The East African Community (EAC) is, at last, seeing light at the end of the tunnel after a long era of gender angst. But achieving gender equality will be an uphill task as old habits die hard. However, a recent endorsement of the Gender Equality and Development Bill, 2016 by the East African Legislative Assembly last week to improve the rights of women and girls is encouraging. We urge EAC heads of state to assent to the document for the bloc to reach gender equality, protection and development. The envisaged law stipulates the right of a child to quality education and can address other issues such as land rights, marginalised groups and gender-based violence. Indeed, forced marriage has been the nemesis of girls, condemning them to illiteracy, poverty and servitude. Teenage marriage and female genital mutilation are not only anachronistic, but also used as tools of female subjugation. That runs counter Article 6 of the EAC Treaty, which strongly opposes discrimination against any person on grounds of sex or gender. EAC governments will have to review marriage and inheritance pieces of legislation that are repressive to women and increase their representation in decision-making bodies. Last year, Tanzania's High Court ruled that sections 13 and 17 of the Law of Marriage Act, 1971, which allow a girl aged below 18, to marry were unconstitutional. That came after Children's Rights Organisation director Rebecca Gyumi filed a petition to strike out all provisions in the Law of Marriage Act, 1971, which allow a...

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania (Xinhua) -- Tanzanian President John Magufuli on Thursday appealed to the United Nations to continue its support in bringing about peace and political stability in Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo). Magufuli made the appeal to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres when he made a stopover on his way from Kenya to New York, the headquarters of the UN. The president said the recent instability in the two countries has created refugees’ influx in Tanzania and its neighbors, calling for the need to restore political stability. The message to the UN chief was delivered by the east African nation’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Augustine Mahiga. Mahiga said as the chair the East African Community (EAC), Tanzania was hopeful with the progress made in the mediation process in Burundi under the leadership of President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda and facilitated by former Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa. Mahiga also told Guterres that the forthcoming EAC Summit was expected to receive a progress report on the mediation process. With regards to the DR Congo, Mahiga revealed that the Southern African Development Community (SADC) was intending to include the agenda of political transition in DR Congo, whereby SADC member states were expecting positive deliberations. Tanzania is the current chair of the SADC organ of political, defense and security with the mandate to support the achievement and maintenance of peace and security as well as the rule of law in the SADC region. For his part, Guterres praised Tanzania...

The recent scramble for the partition of the nine slots allotted to Uganda in the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA), has stirred concern among ordinary Ugandans. During the elections this month, the exercise became rowdy as MPs from the government nearly exchanged blows with their counterparts in the Opposition on the floor of Parliament. The scuffle started when Ingrid Turinawe, a candidate from the Opposition Forum for Democratic (Change) walked to the podium to solicit for votes in Parliament. But as she began to address the MPs, majority of the ruling party legislators opposed to her candidature stood up in protest and started shouting at her, paralyzing the Parliamentary proceedings. In the end FDC, which fronted two candidates, scoped no seat while smaller parties like the Democratic Party (DP) and Uganda People’s Congress (UPC) posted a representative each. But the chaos that ensured in the house has left ordinary Ugandans wondering whether EAC is a job basket for politicians or is intended to benefit the common person. Each newly elected MP in EALA will receive at least $14,000 (Ugsh50m) in monthly salaries beginning July. At the signing of the treaty that established the community in 2000, the ordinary East African had been promised to benefit from the reunion. But so far EAC has remained majorly a “platform” for Presidents and regional Members of Parliament who receive huge salaries. “That’s why in Uganda the elections for the members of the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) make little sense to the ordinary...

The East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) is consulting internally on how to proceed after business leaders requested for more time to allow for further consultations on the EAC Polythene Materials Control Bill, 2016, The New Times has learnt. The Bill was recently re-introduced for the second time during the August 2016 sitting in Arusha, Tanzania, by MP Patricia Hajabakiga (Rwanda) after it failed to be approved at the Heads of State summit in 2013. The Bill aims at providing a legal framework for the preservation of a clean and healthy environment through the prohibition of manufacturing, sale, importation and use of polythene materials in the East African Community (EAC). Ever since its reintroduction, businesses voiced concerns and they reiterated their call for more consultations during a dinner hosted by the East African Business Council (EABC) in Kigali on Tuesday. The EABC executive director, Lilian Awinja, said the Bill is a good initiative but since they have received concerns from members of the regional business community, the Assembly ought to consider allowing more time for “sufficient consultations.” “We kindly request that you allow us to undertake thorough private sector consultations and give input to EALA before the passing of this Bill,” Awinja told EALA Speaker Daniel Kidega and other lawmakers. The EABC has already officially written to the Speaker– and it will most likely take the Assembly to make a decision. During the dinner, Rwandan businessman Denis Karera, who is also the EABC Vice Chairperson, told lawmakers that the “sensitive Bill”...

The East African Legislative Assembly (EALA), on International Women’s Day yesterday, passed the East African Community (EAC) Gender Equality, Equity and Development Bill, 2016 after a lengthy debate. The Bill, moved by MP Nancy Abisai (Kenya), makes provision for gender equality, equity, protection and development in the Community and, after enactment, shall now await assent by the EAC Heads of State. “The Heads of State should assent to the Bill and pave way for its implementation. My hope is that once enacted, partner states will take it seriously,” Lilian Awinja, executive director of the East African Business Council (EABC) told The New Times. “The next partner state to appoint an EAC Secretariat General should appoint a woman in that office.” The Bill contends that whereas the partner states recognise the importance of gender equality and have developed programmes and enacted legislation in this pursuit, these efforts are at different levels and contain differences particular to each partner state. As a result, gender initiatives affect women, men and children differently across the Community. The passing of the Bill follows successful second and third readings after presentation of the Report of the Committee on General Purpose on public consultations held in the partner states. The committee chairperson, MP Odette Nyiramilimo (Rwanda), earlier told the Assembly that stakeholders in Kenya welcomed the Bill, saying it would give effect to the EAC Treaty and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. In Uganda, she said, stakeholders called for broadening of the terms with...

The value of inter-regional trade among East African Community (EAC) member states has reduced to Sh523.5 billion in 2015. EAC, Labour and Social Protection Cabinet secretary Phyllis Kandie said the value stood at Sh595.4 billion in 2013. She attributed the decline to weak capacity within individual EAC partner states to resolve most of the Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs). The CS said this in a speech read by the principal secretary, Betty Maina at the launch of the Regional Market Scorecard 2016. “The scorecard points to the existence and emergence of several NTBs within the partner states, and the slow pace at which their elimination was being executed, subsequently undermining intra-EAC trade,” Kandie said. The scorecard facilitates implementation of the Common Market provisions while at the same time identifying obstacles and recommending interventions to mitigate barriers. She said non-recognition of EAC Certificates by member states was a protectionist approach that denied the business community access to the EAC market. The Scorecard 2016, launched in Kampala, shows that Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi still run their trade as separate and distinct markets, keeping their economies small and disconnected due to several bottlenecks in regulations. This, she said, was fuelled by failures of individual states to lift legal barriers, for example, refusal to recognise business certificates from other EAC members and double taxation. EAC presidents have signed a treaty that gives EAC countries freedom of movement of goods, labour, services, and capital. The protocol was signed on November 20, 2009 and came into...

The East African Community’s (EAC) push towards establish a common market is under jeopardy as partners states continue to impose restrictive trade terms. This has seen the value of trade diminish in the last three  years, with the Kenyan government raising concern over introduction of protectionist laws that threaten full market integration. East African Community and Labor Cabinet Secretary, Phyllis Kandie said on Tuesday the latest trend is denying the business community prospect of an enlarged EAC market. She made the remarks during the launch of the East African Community scorecard whose aim is to facilitate implementation of the provisions of the Common Market while at the same time identifying obstacles and recommending interventions to mitigate barriers to the implementation processes. The EAC common market protocol has been in place since 2010 with the aim of deepening regional trade. However, the five member states have appeared to read from different scripts in the recent past casting doubts over the strength of regional unity. Trade within the EAC, Ms Kandie said, had been on a steady decline from Sh593.6 billion in 2013 to Sh522 billion as of 2015. The East African community secretariat has launched a common market integration scorecard aimed at identifying areas holding back creation of a strong regional market. The World Bank’s Trade and Competitiveness Manager for East Africa Catherine Masinde said the emergence of new restrictive measures in free movement of goods, capital and people, contradict earlier progress and erasing earlier gains already recorded. “Attracting investment requires...

The East African Legislative Assembly (Eala) sits in Rwanda this week for its second meeting this year. The meeting started yesterday in Kigali and comes barely a month after the one held in Kampala, Uganda. It is worth noting that the Kigali sessions have coincided with the release of the East African Common Market Scorecard 2016. The document, whose findings representatives to the regional body are likely to find troubling, was released in Dar es Salaam last Wednesday. It paints a worrying picture of the commitment of the governments of Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda and Burundi in moving the key protocol forward. It is important to note that the report is a review of the progress made so far in entrenching the Common Market agreement, a year after it came into effect. Findings show that the EAC is still synonymous with trade restrictions. All countries are said to be dragging their feet in meeting agreements in the free movement of goods, services, people and capital. Even more worrying is the fact that Tanzania and Kenya, the two leading economies, were found to have introduced new barriers to trade, reversing significant progress that helped move the countries forward towards becoming a truly integrated market of more than 120 million people. These countries still treat people from elsewhere within the bloc as foreigners, while some bar residents from investing in capital markets within their jurisdiction. Regional investors seeking to open shop in either of the markets have found restrictions and hurdles that...

To develop effective trade patterns, Africa must embrace structural and regulatory reforms and enhance financial integration to accelerate efforts that have led to increased exchanges with emerging countries in the rest of the world and between its own countries and regions. African countries must foster macro-economic stability and improve the investment environment to strengthen the role of pan-African banks in facilitating trade finance and boosting capital markets. Success in stimulating trade and growth depends on the policy and investment climate, depth of financial integration and commitment to reform. Africa’s trade with the rest of the world has remained high, except with the United States. From 2000 to 2008, Africa’s trade increased by an annual average of 16%. Because of the 2008-9 global financial crisis, trade fell sharply by 24% from that period. Since 2010, Africa’s exports have recovered, growing by an annual average of 8,5%. Trade with the United States has persistently declined, however. In 2015, trade with the United States fell to $70,5 billion from a peak of $ 124,6 billion in 2011, an 11% decline. Historically, oil, gas and petroleum products have dominated US imports from sub-Saharan Africa. In 2007, these accounted for 93% of US imports. By 2013 the figure had declined to 67% as the United States stepped up its campaign for energy self-sufficiency and increased production of domestically produced oil to avoid imports. Africa’s exports to emerging economies are dominated by China and mainly comprise oil, metals and other primary products. This exposes the continent...

The East African Community has developed a new scorecard to monitor progress and address challenges facing integration of the five-nation bloc. Launched on Monday, the EAC Common Market Scorecard 2016 will focus on the progress made towards the implementation of free movement of goods, capital and services, and identifies a number of barriers to intra-regional trade. It further recommends a raft of measures for individual partner states meant to promote regional prosperity. This is likely to boost the seven year-old East Africa Common Market under the EAC Treaty, whose implementation has been slowed down by noncommittal member states and non-tariff barriers. The World Bank and Trade Mark East Africa supported initiative follows up on the first scorecard developed in 2014. It focuses on monitoring and stimulating implementation of the freedoms and rights enshrined in the EAC Common Market Protocol. They include free movement of goods, persons and Labour. It also paves the way for the right of establishment, residence, free movement of services and free movement of capital. East African Community and Labour Cabinet Secretary Phyllis Kandie expressed concern over the steady decline in intra EAC trade, whose value dropped to $5.1 billion (Sh523.5billion) in 2015, from $5.6 billion (Sh574.8 billion) in 2014 and $5.8 billion (Sh595.4billion) in 2013. She attributed the decline to “weak capacity within individual EAC partner states to resolve most of the non tariff barriers”. Kenya’s EAC Integration Principal Secretary Betty Maina called for renewed efforts in promoting intra-EAC trade. The region has a market of...