Officials speak out on EAC Ministers’ relocation to Arusha

Officials have expressed mixed feelings following the recommendation by regional parliamentarians that ministers for East African Affairs be relocated to the EAC secretariat in Arusha, Tanzania. During the fourth session of the inter-parliamentary seminar that convened in Kigali last month, it was observed that there was lack of political supervision of the East African Secretariat on behalf of member states. In the seminar, commonly known as Nanyuki Series, it was recommended that ministers for EAC affairs should shift to Arusha to closely supervise the secretariat’s activities. The Nanyuki Series, which are held annually, bring together members of parliament from the five EAC partner states and the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) “It is very important that the secretariat have political supervision…there is a vacuum but the recommendation needs further in-depth study because there are implications,” said Patricia Hajabakiga who chairs the Rwanda Chapter at the EALA. She said that the problem with having these ministers stationed in Arusha is the mandate they have as ministers in their respective countries. “There is need for articulation of this recommendation because the ministers have their outlined mandate and represent their respective Presidents in the different negotiations going on regarding the integration process,” said Hajabakiga who was a cabinet minister prior to her appointment to the EALA. She said that if the proposal is well studied, other means could be used without necessarily taking the ministers. “For instance, they can adopt the system of the African Union (AU) where we have commissioners supervising the secretariat or any other method that can be adopted,” said Hajabakiga who emphasised that she was speaking on her own behalf. Pierre Damien Habumuremyi, another Rwandan legislator at the EALA also had his reservations on the recommendations. “There are various implications to this suggestion both economically and socially…all these five ministers, if sent to Arusha will need staff and accommodation which will need an additional budget from the EAC,” he explained. He, however, emphasized the need to bridge the existing gap between the secretariat and the EALA saying that the former cannot report to the latter. “There has to be a daily political follow-up of the secretariat for efficiency and there is a concern of the Council of Ministers not doing enough in this regard because of the proximity…they are far from the secretariat,” said Habumuremyi, a former Executive Secretary of the National Electoral Commission (NEC). The recommendation, together with a score of others, was forwarded to the council of ministers which in turn takes it to the Summit, the highest decision-making organ of the Community. When contacted, the Chairperson of the Council of Ministers and also Rwanda’s Minister for EAC affairs, Monique Mukaruliza, said that relocating to the EAC secretariat was out of their mandate. She said that to do that would require first redesigning their mandate. “This will mean that we will not be country ministers but rather regional, which is currently not outlined in our mandates,” explained Mukaruliza. She, however, added that the council of ministers, which she currently chairs, is devising means of dividing tasks amongst themselves so that each is given a particular sector that he or she supervises, to step up supervisory measures of the secretariat. “The decision on the recommendation will be decided by the Summit, but we are looking at ways we can distribute tasks amongst ourselves…this will be done before the expiration of my mandate as chairman,” Mukaruliza said by telephone. She assumed the chair mid this year at the same time President Paul Kagame took over from his Ugandan counterpart the chairmanship of the EAC Summit. Ends