East African political integration still a long shot: Kiraso

East African political integration still a long shot: Kiraso

BY GEORGE KAGAME


East African Political Federation is still a long time away but the economic and social integration of the community is due to be realized soon, it has been revealed by the deputy secretary general of the EAC Beatrice Kiraso.

Kiraso was last week addressing a workshop of national consultative committees set up in Rwanda and Burundi to help both countries speed up their fast tracking such that they can set out mechanisms similar to those existing in the three original members of the EAC before the onset of regional policies like the Common Market and the Customs Union.


She said that consultations are on course in the two new Partner States to embrace the policies of the East African Community.
Hon. Kiraso informed delegates that negotiations on the EAC Common Market were in high gear and that for fast tracking the integration process, the Summit of the EAC Heads of State directed that the EAC Common Market Protocol be in place by early 2010 while the EAC Monetary Union by 2012.

Political integration and federation of the EAC remains so far a major concern for Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni, who in the 2006 presidential campaigns of his country promised his voters that the East African Community would achieve political integration by 2013. Kiraso said the timeframe for political federation has not yet been fixed: “The road map (of political integration) shall only be developed after the two NCCs of Rwanda and Burundi have presented their report and findings of the national consultations.”†
She said as the EAC integrations deepens and widens, the need for a central political authority to consolidate the gains that will have been achieved from integration cannot be over-emphasized. Economic integration is certainly, significant, but there is need for clear mechanisms for equitable distribution of the benefits of integration, enforcement of policy decisions and exploitation of the existing economies of scale in all sectors through a single planning unit.
†
Kiraso added that the EAC political federation is not an event (with a timetable) but a process which calls for institutional development through development of policies, mechanisms and frameworks that lay the foundation for the ultimate stage of the EAC integration - the Political Federation. “That is why the Secretariat is working towards developing a regional framework on good governance, which encompasses four major pillars namely; Democratization processes; Justice and Rule of Law; Anti-corruption, Ethics and Integrity; and Human Rights and Social Justice”,