More EAC institutions but where is the cash?
What you need to know:
- The legislation will, among other things, see the creation of another institution under the EAC for surveillance, compliance and enforcement
Kigali. Declining budget for the East African Community (EAC) was in the spotlight again yesterday as the regional lawmakers finally passed a Bill on trade compliance.
The legislation will, among other things, see the creation of another institution under the regional body--the EAC Surveillance, Compliance and Enforcement Commission.
The MPs wondered as to where the EAC will get the needed finances by launching more institutions and projects without an alternative and sustainable financing mechanism.
Mr George Odongo, an East African Legislative Assembly (Eala) member from Uganda, decried decreasing funding of the EAC projects and programmes.
“You can’t run the EAC with a budget of less than $100 million without an alternative financing mechanism,” he told the House as the MPs debated the Bill.
The past six fiscal years have seen the EAC expenditure budget falling from $110.1 million in 2017/18 to $91.6 million during 2021/22, a whopping $20 million decline.
On the controversial Bill, which nearly divided the House down the middle, Mr Odongo charged that the MPs were not sufficiently consulted before it was tabled.
Ms Oda Gasinzigwa, an MP from Rwanda, cautioned the EAC not to be obsessed with creating institutions without first looking for funds to run them.
She said some institutions under the Community had been reduced to mere formality bodies under the EAC structure for shortage of funds to undertake their core duties.
She cited the Zanzibar-based East African Kiswahili Commission (EAKC) and the East African Competition Authority (EACA) as among institutions hard hit by scarcity of funds.
“Some of them are only paying salaries for no tangible work done,” she said, urging the EAC not to create a new body without a guarantee of resources for at least three years.
Other MPs said the current system of financing the organs and institutions of the Community as stipulated in the Treaty was not sustainable.
Mr Habib Mohamed Mnyaa (Tanzania) reiterated a call for an alternative financing mechanism as “urgently needed to finance the EAC activities, including establishment of new institutions”.
Debating the Bill before it was unanimously passed by the House, Mr James Kakooza (Uganda) called on the amendment of the EAC Budget Act in order to address the anomaly.
“Each bill has to be passed if its financial implications like the costs involved are well taken into account. Where will the resources to run them come from?” he demanded to know.
Nevertheless, he said the EAC Surveillance, Compliance and Enforcement Commission Bill, 2022 would boost the delayed implementation of the EA Monetary Union.
“Benefits will come out of compliance. East Africans are losing a lot of money through currency conversion at the borders,” he pointed out.
Reduced transaction costs will lead to increased cross border trade and elimination of intra-union exchange rate risk in trade and investments.
Eala Speaker Martin Ngoga admitted that the Bill passed yesterday was one of the most challenging proposed legislations for the 4th Assembly whose tenure ends on December 16, 2022.
The 4th Assembly, which was inaugurated on December 17, 2017. During the period, it has passed 23 bills for assent by the Heads of State and 53 technical reports.
