio of the agreement.   Under Article 4, the Clause on the Most Favoured Nation (MFN), the petitioners indicate that the agreement is lopsided and it desires to accord US investors favourable treatment. 

"This provision limits EAC governments’ ability to choose which countries they would like to give preferences to when it comes to trade with any third party and recommends that it should be expunged from the agreement,” reads part of the petition.