EAC mulls restructuring Secretariat

East African Community member states will have to assess and agree on which reforms to undertake in order to transform the EAC secretariat into a commission, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of EAC, Ambassador, William Kayonga has said.Partner states want the Secretariat to convert into a commission with more enforcing powers to ensure the effective implementation of common market protocols, customs union among others.Kayonga underscored that it was imperative to reform the secretariat to realise the implementation of agreed protocols. “It’s part of the reform agenda .It was realised that it (secretariat) should be reformed to oversee the implementation of agreed protocols and we all need the reforms,” he told The New Times.During the Heads of State Summit held in Bujumbura, Burundi in November last year, the Council of Ministers requested the Arusha Secretariat to undertake a study on the reforms and submit its findings . The Council of Ministers is the policy organ of the community which consists of ministers responsible for EAC affairs from each of the five partner states.The partner states are now awaiting the formal proposal of reforms on how the new Commission would be constituted, as well as the terms of reference from the secretariat. The Partner states would then decide and approve the mode of restructuring.Economists have always termed the Arusha based Secretariat as a barking dog that doesn’t bite, accusing it of lacking powers to enforce and penalise member countries that fail to implement agreed protocols.“In the European Union, if a partner state doesn’t do what was agreed upon, the commission will fine it, which is not the case with the East African Community. What is the use of having laws without police? Where are the police in the East African Community?” pondered Dr Nicholas Charalambides, a senior consultant with Imani Development, an international consultancy firm, during a recent interview to The New Times. Member countries have always been pinning each other for failure to conform to the common market protocol by failing to eliminate the non tariff barriers that hinder regional traders.Experts envisage that once the Secretariat becomes a commission, member states would be obliged to implement the decisions agreed upon by the community, or be reprimanded as is the case with the European Union.The country director of Trade Mark East Africa (TMEA), Mark Priestley, noted that the region would continue to face hurdles, arguing that the region needed strong institutions to spur the integration process.“If you need the integration to succeed, the Secretariat must become a commission with more powers like in Europe while the East African Court of Justice should be strong enough to resolve regional disputes.”He further advised partner states to accept to devolve some of their sovereignty to regional institutions in order to suitably benefit regional citizens, adding that the European Union had developed due to the establishment of effective and strong institutions.TMEA is a multi-donor funded agency that provides support for increased regional trade and economic integration. It is charged with accelerating the implementation of the East African Community protocols towards regional integration in all East Africa countries.

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EAC mulls restructuring Secretariat