EAC stalled budget finally sails through

After deliberations lasting only about an hour, the estimates sailed through after some internal reallocations. 

It was at 3:54 pm that the House Speaker Joseph Ntakarutimana said that the final reconsideration of the matter was over.

With the passing of the EAC Appropriation Bill, 2023, opens the door for implementation of the $103.8 million budget for 2023/24. 

“I want to declare that the Report of the Committee of the whole House be adopted,” he implored the MPs.

Visibly relieved, the Speaker congratulated the ministers holding the EAC docket in the partner states for their tireless efforts to have the budget implemented since June.

“We come from far away. We have reached the end. I declare Eala to reconsider the EAC Appropriation Bill, 2023, in line with the rules of procedure,” he stated.

Kennedy Mukulia, the Eala Chairperson of the General Purpose Committee (GPC), said some internal reallocations were made before the estimates were tabled for reconsideration.

According to him, some vote reallocations that had been allocated to some EAC organs and institutions in June were reallocated to the EAC secretariat.

Eala Clerk Alex Obatre Lumumba told The Citizen at the weekend that he was sure the estimates would sail through after the MPs had harmonised their positions with the ministers.

Failure to implement the EAC annual budget has been partly attributed to what was seen as inconsistency with the EAC Treaty, which remains binding in the Community operations.

Some of the reallocations made by the MPs to the budget estimates approved in June were criticised as having not been aligned to the EAC and Eala laws and regulations as well as the finance rules.

Two of the seven EAC partner states, Tanzania and the DR Congo (DRC), refused to assent to the estimates passed in June on grounds that they were inconsistent with the budget ceiling.

Although the Council of Ministers, the powerful organ of the Community, earlier approved $103 million for 2023/24 estimates, Eala is alleged to have later made some questionable alterations.

One of the irregularities cited by Tanzania was a variation of $576,891 in favour of Eala accounts against what had earlier been budgeted for the secretariat.

Other EAC organs and institutions affected by the variations transfer of funds from their votes - under both bills (EAC Appropriation Bill, 2023) and EAC Supplementary Bill, 2023), include the East African Court of Justice.

Others are Lake Victoria Basin Commission (LVBC) and the East African Community Competition Authority (EACA), the newest of a dozen institutions of the EAC.

Such reallocations among the votes as pointed out by the Council of Ministers and Tanzania and DRC Congo had been heavily criticised in that Eala may have overstepped its mandate.

The matter was first raised by the former minister for Foreign and East African Cooperation Dr Stergomena Tax in a letter to Eala Clerk on July 22nd.

She alleged that Tanzania would not assent the budget because it was inconsistent with the budget ceilings that had earlier been approved by the EAC Council of Ministers.

January Makamba, who took over the portfolio a short while later, implored on the EAC partner states to resolve the matter “in the interests of the community."

However, the minister was categorical that the budget alterations made by Eala when the estimates were tabled and passed in June should be rectified.

“The root cause of the crisis is clear to everybody in the EAC. But more of us should be involved to find the way out of the logjam,” he pointed out.

Mr Makamba, whose appointment on August 30th made him an ex-officio member of Eala, insisted, however, that the EAC budget lines were strictly adhered to.

He said Tanzania communicated its objection to the estimates through a letter to Eala by his predecessor because of some contested estimates.

Specifically, this revolved on some $500,000 which was reportedly taken from the EAC secretariat vote and transferred to Eala without the approval of the Council of Ministers.

“We will get to Eala to return the $500,000 to the secretariat and other monies that could have been allocated to other EAC bodies. Let’s get out of this logjam,” the minister told a virtual session of the House.