Category Archives: East African Community News

AU Summit: Malawi Stands With Darfur Victims

From: Yona Maro

The Malawi government showed strong support for victims of international crimes by deciding not to be the host of the African Union (AU) summit if President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan is allowed to attend, African civil society organizations and international organizations with a presence in Africa said today.

The AU has insisted that al-Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity committed in Darfur, be permitted to attend the summit, scheduled for July 9 to 16, 2012.

“Malawian President Joyce Banda took a strong stance in support of justice despite tough pressure from the African Union,” said Undule Mwakasungula, director ofthe Malawi Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation. “Malawi has done right by Darfur victims today.”

When Banda became president in April, she indicated that Malawi would continue to host the AU summit as planned. But she also made clear that al-Bashir would not be welcome at the summit given his pending ICC arrest warrant.

Malawi is a state party to the Rome Statute, which created the ICC.The Rome Statute requires member states to cooperate with the court, which includes executing arrest warrants. The ICC has no police force and thus depends on member states to enforce its orders.

According to news reports, the AU wrote the Malawi government in June that it would move the July summit if al-Bashir were not welcomed. The AU previously has issued decisions that its members should not cooperate in the arrest of al-Bashir, but these do not negate the obligations of ICC member states to arrest, the organizations said. Malawi’s previous president, the late Bingu wa Mutharika, allowed al-Bashir to visit in October 2011.

“Malawi joins an increasing number of countries that have declined to welcome al-Bashir,” said Alan Wallis, international justice lawyer at the Southern Africa Litigation Centre. “More states should follow Malawi’s example.”

Some countries have allowed al-Bashir on their territory, such as Kenya, Chad, and Djibouti. Following outcries from African civil society groups, other states have cancelled visits, including Zambia, Central African Republic, Uganda, and Kenya for a return visit. In addition, countries such as South Africa and Botswana have made clear that al-Bashir is not welcome on their soil.

“Civil society groups across the African continent have repeatedly urged governments to arrest – not host – al-Bashir,” said Elise Keppler, senior international justice counsel at Human Rights Watch. “African activists have called for their governments to stand with victims, not with suspected war criminals.”

The organizations quoted in this news release are part of an informal network of African civil society organizations and international organizations with a presence in Africa who work on the ICC and Africa. Additional organizations that are involved in this informal network that expressed support for this release are the West African Bar Association in Nigeria, the Ugandan Coalition for the International Criminal Court, the International Commission of Jurists-Kenya, the Coalition for Justice and Accountability in Sierra Leone, the Center for Accountability and Rule of Law-Sierra Leone, the International Crime in Africa Programme of the Institute for Security Studies in South Africa, Amnesty International, the global Coalition for the International Criminal Court, and the International Center for Transitional Justice.

Malawi civil society organizations have indicated they will also issue a statement on Malawi’s decision not to be the host for the summit. A link to their statement will be added to the webpage version of this release once it is available.

Source : http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/06/08/au-summit-malawi-stands-darfur-victims

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EAC member states jointly sharing waters of lake Victoria are blamed for not policing bad fishing practices including the use of chemicals for killing fish in breeding grounds

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Writes Leo Odera Omolo In Kisumu City.

MEMBER states of the East African Community {EAC} would soon find it difficult to export their fish to the European Union nations unless they put in place joint effort to stamp out chemical fishing in Lake Victoria.

Kenya,Tanzania and Uganda shared the waters of Lake Victoria, However reports appearing in local press indicated there is alarming increase in cases where some unscrupulous fishermen are using chemicals fishing to boost their catches and other unconventional fishing methods, the use of unauthorized fishing gears such as the banned fish nets etc.

Countries that share Lake Victoria are also reported to be unwilling to invest money in joint campaign that would reduce overfishing and protect fish species threatened with extinction in lake despite the contribution these activities make to the economies of these countries.

Overfishing has led to the reduction of fish stocks in Uganda’s big natural water bodies, which contribute over 75 per cent of the total fish catch, thus threatening the country’s second biggest commodity export after coffee.

Fish prices have been on increase, but increment has not been reflected in earnings due to the reduction in the fish catch, which experts blame on dwindling stocks.

Information from Lake Victoria Fisheries Organization {LVFO} shows that Uganda,Tanzania and Kenya promised to contribute USD 600,000 each for the “Save he Nil Perch Fund”, but so far none has given a single penny.

The Nile Perch has, over the years, seen a reduction in it stocks and the money was meant to improve the stocks of this important fish in East Africa. The money was meant to increase to finance the capacity building of partner state institutions, research and combating of illegal fishing activities.

The highly prized Nile Perch is a key fish export for three countries and part of the money was meant to finance capacity building of partner state institutions, research and combating of illegal fishing nets.

The Executive Secretary of the LVFO Mr Dick Nyeko was quoted as having said that the institutions also suffers because states lack the willingness to pay their quotas to his organization. for example, he said, the financial year which is ending within a month time, but so far Uganda hasn’t paid its quota. Two months to the end of the financial year, official at the LVFO sat the organization is limping because it lacks money.

Uganda has paid 19 per cent of its USD 300,000 quota while Kenya gave only USD 200,000 which is 46 per cent of its quota, Tanzania has so far paid USD 247,136, which Is 15 per cent of its quota.

LVFO top official adds that without the threat of expulsion for failure to meet EAC obligations, ministries of agriculture in partner states receive the money and divert it to other remitting it to LVFO, Institutions fighting illegal fishing and for improvement of water quality are also grossly underfunded.

Uganda mostly depend on from EAC projects to safeguard Lake Victoria, with increasing agriculture agriculture in Kalangala Island, there is increased silting due to land recreation and fertilizers from a palm oil project running into Lake Sewage, processing industries and runoff from the surrounding towns is also threatening the lake.

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KENYA: WILLIAM RUTO’S URP EUPHORIC SUPPORT IN THE SOUTH RIFT REGION HAS SUFFERED MAJOR SET BACK FOLLOWING KALENJIN MPS SABOTAGING OF THEIR FELLOW KALENJINS NOMINEES TO THE REGIONAL LEGISLATIVE BODY {EALA}.

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Reports Leo Odera Omolo In Kericho Town.

The controversy surrounding last week’s nomination of nine Kenyans to represent the country to the East African Legislative Assembly{EALA}has created a new political dimension in the Kipsigis dominated South Rift region of the Rift Valley Province.

The Eldoret North MP William Ruto, the leader of the United Republican Party of Kenya {URP} has suffered a major political set back in presidential ambition by losing the populous Kisigis community in the South Rift.

Kipsigis a sub-tribe of the larger Kalenjin ethnic groups is arguably the most populous among the eleven or more sub-tribes that forms the larger Kalenjin.

The community is capable of turning out more than 1.5 million voters. The Kipsigis voters have the big and extended influence in the neighboring regions lie Kilgoris in Trans-Nzoia, Kuresoi, Molo, Rongai and Koibatek and Nandi South district.

It will vote for eleven members of parliament in the next general election within the two Counties of Kericho and Bomet.

The community supported the ODM in 2007 and voted for its presidential candidate Raila Odinga on a man-to-man.

The region then boost eight parliamentary constituencies covering Cheplungu, Bomet, Sotik, Buret,Belgut, Konoin, Ainamoi and Kipkellion. However, the region benefited by getting three new additional parliamentary constituencies following her splitting of Kipkelion, Belgut and Bomet by the Independent electoral and Boundary Commission {IEBC}. The three parliamentary constituencies were among he 80 additional seats, bringing the total number of MPs 290 instead of the previous 210.

In 2007 Zakayo K. Cheruiyot the former powerful Permanent Secretary in-charge of Internal Security and Provincial Administration under the retired President Daniel Arap Moi’s last KANU regime that los power to the combined opposition forces under the umbrella of NARC had won the Kuresoi seat. Kuresoi has also benefited from one additional seat in parliamentary constituency called Olenguruone.

Given the high number of Kipsigis people living in the diaspora, the Community is likely to increase its parliamentary strength from 9 MPs to a total of 14parliamentarian.There is also the likelihood that a member of the community could clinch the Kilgoris seat in the neighboring Trans-Mara district, which fall under the County of Narok.given the fact that the number of Kipsigis and other Kalenjin settlers have since outnumbered the indiginant Maasai residents.

The indications are all that William Ruto last week action in sabotaging the nomination of the influential members of the community to the important regional legislative body has betrayed his hitherto raising star in the South Rift region. He is now being treated as an enemy of the Kipsigis community.

Ruto and his political surrogates had sabotaged the nomination of Donald Ng’eny and Lt.Gen John Koech under the pretext of fighting the Prime Minister Raila Odinga. But the locals have since misinterpreted his actions to mean that he is trying to marginalize the Kipsigis in the same way and manner they community was marginalized by the retired President Daniel Arap Moi.

Political pundits in Kericho town and its environs were quick in pointing out that the last week’s controversy surrounding the nomination to the EALA, Ruto and his URP has virtually locked himself out of the Kipsigis region, something which could have adverse repercussion on his presidential bid.

On senior Kipsigis politician accused Ruto for having looked upon the Kipsigis as the backward people. William Kipkemoi Arap Kettienya, a prominent politician in Kipsigis and recalled that while William Ruto was serving in a very fertile Ministry of Agriculture. Despite having close to 28 parastatals and boar, he never appointed not even one Kipsigis as the board member.

It was only soon after the {Ruto} had been kicked out the Ministry when President Kibaki and the Prime Minister Raila Odinga appointed Dr. Sally Kosgey the new Minister when she promptly appointed the former Health Minister Paul Sang, the immediate former Buret MP as the chairman of the board of directors of the Nyayo Tea Zone.

Leaders in the South region are fondly remembering that a year ago, the same Kalenjin MPs allied to Ruto had ganged up and mounted a spirited opposition to William Kirwa whose name had been proposed by President Mwai Kibaki to the post of Director of Budget.

The same bunch of Kalenjin MPs allied Ruto supporters had also opposed the appointment of Dr P Rotich as the deputy Director of the defunct Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission on some flimsy grounds.

The last incident in which Ruto is alleged to have mobilized his URP supporters and had ganged up with some MP from Mount Kenya region to derail the nomination of three prominent Kipsigis to the EALA has hit the South Rift region like Tsunami.

An ODM supporter in Kericho Nicholas Tum described Ruto action a tragedy and hypocrites to the Kalenji community. It ha exposed the Kalenjin politician as cheap lots which could be bought and pushed around when handling matter of national importance. If they could deny a Kalenjin an opportunity to serve in such important regional legislative body like EALA, then Ruto and his friends have no business claiming to represent the view of the community, but their own self-interests”,said Tum who is an ODM nominated Councilor in the Kericho Municipality.

Tum urged the Kipsigis to remain steadfast in ODM and voted for the party massively .The community will be much safe under an ODM government led by Raila Odinga as the President. “Our people must guard against the politics of opportunism and those of deceit.

Meanwhile a campaign has been launched in the South Rift region where the residents have been told to boycott called and addressed by the so-called anti-Raila Odinga elements”, said Coun.Tum.

It would be n uphill task for anyone among the sitting MPs allied to William Ruto to retain their parliamentary seat come the next year’s poll, said Robert Koskei, a Bureti politician. These people have spent five years directing their energies fighting Raila Odinga at the behest of William Ruto, and yet the Prime Minister is not an issue no is he the enemy of the entire Kipsigis community.

Our people must keep away from parties that is preaching h balkanization of the communities such as Kamatus and Gema and join only those political parties with the national outlook and whose leaders are armed with attractive agendas and policy for he well being of Kenyans and not a section of the communities.”

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EAC is seeking the better way of funding its institutions independently

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Writes Leo Odera Omolo.

INFORMATION EMERGING FROM THE East African Community’s secretariat in Arusha says that the Secretary General Richard Sezibera is pushing forward for merger of the budget for all institutions attached to the EAC to help improve their funding.

Somme semi autonomous institutions like the Lake Victoria Fisheries Organization {LNVFO} and The Inter-University Council of East Africa{IUCEA] have been operating below budget due to a funding gap after partner states failed to meet their quotas for the financial year that ends this June.

Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda, which make up LVFO, have paid 27.6 per cent of the expected USD 837,258.33 while partner states have paid less than 40 per cent of the USD 800,000 they are supposed to pay to IUCEA.

The budgets of the two institutions will be merged with that of the EAC for the first time in the 2012 / 2013 financial year, but partner states will still pay their quotas to thee institutions independently.

Dr Sezibera who was on a visit to Uganda last week to inspect the projects of the Lake Victoria Basin Commission {LVBC} and LVFO however, said in future, the secretariat will have the powers to compel partner states to pay their quotas to all institutions of the EAC on time.”If the money is coming directly from the ministries of education and agriculture into the EAC, we have more leverage,”said Dr Sezibera during a brief address to newsmen at the end of his Ugandan tour.

The secretariat via instruction from the Council to the Summit, will force defaulting member countries to pay up, with help from their presidents.

The EAC secretariat is also seeking to strengthen IUCEA, which received the mandate of the in February to accredit universities in the region through the Inter University Council of East Africa Amendment Bill 2010.

The Secretary-General is also looking at increasing the mandate of the LVFO to cover all the waters of East Africa and for the region to have full control of the fish resources.

Expected Rwanda, Burundi membership.This process will start with the admission of Rwanda and Burundi into LVFO in July this year.

The coming financial year will also see EAC turn LVFO into an East African Fisheries Organization EALFO using a protocol or an East African Legislative Assembly Bill. The EALVFO will help seal loopholes in over-fishing which are exacerbated by having different administration units controlling different waters. EALVFO is also expected to improve the region’s capacity to effectively police its waters.

He went on,”As we address the issue of Somalia, the governments of East Africa have to ensure control of their waters,” Dr Sezibera said, adding that Somalia’s problems like piracy are a result of that country’s failure to control its territorial waters.

The EAC Chief Pointed out that illegal fishing of the Somali coast had denied local residents a key source of livelihood.

The Lake Fisheries Organization promotes the sustainable use of the water bodies resources.

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Multinational oil and gas exploration firms scramble for eight new offshore blocks in Kenya

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Writes Leo Odera Omolo

SEVERAL multinational oil exploration companies are expected to begin bidding for eight new offshore oil and gas exploration sites in Kenya I the coming weeks.

According to the reports appearing in the local media, this follows a move by the Ministry of Energy to publish an official gazette notice of eight new offshore sites.

While the government had indicated in March this year that it was marking out the eight blocks, delays in gazetting the sites meant the blocks could not be leased out.

The gazette notice brings the total number of exploration blocks in the country to a total of 46.Major natural gas finds in the past three years mainly in Tanzania and Mozambique have increased investors interest in Africa’s offshore blocks.

Meanwhile other report says that the Royal Dutch Shell has agreed to buy in cash-money, the exploration interests of London based Cove Energy Plc, East Africa for USD 1.8 billion.

The cash offer will enable Royal Dutch Shell to gain entry into the East African region, which is at the center of global interest due to the recent years.

“East Africa has seen a significant increase in exploration activity in recent years. Shell already has interests in Tanzania, and the acquisition of Cove would mark Shell entry into Kenya and Mozambique.

Shell’s latest offer is subject to receiving written consent from Mozambique’s mineral resources Minister. The Anglo-Dutch firm has a 50 per cent interest in offshore exploration areas five and six with a depth of 3,000 meters in Tanzania.

In February, Thailand state-owned PTT topped Exploration and Production {PTTEP} topped off Shell’s initial offer to buy Cover Energy, sparking a takeover battle for the acquisition of the London Stock Exchange listed company.

PTTEP announced it would offer USD 1.77 billion for Cove, which was a premium of some USD 200 million, to counter Shell’s earlier offer of USD 1.57 billion.

Cove Energy Plc has a 8.5 interest in Mozambique’s Ruvuma offshore area one; and a 10 per cent stake in Ruvuma offshore.

In Kenya, Cove Energy Plc has a 10 per cent in offshore area 1.5,10 per cent in 17;25 per cent in 1.10A;;15 per cent in1.10B and a 10 per cent in 1.11A.

“Shell will make an excellent partner in the Ruvuma liquefied natural gas project given its extensive project given its extensive project development experience,” said Cove’s executive chairman Michael Elaha.

In the case of the new scrambles for the new offshore blocks in Kenya experts believe there is a high probability of a gas find in Kenya because its coastline shares the same geological formation with some geological formation with some of the exploration blocks found in Tanzania.

Increased activity in the oil and gas exploration business is expected to come as good news to Kenya as the country seeks to reduce its fuel imports.

The firms are expected to negotiate with the government for rights to explore acreage in water depths of between 3,000 and 4,000 meters.

Interest in Kenya’s exploration blocks has raised since UK firm Tullow Oil announced the country’s first oil discovery in Turkana in March this year. The announcement resulted in firms listed on the New York and London stock exchanges such as Premier Oil and Apache Oil staking a claim in Kenya’s exploration business such as Cove Origin Oil, and Pan-continental heightened their exploration work.

Total France is said to be negotiating with the government for Production Sharing Contract for one of the new blocks 1.22 Apache Corporation. Exxon Mobil and Anadarko Petroleum Corporation of the United States, Royal Dutch Shell, Statoil of Norway and Petronas of Brazil are among firms interested in exploring the new sites.

Kenya’s Petroleum Commissioner Martin Heya said discussions with prospecting firms seeking to be awarded new acreage will be on a first come first-serve basis.”We want to award acreage to firms that have technical muscle has seen smaller players like Cove, Origin Oil and Pan-continental either exit the scene or remain with monitoring interests through buyouts.

Kenya’s Ministry of Energy in December 2011asked the Director of Survey to expedite the survey work of new offshore areas to facilitate the publication of sites and award acreage to prospecting firms.

Total wants the 1.22 acreage to increase its presence in Kenya. Last year, the firm announced its acquisition of 40 per cent interest in areas 1.5, L.7,1.11A, 111B and 1.22 subject to approval by Kenya authorities.

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East Africa: Experts predicts that the polluting industrial waste and water hyacinth weeds are killing Lake Victoria

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Reports Leo Odera Omolo

THE discharge of raw waste by manufacturing industries into Lake Victoria will soon kill it, experts have warned.

The Kenya Marine Fisheries Research Institute’s {Kemri} scientists said the quality of the Lake’s water has deteriorated because of pollution, which has caused the extinction of many species of indigenous of aqua inhabitants.

At the same time Marine transport in Lake Victoria has been hampered and paralyzed yet again due to re-emergence of the dreadful water hyacinth weeds,

The concerns comes barely a year after the Lake Victoria riparian states receive over USD 3.2 million {Kshs 266 million} for the cleaning up of the Lake under the second phase of the lake Victoria Environmental Management Program.

The project aims to reducing waste disposal from the lake by over 40 per cent. Kemri scientists have reported that there is little intervention on the control to the Lake, adding that it is a matter of time before it loses resilience to pollution.

A survey carried out in many hitherto popular fish landing beaches along the entire shorelines on the Kenya side of the Lake Victoria established that large vessels were now not able to dock safely at the various piers due to a thick carpet formed by the weed on the surface of the water.

Similarly, the boats were also unable to dock at the shoreline with most fishermen now shying from waterways for transport of goods.

Fishing is of course the mainstay of the economy of the communities living around the lake, employing a large number of youths and school leavers as well as those involve in fish trade.

The dreaded weeds has blocked the navigation not only of ships and steamers, but also the small home made fishing canoes and boats with outboard engines, which are in common use by the fishermen and fish traders.

Kemri’s Director William Ojwang’ was recent quoted as saying that the Lake is currently in a pathetic state and cannot support both Human ad aqua life with most of fish species under the threat of extinction as a result of pollution.

The popular fishing landing places like Dunga in the outskirt of Kisumu City, Karabondi and Kendu-Bay in Rachuoyo South,Kochia, Homa-Bay, Usawo, Malela, Luanda, Mbita, Utajo, Wanyama, Luanda ka-Olunga,Sihenga, Sindo, Nyamanga, Nyandiwa and other paces are blocked by water hyacinth.

The dreadful water hyacinth appeared to have covered the entire length of the shorelines on the Kenyan side of the Lake Victoria covering several administrative districts of Nyatike, Suba South, Suba North, Homa-Bay, Rachuonyo North, Nyakach, Nyando, Kisumu, Seme, Rarieda, Bondo Siaya and Busia.

Ferry operators led by Edward Odero have been wondering as to why the state had failed to contain the weed despite sufficient funds being set aside to manage it.

“We have repeated appealed to the government to find a quick way to eradicate the dangerous weed or else it will, scare away potential investors in the marine industry,” he added.

In the last one year, investment in Lake Victoria has witnessed tremendous growth with several local and foreign investors introduce big ships to accelerate shipment of large consignment.

Most traders prefer water transport, which is relatively much cheaper for delivery of goods with Tanzania and Uganda being the largest users of ships to transfer goods from Kisumu Port to Port Bell {Luzira} in Uganda and the Port of Mwanza and in the northwestern Tanzania.

Traders interviewed claimed it was taking more than three hours for the ships to dock. While ordinarily they are not supposed to take more than 30 minutes, now time has to be spared to clear the surface for the vessels to navigate their way to the shoreline. Kisumu Pier is virtually covered by hyacinth weeds.

On the other hand, fisheries experts say the numbers of fish stock have drastically reduced and very soon, the lake will just be a field of excursion without any benefit to those in the riparian as pollution forces its benefit out.” What we are calling tilapia is not the original tilapia species we know.

The original tilapia species is no longer found in the lake but in private ponds as a result of pollution fro the industries.

“We have suffered a great deal. We have had no camp here for more than day to allow the ship to dock and load our consignments. It is really frustrating, said one local trade Juma Ali in Kisumu.

The Kemri director urged authorities in the region to improve sanitation to contain diseases that afflict the more than 3.5 million people round Lake Victoria.”The lake is being choked by raw waste from the industry and unfortunately the local authorities around the lake have done little to reverse this trend. The lake is soon giving up and studies suggest that very few fish species are left under the water as some have been forced to extinction due to lack of fresh water,”said Ojwang’.

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Gadhafi’s massive business interests in East Africa likely to shrink as Kenya and Uganda are said to be demanding new deals

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Reports Leo Odera Omolo

REPORTS appearing in local newspapers in both Kenya and Uganda have hinted that Libyan interests in East Africa, which were brokered by the toppled and slain former Strongman Muamaor El Gadhafi continue to shrink as it emerges that Kenya, will be pressing for complete disengagement with the Tripoli’s business flagship Tamoil East Africa Ltd.

A crucial meeting is scheduled to be held in the Ugandan capital, Kampala later this weekend to review the propose Eldoret-Kampala pipeline.

Top industry players and Energy Ministry officials are reportedly wants the multimillion-dollar deal – the largest surviving project by a Libyan company in East Africa- terminated and the project floated afresh to attract new partners.

Launched in 2007,the project has suffered crippling delays, compounded by the insurrection that precipitated last year’s toppling of long-ruling dictator Colonel Muammor El Gadhafi.

Kenyan most influential weekly, the EASTAFRICAN, reported early this week that lately, Libya had launched a major diplomatic offensive, hoping to persuade authorities in Kenya and Uganda to revive the deal, claiming that Tamoil had already spent USD 15 million.

It is understood that the joint co-coordinating committee that has been overseeing the contract on behalf of the two governments is not persuaded by the claim by h Libyan that Tamoil has spent such a large amount of money on the project.

“Doubts have also emerged as to whether Tamoil – which is said to have suffered the loss of billions of dollars in assets due to persistent bombing by NATO forces during the insurrection-still, has the wherewithal to undertake this critical project, especially after Uganda reportedly demanded that the scope of the project be altered to cater for n additional line to pump future refined Ugandan oil to export markets through Kenya.” the paper says.

So far, the project has not moved beyond even the first stages following the signing of the agreement in January 2007

It was originally projected that Libyans would achieve financial closure in July 2007. However, closure was not achieved; the time lines have had to be extended several times with the project stagnating at the heads of agreement level for months.

Still, a great deal of preparatory work was done, including the signing of a formal agreement. An environmental Impact Assessment was also done and licenses fro NEMA, Kenya and NEMA

Uganda issued in 2008.

The NEMA Kenya license, which was valid for a 24 –month period expired on July 6,2010. And In May,Tamoil, submitted designs for a 10-inch diameter pipeline that were approved by the JCC in June 2008.

When Uganda, following discovery of significant quantities of oil and having decided to build an inland refinery insisted on a reverse flow pipeline, Tamoil presented other designs of a 12-inch diameter reverse flow pipeline recommending construction of a 12-inch diameter reverse flow pipeline.

By the beginning o this year, the way leave acquisition process, which was being undertaken by the governments in collaboration with Tamoil had been substantially completed.

In Kenya, the Ministry of Lands released the compensation schedules for parcels of land along the way leave of the pipeline. The submitted schedule contained about 2,107 formally and informally subdivided plots with n estimated total compensation cost of Kshs 520 million {USD6.27 million].The compensation details for 191 affected plots were, however, found to be missing from the report and the Minister was directed to complete the work.

Under the arrangement, the Kenya and Uganda governments were to acquire the way leave and other land rights as part of their equity injection in the joint venture company.

Payments to land owners whose compensation schedules have been released have not been done.

At a meting of the JCC in October 2010,it was agreed that the Libyan provide finance to pay of landowners.

The JCC also decided that the two governments would postpone any equity injection until after the Libyan had produced the money to fund land acquisition.

The shareholding by the two governments would be equivalent to the equity injection that would have been made at commissioning of the project up to 12.5 per cent for each government as per heads of agreement. As at now, the report went on, acquisition of land for permanent installation such as block valves station and pumping stations is still outstanding.

Kenya-Uganda pipeline extension project is jointly sponsored by the government of Kenya, through the Ministry of Energy and the government of Uganda through the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development.

The joint coordinating commission was set up through a memorandum, of understanding between the two governments in 1995 initially to oversee the feasibility study.

But the mandate of the JCC was expanded in October 2000 to allow the commission to oversee the implementation of the project. A feasibility study was done in 1999 by a firm called Penspen Limited, and complementary study was done two years later by Nexant Ltd. Both studies established that the uni-directional pipeline from Eldoret to Kampala was commercially viable.

The JCC considered and adopted the final report by Nexant Ltd and the two governments approved the construction of the pipeline as a public-private partnership.

Following international competitive bidding, the Libyan company was selected as the private- -partner, paving the way for the parties to sign the heads of agreement in January 2007.

However, the recent reported discovering of large quantities of oil deposits in the Northern Kenya County of Turkana could possibly change the speed of the work implementation and slacken the project.

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Tanzania: Nyerrere’s son is among the political heavyweights in the contest for EALA regional parliament seats

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Writes Leo Odera Omolo

The son of the Tanzania’s founding president Julius Kambarage Nyerere are among the political heavyweight whose names have been submitted to the Clerk to the National Assembly by the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi {CC for possible nomination to the East African Legislative Assembly {EALA}.

The nomination will take place in the political capital of Dodoma this after noon when Parliament resumed it sittings

The Clerk to the National Assembly Dr Thomas Kashilila confirmed last night that the CCM has proposed 24 names of candidates approved to contest the EALA eight seats positions apportioned to it, while the opposition parties represented in parliament have been allocated one seat bringing to nine ,the total number of equal East African Community partner states representation in the prestigious regional legislative body.

CCM ideology and publicity secretary Nap[e Nnanye confirmed that among CCM candidates are Makongoro Nyerere, the son of Tanzania founding president the late Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere who is the current CCM branch chairman in his North Mara region home turf.

Makongoro Nyerere’s entry into regional politics is expected by observers o rekindle Nyerere’s long cherished dream of a united and prosperous East Africa.

The election to the EALA has also aroused political interest because for the first time, it has attracted the sons of prominent former and sitting high profile ruling party CCM leaders.

Others names floated by the CCM for nomination included those of Abdallah Ali Mwinyi, sons of former president Ali Hassan Mwinyi, William John Malecela, son of the former Prime Minister and long serving Tanzanian Minister for Foreign Affairs John Malecela, and Dr Said Gharib Bilal, who is related to the incumbent Vice President Dr Mohamed Gharib Bilal.

Other CCM aspirants are Ruth Blasio Msafiri,Shy-Rose Bhanji, Siraju Juma Kaboyonga,Angela Juma Kazigha, and Adam Omar Kmbisa. The list also includes Happyness Lukiko, Norah Petero Mukumi, Simon Sales Berege,Mrisho Gambo, Handley Mpoki Matwega, Nussa Elias Mnyeti, Safia Ali Rjiali and Maryam Ussi Yahya.

Others listed in the same CCM lists of recommended aspirants includes Rukia Seif Msellem, Sabah Saleh Ali, Haji Mwita Haji, Ahmada Hamad Khatib,Abdul-Aziz Abdul Aziz and Bennard Simon Murunya, while the opposition CHADEMA has submitted one name of its nominated Antony Ecalit Komu.

Political pundits commented that “ It would be worrying if the ordinary candidates would outshone the sons of the political heavyweights in this race’ But international trade lawyer Edward Lekaita was quoted as saying that MPs should not look at big names, but instead pick EALA MPs based on merit.

“The election is not about CHADEMA or CCM candidates, but I is about getting serious country representatives o the ambitions of the EAC integration process,”

Meanwhile Kenya’s nomination of representatives to the EALA is will be a clear departure from the past when they were hand-picked by political parties.

Candidates seeking nomination to the Arusha based regional parliament will now be scrutinized by the Defense and Foreign Relations Committee before being vote for by MPs with the Clerk of the National Assembly acting as a returning officer.

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Deaths and injuries caused by unexploded World War 11 bombs left behind by British soldiers is a menace around Lake Victoria

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Reports Leo Odera Omolo.

SIXTY Seven years down the line ever since the Second World War Two ended in 1945 its effect and deaths are still being felt by resident of Suba region in Southern Nyanza.

Fishermen working along the shorelines of Lake Victoria have in the recent past fished out some the metal objects which some of the ignorantly took to their home a souvenirs, but which later turn out to be the most deadly and lethal explosives suspected to be part of unexploded bombs dumped in the lake waters and left behind by the British soldiers.

Towards the end of last year, an object fished out of the lake at Ngodhe Island , which is adjacent to Rusinga Island killed a fourteen year old teenager who touched the object.

Unexploded bombs dumped in the lake at the end of the Second World War 11 in 1945 have of late turned out to be the lethal weapons killing, maiming and injuring people stumbled onto them.

The recent series of bomb explosions cause by these unidentified metal objects fished out of the water have claimed lives of several people.

These series of incidents have forced the police chiefs in the region to issue stern warning to members of the public who tumbled on such objects to report to the police, who in turn would quickly summoned the experts to come and have them detonated.

The region’s police chief Cherono Gidhinji said on Monday that some people are keeping these bombs sin their homes as souvenir after fishing them out of the lake during their fishing expedition exposing their families to a great danger.

One man had ignorantly kept the bomb in his kitchen near fire.A number of people have sustained serious bodily injuries after the metals objects they picked along the shoreline of the like turned out to be explosives. The incident has been reported from other location bordering Lake Victoria and its suspected that the departing British soldiers might have dumped a lot of the explosives in the water.

Adult and children have been warned against picking any metal objects washed ashore either by fishermen or by waves as such objects could cause sudden death when they exploded.

Ends

EAST AFRICA: CRY FOR JUSTICE

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From: People For Peace
Colleagues Home & Abroad Regional News

BY FR JOACHIM OMOLO OUKO, AJ
NAIROBI-KENYA
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 14, 2012

Recently Uganda’s parliament established a committee to investigate security companies suspected of involvement in human trafficking of at least 600 Ugandan girls who have been forced into Malaysia’s sex trade in what has become a human trafficking epidemic, according to a foreign diplomat. The parliamentary committee report is expected by mid-March.

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Uganda is not alone in this epidemic. A recent Interpol report has also implicated some Tanzanians in human trafficking, a diabolical trade that mainly involves the selling of unsuspecting people, mostly children and young women, into slavery and servitude. It also involves immigrants.

Like Uganda, the Minister for Home Affairs, Mr Shamsi Vuai Nahodha, has formed a 19-strong committee which has been instructed to study the situation closely and advise the government on how best to confront the growing social menace.

In Tanzania the problem is already a serious matter. In the last three months 300 suspected traffickers (locals and foreigners) have been apprehended. Accusing fingers have also been pointed at unscrupulous immigration officers who collude with criminals in the heinous business at border crossings.

Illegal immigrants are shunted into Tanzania mainly through border posts in Arusha, Kilimanjaro, Mara and Kagera regions. Most of the people who are trafficked into Tanzania originate from Somalia and Ethiopia. Some claim to be in transit to South Africa.

In Kenya, it is estimated that more than 20,000 children are trafficked annually. Kenyan children are reportedly trafficked to South Africa, and there are reports of internal trafficking of children into involuntary servitude, including for work as street vendors, day labourers, and as prostitutes.

Kenya is at risk, not only for human trafficking but also hundreds of Kenyan youth who have been recruited into Al Shabaab over the last six years in a process that has complicated efforts to tackle extremism in the region.

Despite the call by Internal Security PS Francis Kimemia on recruits to turn themselves over to the government and request amnesty so that they could be put under a rehabilitation programme is not yielding any fruit-instead more young Kenyans have been converted into Islam and recruited including school children. “Idle, unemployed youth are at particular risk.

In Sierra Leone and Liberia, while the countries have some of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world, with 15-24 year olds, UNHCR reports that Liberia and Sierra Leone are a source, transit, and destination countries principally for young women and children subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically forced labor and forced prostitution.

Out of an estimated 600,000 to 800,000 people trafficked annually internationally according to AOL News network website, 70 per cent are women and 50 per cent children. The business generates about $32 billion profits annually and it is second to drug trafficking.

The website indicates that up to 1.2 million children are trafficked annually as sex slaves with United States alone recording up to 14, 000-17,000 human beings being trafficked into the country annually as Asia is leading with three human trafficking victims for every 1,000 people – three times the rates elsewhere. The victims, especially children end up as sex slaves in brothels and massage parlors.

The report found that girls as young as eight were selling sex for items such as food, beer, clothing, perfume or mobile phones. Others were reported as having sex with adults in return for good school grades, video screenings or rides in cars.

Pastors have also been implicated in human trafficking like a recent case in Gucha where a pastor was arrested for allegedly facilitating child trafficking of an 11-year-old girl from Tanzania. The child was reportedly trafficked from Ukeleni District, Tanzania into Kenya on August 30 last year and taken to the pastor’s home in Kenyenya District.

In 2004 Kenyan born United Kingdom based evangelical pastor Archbishop Gilbert Deya hit the news headlines. While claimed to be able to make postmenopausal or infertile women pregnant by exorcising their demons to beget children, some children’s charities said his actions were a front for baby trafficking to acquire wealth in God’s name.

The person behind the racket had been identifying childless mothers and arranging for them to acquire babies from pregnant mothers who do not want them according to the children’s officer. The UK, alongside other countries in Europe, is a major destination for Africans from a number of countries, including Kenya as trafficking of children is concerned.

Strip clubs are another growing concern, especially within Nairobi. Due to competition, an increasing number of restaurants are introducing strippers in order to gain clientele. Many of the girls are highly educated college graduates who turn to stripping for lack of employment. As a consequence, all across Nairobi will be found women renting expensive apartments, living big and buying the latest mobile phones.

Some of the massage parlours and strip clubs in Nairobi are providing women from as far as India, Phillippines, South America and Eastern Europe.

The Catholic Church has condemned human trafficking and has developed social service programs to serve and protect its survivors. During Vatican II the Catholic Church reaffirmed its historic concern about forced labor, stating that “slavery, prostitution, the selling of women and children and disgraceful working conditions where people are treated as instruments of gain rather than free and responsible persons” are “infamies” and “an affront to fundamental values…values rooted in the very nature of the human person”.

In the 2006 annual statement on Migration, entitled “Migrations: A Sign of the Times,” Pope Benedict XVI deplored the “trafficking of human beings — especially women – which flourishes where opportunities to improve their standard of living or even to survive are limited”. Similarly the Holy See’ emphasized related concerns in a recent address at the United Nations, stating, “(The treatment of woman), not as a human person with rights on an equal basis with others, but as an object to be exploited, very often underlies violence against women”… (a context in which) an increasing scourge is trafficking of women and girls, as well as various forms of prostitution.”

Pope John Paul II, in a letter on the occasion of the International Conference on “21st Century Slavery—the Human Rights Dimension to Trafficking in Human Beings,” stated that human trafficking “constitutes a shocking offense against human dignity and a grave violation of fundamental human rights. In particular, the sexual exploitation of women and children is a particularly repugnant aspect of this trade, and must be recognized as an intrinsic violation of human dignity and human rights.”

The Catholic bishops of the United States and Mexico have also spoken out on the issue, calling upon the governments of the United States and Mexico to work together to apprehend traffickers and destroy trafficking networks: “Both governments must vigilantly seek to end trafficking in human persons. Together, both governments should more effectively share information on trafficking operations and should engage in joint action to apprehend and prosecute traffickers.”

In Philippines for example, a serious trafficking problem of women and children illegally recruited into the tourist industry for sexual exploitation is a big concern. Destinations within the country are Metro Manila, Angels City,Olongapo City, towns in Bulacan, Batangas, Cebu City, Davao and Cagayan de Oro City and other sex tourist resorts such as Puerto Galero, which is notorious, Pagsanjan, Laguna, San Fernando Pampanga, and many beach resorts throughout the country.

The promise of recruiters offers women and children attractive jobs in the country or abroad, and instead they are coerced and forced and controlled into the sex industry for tourists. They go to the Middle East, South Africa, America, Korea, Japan, Europe, and North America. The mail-order bride business is another form of tourist destination trafficking. Fake marriages are a common form of trafficking with legitimate papers.

There are an estimated 60,000 children in tourist related prostitution, and this is increasing with the growth of poverty and the greater concentration of wealth in the hands of the few. The majority of tourist arrivals in the Philippines are single males, approximately 1.5 million annually.

People for Peace in Africa (PPA)
P O Box 14877
Nairobi
00800, Westlands
Kenya

Tel +254-7350-14559/+254-722-623-578
E-mail- ppa@africaonline.co.ke
omolo.ouko@gmail.com
Website: www.peopleforpeaceafrica.org

eac experts are meeting in Arusha to discuss the birth of the EAC single currency and regional monetary union

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Writes Leo Odera Omolo

REPRESENTATIVES of governments and stakeholders drawn from the financial five member states of the east African Community {EAC} financial sector are in attendance of the crucial meeting to review developments in the region’s financial markets as the deadline nears for the much awaited region’s’ single currency.

The meeting is taking pace at the EAC Secretariat, which is located in the Northern Tanzania City of Arusha.

It is discussing among other things the launching of the single currency, which is expected to in place by June this year.

“The participants discussed issues relate to the sustaining of the economic growth in the region, developments in the euro zone and lessons for the EAC as it negotiates protocol for a monetary union.”

A state issued by the EAC secretariat further disclosed that the meeting being held jointly with the International Monetary Fund {IMF}.

EAC countries are Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi. The five states have been discussing a single currency plan covering monetary policy harmonization and financial sector integration.

However, Rwanda is said to have indicted that t might not be part of the region’s single currency plan.

A senior Tanzanian government official recently hinted that the deadline for the East African countries to adopt a monetary union set for this year, might be extended, signaling the partner states unwillingness to embrace the monetary union in earnest

A senior Tanzanian official told one of the country’sdaily this week that sticking issues such as budgets, inflation rate, foreign exchange reserves, government debts and exchange rates among member countries must be observed before they commit to a single currency arrangement.

Dr Stergomena Tax Bamwenda, the Permanent Secretary in the Tanzanian Ministry of the East African Cooperation noted that the ongoing negotiations on the monetary union would consider all the factors, and if not met, the countries will not embrace a single currency this year as planned.

“We are still I the process. We can’t rush to introduce monetary union until those criterion are met, even as the deadline approaches, we will not rush,” she insisted.

Dr Bamwenda said EAC was also learning from other regional blocs like the euro zone on intricacies of the monetary union before ratifying the agreement.

The two days Arusha meeting comes amid growing regional trade crisis. Most of the region’s border posts are experiencing cargo backlogs, amid graft allegations.

The EAC Secretary General Dr Richard Sezibera says the Arusha conference would offer a unique opportunity to discuss how best the region should work to achieve vision of promoting a secure, competitive and prosperous East Africa.

The conference ends today was held under the theme,” The East African Community after 10 years; Deepening EAC Integration” also offer a platform to about 100 regional and international experts and policy makers to discuss EAC accomplishments since the year 2001.

Peaking at another forum late last year Dr.Sezibera expressed confidence that the EAC would introduce a single currency by Jun this year, making it the second regional bloc to adopt single currency after the European Union.

The bloc, Dr Sezibera said was halfway through the negotiation process, adding that the high level task force was doing all it could to accelerate the adoption of a monetary union.

Ends

EAC countries to lure their professionals with comfortable perks to stop the brain-drain

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Writes Leo Odera Omolo

BUSINESSES and governments in Eastern African region will continue to paying hefty perks to hire and retain key professionals, as scarcity of skills and strict entry conduct and regulations continued to have hurt labor movement, a new World Bank survey shows.

The findings run against expectation that the signing of the EAC Common Market Protocol- that should have seen thousands of skilled lawyers, engineers and accountants seek employment in the region would ease the talent war and slow down the compensation race in the East African Community labor market.

The survey shows foreign professionals constitute less than 10 per cent in any of the EAC countries, even as most of the nations suffer huge deficits. There is only relative abundance of professional in Kenya and scarcity in Rwanda, Zambia, Malawi, Uganda and Tanzania.

Although professionals in Eastern Africa receive low nominal wages relative to their counterparts in developing countries, once their wages are adjusted for purchasing power, professional in Uganda and Kenya are comparatively well paid reflecting the demand for their services.

However, in legal services the very high wage earned by professionals are not necessarily indicative of their scarcity ,but rather of the power of professional bodies which impose strict entry and conduct regulations says the report entitled,” De-fragmenting Africa; Deepening Regional Trade Integration in Goods and Services.”

“Regulations affecting operation of legal and engineering providers including restrictions on prices and fees, advertising, form of business and inter-professional cooperation, are particularly heavy when compared with those in emerging economies,” says the report just released.

It shows that the restrictions imposed on accounting firms are even more stringent, with branches of foreign firms being prohibited in Kenya, Uganda and even the more liberal Rwanda.

Kenya and Tanzania also prohibit ownership or control of foreign accounting and auditing firms by non-locally licensed professionals.

The lack of intra-East African foreign firms participation is because each member states of the EAC grants exclusive rights to contain professionals over certain activities, “said a Kenyan director of the EAC Economic Affairs Richard Sindiga.

The World Bank wants policy makers in Eastern Africa and the continent as a whole to do more to cut down the trade barriers within Africa or it will suffer on the on-going world economic recession.

“It is clear that Africa is not reaching its potential for regional trade, despite the fact that its benefits are enormous.”

Meanwhile tension is high in most of the border posts connecting Kenya and its neighboring Tanzania following the boycott by track drivers and other users of motor vehicle after Tanzanian authorities had unilaterally raised the border crossing fees to USD 200 {Kshs 16,000}

The issue had temporarily raised the political temperature of the region and caused a long pile up of vehicles at the border crossing points, mostly at Taveta, Namanga and Sirare.

It affected the vehicles plying the Voi-Taveta –Moshi route in the Coast Province, and also the Namanga border crossing, which is close to the Kenyan capital City of Nairobi and Sirare border post located in the far southern end of Nyanza Province.

Traders complained bitterly that the move by Tanzania was against the EAC Common Market Protocol signed last July to speed up free movement of goods and persons across the common borders of member states.

On Tuesday, however, an immigration officer working o the Kenyan side of the border at Taveta told he media hat the matter has been resolved after discussions with their Tanzanian counterparts and that its details would be announced soon. The Tanzanian officials, however, were tight lipped and maintain a total silent, only telling this writer to contact Dar Es Salaam for such comments.

Kenyan traders operating at the border post said many Tanzanian were operating their businesses on the Kenyan side of the border without work permit.

“We want to know why Kenyans who wants to do any business in Tanzania have to obtain permits, whereas traders fro Tanzania operates in Kenya freely without any interference”, said a Kenyan trader at Taveta.

Ends

EAC LEGISLATORS BEGIN ASSESSMENT OF LAKE VICTORIA SANITATION PROGRAMMES

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From: Yona Maro

East African Legislative Assembly, February 17, 2012: Phase two of the Lake Victoria Water and Sanitation (LVWATSAN) Programme comes under scrutiny next week as Members of EALA visit the lakeside city of Kisumu to undertake an on-spot assessment exercise. The tour forms part of the oversight function of EALA on the implementation of the various programmes and projects of the EAC.

The on-spot assessment of the second phase of the project is to be carried out by EALA’s Agriculture, Tourism and Natural Resources Committee and takes place on February 19-24, 2012. The assessment visit is called to appraise Members on the opportunities and challenges of the Lake Victoria Water and Sanitation Project. It further aims to collate information on facilities and infrastructure that are necessary for achieving the project objectives and to establish the impact of the water and sanitation Initiative on the communities around the region as a whole.

During the six day visit, the EALA Members shall also meet with key officials including paying a courtesy call on the Executive Secretary of Lake Victoria Basin Commission (LVBC) Dr. Canisius Kanangire. The delegation is also scheduled to meet with the Mayor of Kisumu, His Worship Sam Okello.

The Members will then visit the neighboring towns which are served by the Lake Victoria Water and Sanitation Initiative to appreciate how the project is serving all the neighboring municipalities. Kericho and Isebania are some of the towns that shall benefit from the visit before the delegation heads to Kampala, Uganda for series of meetings. Members are expected to meet with the Minister for Water and Environment.

The Members shall as part of the Uganda tour also visit Buwama, Kayabwe and Bukakata clusters and wind up their tour by travelling to Mayuge in the Eastern part of Uganda.

This is the second visit by the legislators to the region. It follows the visit in 2009 where an assessment of the implementation of LVEMP II, an EAC project based in LVBC was carried. At that point, Members agreed to return to assess the EAC Water Sanitation, Sewage Project.

According to analysts, rapid urbanization is placing an enormous burden on the secondary towns around Lake Victoria and its associated catchment areas in Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania. This is becoming a critical issue as all countries strive to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for water and sanitation. The formation of the East Africa Community (EAC)/ Lake Victoria Basin Commission (LVBC) gives a unique opportunity for these five countries to co-operate and share experiences as positive steps are taken towards extending access to safe water supplies, improved sanitation and hence improving the lake’s eco-system.

Lake Victoria Water and Sanitation initiative (LVWATSAN) is one of a number of important Programs which are targeted at the promotion of regional cooperation, partnership-building, institutional and capacity enhancement, and a sense of joint ownership of the resources of the lake basin, all of which are central to the over-arching goal of managing the lake basin as a regional public good.

Phase I of the LVWATSAN program focused on 10 towns within the original EAC partner states of Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania, with the support of UN-HABITAT. The ten secondary towns included: Kisii, Homa Bay and Bondo in Kenya, Nyendo/Ssenyange, Bugembe and Kyotera in Uganda, Bukoba, Bunda and Muleba in Tanzania, and the border town of Mutukula. With the Republic of Burundi and Rwanda joining of the EAC, the second phase was expanded to cover 15 towns, three from each of the five Partner States.

The activities of the Phase II Program are being undertaken in the following focal towns in the Partner States: Burundi: Ngozi, Muyinga and Kayanza; Kenya: Keroka, Kericho and Isebania; Rwanda: Kayonza, Nyagatare and Nyanza; Tanzania: Geita, Sengerema and Nansio and; in Uganda: Mayuge, Buwama-Kayabwe-Bukakata and Ntungamo. The investment plan preparation for the 15 secondary towns was supported by the African Water Facility (AWF) of the African Development Bank Group (AfDB), which has culminated in the support by Fund (AfDB) for the physical implementation of the second phase of LVWATSAN program. The Program that is expected to run up to 2015 is envisaged to be expanded to other towns in the basin in the subsequent phases.

From this assessment, the Committee will take stock of the observations and recommendations to report back to EALA.

ENDS

NOTES TO EDITORS

The overall goal and purpose of the Initiative is to meet the MDG targets in water and sanitation in the Program towns and to ensure the long term sustainability of the physical interventions.

The Initiative is seeking to demonstrate that the MDGs can be achieved in a relatively short time frame and that investments can be sustained over the long term by effectively integrating physical infrastructure works, training and capacity building into a balanced and cohesive Program of interventions. The Initiative seeks to develop the right balance between investments on water and sanitation infrastructure in the secondary towns and capacity-building at the local and regional level to sustain Program benefits. It uses a phased approach to implementation which focuses first on immediate interventions designed to deliver immediate results followed by long term interventions requiring larger investments.

The project has five main components that include: Water Supply, Sanitation, Solid Waste Management, Storm Water Drainage and capacity building and training.

For More Information, contact: Bobi Odiko, Senior Public Relations Officer; East African Legislative Assembly; Tel: +255-27-2508240 Cell: +255 787 870945, +254-733-718036; Email: bodiko@eachq.org Web: http://www.eala.org Arusha, Tanzania

—
Karibu Jukwaa la www.mwanabidii.com
Pata nafasi mpya za Kazi www.kazibongo.blogspot.com

EAC: Terrorism, piracy and rising crimes posing major threat to the East African region

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Writes Leo Odera Omolo

RISING insecurity tops the list of challenges to regional integration in 2012, the East African Community top officials have revealed.

The EAC region is currently under renewed pressure to deal with rising cases of piracy, cyber crime, terrorism, human trafficking and money laundering.

According to Ms Beatrice Kiraso, the EAC’s Deputy Secretary General in charge of political federation “These potential threats if not addressed could greatly undermine regional integration.

Speaking at the EAC secretariat in Arusha, Ms Kiraso cited abductions, illegal drug and arms trafficking as other serious crimes troubling the East African region. ”The threats have made it urgent for policy makers to implement the Protocol on Peace and Security, which lists about 20 goals for fostering regional peace and security.”

Meanwhile other reports appearing in local media indicated that Tanzania is hesitant to sign a protocol that is key to the East African Community integration, for the second time in as many months.

During the fourth joint meeting of the sectoral council on co-operation in defense, inter-state security and foreign policy co-ordination held in Arusha from January 16 to 19, Tanzania she said that the amendments it had proposed in November last year in Bujumbura had not been effected.

The report says,”Tanzania has always wanted a clear clause on what would happen in case a member state went to war and whether it would mean that he whole region was at war. In November during the heads of state summit in Burundi, Tanzania Minister for East African Community Affairs Samuel Sitta had put up a strong argument saying that his country was against a section in the protocol that required partner states to assist each other when at war.

The 13th Heads of State Summit held in Burundian capital, Bujumbura in November last year, which both Ugandan and Tanzanian heads of state had skipped approved the Protocol on Defense Co-operation subject to amendments of Article 17 to provide that partner states shall negotiate and conclude within one year, and opted for a Mutual Defense Pact awaiting consensus.

Kenya’s Assistant Minister for Internal Security Joshwa Orwa Ojode, who chaired the Arusha meeting last week, however, played own the Tanzanian concern, arguing that the failure to finalize the protocol was because the technical people had not finished their work.

At the same time Ms Kiraso insisted that the protocol would offer a range of interventions to help prevent and mitigate conflicts and threats.

Information emerging from Arusha says the draft Protocol was adopted by the EAC Council of Ministers a fortnight ago. The body then referred I to the sect oral council meeting for conclusion of policy guidance on counter terrorism, piracy, detention, custody and rehabilitation of offenders.

The policy, she contended, should enhance the exchange of criminal intelligence and other security information between partner states, enhance joint operations and patrols, install common communications facilities for border and interstate security, adopt the UN model law on mutual assistance on criminal matters, and implement the protocol on combating illicit drug trafficking.

The guide should also enable the exchange of training programs for security personnel, establish common mechanism for the management of refugees, formulate security measures to combat cattle rustling, and establish measures to combat proliferation of illicit small arms and light weapons.

It has revealed that even South China Sea now suffers the most attacks, piracy off the East African coast- much of it carried out from Somalia- comes in a close second, as indicated by the United Nation’s International Maritime Organization {IMO}.

The UN study recently made public further indicated that 629 people –most of them crew members- were taken hostage in 2010 a number higher than anywhere else.

On Earth Future Foundation, an American non-governmental organization, in a recent study on naval piracy, estimated that Somali pirates exhorted USD 415 million in ransom over the past two years.

Including the costs of higher insurance premiums, re-routing ships, anti-piracy security, and the total annual costs for regional economies may range from between USD 7 billion and USD 12 billion, the study finds.

There are always concerns that funds obtained through piracy may find their way to terrorist networks like Al-Shabaab. Frauds and cyber crime related cases are siphoning the EAC partner states of billions of dollars annually.

Ends

EAC Ministers to discuss master plan for energy and power supply in the region

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Reports Leo Odera Omolo

INFORMATION emerging from the Arusha based secretariat of the East African Community says Energy Ministers across East Africa are set to meet by the end of this month to discuss a regional master plan, seek to end the bloc’s crippling power shortage

The EAC secretariat is reported to be in the process of finalizing details of the meeting which s expected to attract executives from regulating authorities and private sectors power producers.

They will discuss regional priorities in terms of power generation and transmission in line with EAC power master plan and agree on fund raising initiatives,

The forthcoming gathering is also expected to develop a framework that will enable regional governments an the private sector to invest in energy generation projects.

The East African region is battling power shortage which in 2011 plunged the block into darkness, slowing business growth and hurting household. The power cuts signaled one of East Africa’s perennial problems; the bloc has never had enough power in the first lace. In Kenya for example, only 48 per cent of urban and 4 per cent rural households are connected to the national grid.

In the neighboring Tanzania, 12-hour began in June, when a drop in water levels in Mtera Dam in Iringa region forced Tanzania Electric Supply Company to resort to load shedding. Industries reported shrinking their work day from two to a single shift, and some suspending production.

It has been reported that the EAC Council Ministers had directed the secretariat to fast-track the establishment of the EAC power pool by June 2012, to enable power sharing within the region.

The EAC earmarked several priority projects that are critical for ensuring interconnectivity and for enhancing power generation. For example,Singida-Arusha Nairobi 400KV inter connector is expected to be complete by 2014

The EAC Secretary General Dr Richard Sezibera, says the feasibility study and preparation of tender documents for 400KV transmission line through Singida, Arusha and Nairobi will cost USD 3 million. Bujagali 250MW project is currently under the construction and the project is expected to be commissioned in the course of this year The cost of thus particular project is estimated at USD116 million.

The 220KV transmission between Uganda and Rwanda funded by AfDB will cost USD 57 million, according to the EAC’s CEO

Another 220KV transmission between Burundi and Rwanda will cost USD 20 million and it is expected to be completed by2014.

The Rusumo Nyakanz i220KV, Rusumo-Kigai 220KV interconnection and Rsumo-Bujumbura 220Kv interconnection should be complete by 2015.

The 2,100MW Stiengiers hydro-power is expected to materialize in 2017,while Kiwira Coal Plant in Tanzania with a capacity to generate 200MW will become operational in 2014

Rwanda peat power production is projected to generate 400MW by 2013, while Burundi will commence a peat power plant with 200 MW by 2015.

Ayago hydro power with a capacity to generate 600MW by 2018 and Rusumo hydro-power will generate 90MW by2016.

Ends

KENYA: UGANDA MPS WANT THE CREATION OF EAC MONETARY UNION DELAYED UNTIL AFTER ALL FUNDAMENTAL ISSUES ARE CLEARED

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Reports Leo Odera Omolo

NEWS emerging from the Ugandan capital, Kampala says Uganda MPs have taken a firm stand and now want East African Community {EAC] partner states to halt the issue of monetary union until “tricky” fundamental issues in the EAC treaty are sorted out first.

The MPs noted that it was useless to fast track the issue of monetary union when the customs union and common market protocols that were passed still have loopholes.

“Some of the principles in the treaty are confusing. We should not rush the issue of monetary union yet other issues like movement of labour and capital are still questionable,” said Betty Ochan (Gulu).

Ochan highlighted contentious principles such as principles of variables, subsidiarity, asymmetry and sovereignty as confusing.

“There is a general lack of sensitization among MPs regarding integration issues. Before we rush things, we need to know where we are heading too,” said Ann Rose Okullu (Bukedea) the chairperson of the EAC Parliamentary Forum.

The group of over 20 MPs were meeting at a Southern and Eastern Africa Trade Initiative and Negotiation Institute (SEATINI) workshop on strengthening the role of MPs in regional integration held in Kampala on Thursday.

Akol said rushing to have a monetary union when some partner states still feared to lose out on their sovereignty is a sham. “How do we deal with issues of imbalanced economic development and land first?” she asked.

Lydia Wanyoto (EALA) said: “Authorities in the partner states have failed to implement the central customs unions that are in the treaty. The challenges are horrendous already due to entry of new states. These are the issues that must be resolved first.”

Jacqueline Amongin (Ngora) noted that when partner states such as Rwanda were still taking Ugandans entering Rwanda as spies, it is pointless to have a monetary union.

Milton Muwuma (Kigulu South) said issues of restricted entry of members of partner states into other states should be ironed out before monetary issues are thought off.

The SEATINI chairperson Prof. Ndebesa Mwambutsya said East African partner states should think and plan regionally and embark sorting issues that are delaying the fast tracking of the customs Union and common market.

Ndebesa said the EAC states should learn from the economic crisis hitting some EU countries before embarking on the monetary and political federation.

“Instead of forming the monetary union that has proved inefficient in the EU, the EAC states should first get grip of the customs union and common market that would provide a right direction on how to undertake other economic issues,” said Prof Ndebesa.

The structural problems that hit some EU countries caused the financial crisis; the imbalances which made some of them running massive trade surpluses like China, Germany, Japan and to a lesser extent the big oil exporters of Russia and Saudi Arabia and some running huge trade deficits like Greece and Italy.

The situation forced investors to remain on edge as eurozone governments struggle to raise funds and given signs that banks are refraining from lending, causing market liquidity to seize up.

The Commissioner Economic Affairs in the Ministry of East African Affairs, Rashid Kibowa said the East African Community Secretariat had launched a series of consultations in the Partner States on the establishment of the East African Monetary Union (EAMU).

“If the partner states don’t unite and harmonize issues, EAC is likely to miss fire,” said Kibowa.

Following the establishment of the EAC Customs Union in 2005, and the ongoing finalization of the negotiations of the establishment of the East African Common Market in January 2010, the next major stage in the East African integration process is the Monetary Union.

The EAC Heads of State have directed that the East African Monetary Union be in place by 2012.

The consultations on the monetary union targeted a broad spectrum of stakeholders such as the National Central Banks (NCBs); Ministries of Finance, EAC Affairs, Planning, Trade, Industry; Capital Markets Authorities; Bureaus of Statistics; Bankers Associations; Academia; Parliamentarians; the Private Sector and the Civil Society.

Ends

EAC: Is the EAC heading for another collapse as Tanzania skipped its key meeting in the last couple of weeks?

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News Analysis By Leo Odera Omolo In Kisumu City

THE events of the last two weeks are pointing to the direction that all are not well in the otherwise highly vibrant regional economic bloc that groups together five Eastern African nations.

The skipping of the important East African Community {EAC} by Tanzania in the last two weeks has sparked off speculations and fears about its commitments to the regional economic bloc.

Reports emerging from the Burundian capital, Bujumbura are painting a gloomy future of the EAC, which groups together Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi with potentiality and prospects of the newest African nation of Southern Sudan joining the EAC quite soon,

Tanzania’s absence forced the alteration of an important report prepared earlier by the Council of Ministers before its adoption by the Heads of State summit.

Though Dar’s representatives in the technical discussions and Council of Ministers meetings, it failed to attend the signing of a report fast-tracking the regional political federation that was presented to the Heads of State.

President Yoweri Museven of Uganda missed for the first time this major political forum of this magnitude, while President Paul Kagame of Rwanda, the next door has missed the three consecutive meetings of the EAC and all these are sending out the signals of discontent within the bloc.

The first EAC collapsed in 1971 following the bloody military coup staged by Idi Amin Dada against the civilian government headed by Dr.Apollo Milton Obote. This followed sharp ideological differences between Kenya’s founding President the late Mzee Jomo Kenyatta and President Julius Kambarage Nyerere and also the insistence by the Tanzanian leader that he could not sit on the same table with unelected ruler of Uganda.

The collapse was later followed by the daunting task f sub-division of the failed community’s assets which were shared by the three countries running into billion of dollars. The assets, included key government institutions such as the defunct East African Railways and Harbors, the East African Posts and Telecommunications, East African Airways just to mention a few leading to its thousands of workers being declared redundant/

Tanzania representatives were further conspicuously absent from the high profile seminar for Members of Parliaments from the five national assemblies and East African Legislative Assembly {EALA} that was attended by at least eight Speakers of parliament from the region and other regional blocs.

Zanzibar House of Representative Speaker Pandu Amein Kificho who had been invited as the Isles National Assembly representative arrived late for the function and stated his case by saying that the process of integration should be democratic and anchored in the quality of member states for political federation to succeed.

Tanzania also sent its Vice President Mohamed Mohamed Ghalib Bilal who represented President Jakaya Kikwete at the Heads of State Summit where President Paul Kagame of Rwanda, which is the next door was also absent. Rwanda sent its Prime Minister Pierre Damien Huburumurenyi the summit which witnessed the taking over of the EAC chair by President Mwai Kibaki o Kenya from President Pierre Nkurunziza of Burundi.

This was the first major international held in Burundi a country which I still struggling from persistent internal ethnic armed conflict.

During the conference Tanzania flatly rejec6tedthe experts report on” concerns, fears and challenges” facing the East African Community political federation, especially the inclusion of land, transformation of the EAC secretariat into a Commission with more biting teeth and a protocol on co-operation in security and defense matters.

Information emerging from impeccable sources have it that reluctance and unwillingness of Tanzania to be dragged into what it termed as “unnecessary wars perhaps was the main reason for Dar’s initially declined to sign a document recommending for the establishment of a joint regional defense protocol.

The same source further disclosed that Tanzania is worried by the history some of the East African Community member states have of being embroiled in conventional wars, even sometimes o the basis of their leaders’ personal differences.

It says that the feeling among Tanzanians was revealed by its Minister for the East African Community Affairs Samuel Sitta when he was recently quoted by the media as having remarked “Why should you help your neighbor when he is the aggressor?

The Minister said his country is against a section and clause in the protocol that requires partner states to assist each other when it at war.

The other reason was that Tanzania itself was involve in similar and arrangement with the Southern African Development Community {SADC},which could clash with the East African Community protocol.

A defense protocol would give legal teeth to regional co-operation in case one of the members is involved in a war with a non-EAC member because member countries would be obliged to assist.

Tanzania, however, finally signed the report last week after its complaints were addressed by the Heads of State Summit in Bujumbura.

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EAC, Sudan, Kenya, ICC: The ongoing diplomatic row between Nairbi and Khartoum may jeopardize Sudan application for its entry into the East African Community

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News Analysis By Leo Odera Omolo.

The on-going diplomatic row between Nairobi and Khartoum could adversely affect the possibility of Sudan application for its entry into membership of the East African Community ahead of the Southern Sudan.

Fears persist among African diplomats in Nairobi that Sudan’s application to join the regional economic bloc might not see the light of the day when the extraordinary 19th Summit of the Heads of State of the East African Community slated to start in Bujumbura, Burundi tomorrow.

President Mwai Kibaki of Kenya is slated to assume the EAC chairmanship from its outgoing chairman President Pierre Nkurunziza who relinquishes his responsibility after two years in the helm of the top job.

The EAC summit comes in the backdrop of the seriously thawed diplomatic relations between Kenyan and Sudan over the controversial High Court Judgment delivered in Nairobi by a Kenya judge Justice Nicholas Ombija, who issued a warrant of arrest against the Sudan President Omar El Bashir who is wanted by the International Court of Criminal Justice at The Hague to answer the criminal charges of violation of human rights and murder.

The ICC claims that Al Bashir waged a campaign of murder, rape, pillage and deportation in Darfur. The Court says Sudan Armed Forces {SAF} had committed the alleged criminal offences.

THE Sudanese government has since then played down the important of the ICC warrant of arrest issued against Al Bashir a couple of years ago.

When informed of the warrant of arrest, the Sudanese President was quoted as having retorted; “Let them go and dip the indictment in a can of water and drink it. “He angrily said this following the first indictment and vowed never to surrender any Sudanese to the ICC touching off a diplomatic crisis with Western nations that urged him to surrender. Instead Al Bashir’s co-suspects were promoted and assigned new duties with one being made the Governor of South Kordofan region, the only oil rich part of Sudan where a new insurgency has emerged.

On haring about the Nairobi’s High Court decision, Khartoum reacted angrily and gave Kenya’s Ambassador to that country 72 hours to leave and t the same time recalled home its envoy to Kenya.

The Kenya government, however, remained calm and instructed the Attorney General Prof Githu Muigai to lodge an appeal with the Supreme Court against the High Court ruling.

Since the ICC warrant was issued three years ago, President Omar Al Bashir has defiantly travelled abroad and to several parts of Africa, but carefully avoided the visit to any of the Western nations, which are the lading signatories to the Rome Statue which created the ICC. He has visited the Peoples Republic of China, Ethiopia, Uganda and even he was in Nairobi last August. The majority members of the African Union, even those countries which are signatories to the Rome Statue supports Al Bashir.The AU itself at one time passed a resolution to this effect.,

But now the possibility of Sudan joins the EAC as new member still hands in balance following the ongoing diplomatic row that has erupted between Khartoum and Nairobi ahead of the bloc’s Head of State meeting in Burundi which kicks off tomorrow.

A report emerging from Bujumbura says the signs of diplomatic show down during the Council of Ministers meeting on Tuesday this week. Some of the Minister openly opposed Sudan’s inclusion ahead of its neighbor the Southern Sudan’s application for the same.

Among the Ministers who openly expressed their opposition to the move was Eriya Kategaya, the Ugandan Minister for the East African Community Affairs and also the Deputy Prime Minister.

He was quoted as saying, “ It would be wrong to admit a country whose political leadership is under scrutiny for the gross violation of human rights.”

“Sudan does not share border with any member of the EAC partner states. It would therefore be wrong to admit it before that of the Southern Sudan.”If you look at several issues like their democracy, the way they beat up women and their religious and politics we feel they don’t qualify.”

The seriousness of the issue was underline when President Kibaki few minutes after arrival in Bujumbura went straight into serious briefing meetings with Kenyan Minister for the East African Community Affairs Musa Sirma his counterpart the Minister for Foreign Affairs Moses Wetangula and the Attorney general of Kenya Prof. Githu Muigai.

Prof Muigai and Minister Sirma were expected late this afternoon to continue briefing the Kenya n President who resume the EAC chair tomorrow. Top on the agenda of the deliberations are issues such as the question of Southern Sudan admission to the EAC.

Briefing the press last week, the Secretary-0General of the EAC Dr. Richard Sezibera disclosed that President Omar Al Bashir wrote a letter to President Pierre Nkurunziza last June apply for the admission of his country to the EAC while the Southern Sudan application came early this month. But there are all signs that most delegates favored the Southern Sudan application which is likely to sail through during discussion at the summit.

With President Kibaki assuming the chairmanship of the EAC tomorrow, the chances of Khartoum joining the bloc during this time of serious diplomatic thaw with Kenya is rather remote.

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Kenya Scores diplomatic double against Al-Shabaan terrorists in Somali as it secured approval and support of two key important regional bodies

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Writes Leo Odera Omolo

KENYA has scored doubles by winning the support of two key regional bodies for its military operations in Somalia to flush out the Islamist terrorist Al-Shabaab militants.

It secured the backing and approval if the Intergovernmental Agency on Development {IGAD}, a regional organization which groups Kenya, Uganda, Sudan, Ethiopia, Southern Sudan, Djibouti and now the suspended Eritrea.

Nairobi has also won the support and approval of the five-nation member countries of the East African Community {EAC}. The community groups together Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi.

The EAC is schedule to hold its extraordinary meeting of the Council of Ministers and Heads of State Summit in Bujumbura Burundi next Wednesday and top on the agenda for discussion will feature he war in Somalia.

Already the EAC Secretary General Dr. Richard Sezibera from Rwanda has hinted the community support from Kenya. Individual member states have also expressed their support for Kenya, and most important of all being the neighboring Uganda and Burundi which have contributed close to 9,000 troops serving in the AU peacekeepers under the unified force called AMISOM.

An urgently convened summit of the regional presidents held in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa at the weekend unanimously endorsed Kenya’s military operation in Somalia code named “Operation Linda Nchi”.

The IGAD leaders pitched for regional solidarity and enhanced coordination between Kenya Defense Forces, AMISOM and TFG to defeat Al-Shabaab and restore stability I the Horn of Africa’s devastated country.

The regional leaders who in attendance at the Summit chaired by the Ethiopia Prime Minister Meles Zenawi were Presidents Mwai Kibaki of Kenya, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia, President Ismael Omar Gulled of Djibouti and President Shariff Sheikh Ahmed for Somalia.

In a final communiqué released to the media after the 19th extraordinary IGAD Summit, the regional leaders stressed the need for the organization and the African Union {AU}to galvanize international support for the onion g military operation. The Summit further called on the Transitional Government of Somalia and endorsement of national security to expedite the finalization and endorsement of national security and stability process.

The summit expressed concern that Kenya carried the heaviest refugee burden and called on the international community to develop modalities for burden sharing.

The Summit further urged humanitarian agencies to relocate to the secure parts of Somalia to stem the influx of refugee into the neighboring countries, and further called o the UN Security Council t revise its resolution 2020 extending for 12 months authorization for countries cooperating with TFG to use necessary means to combat piracy and armed robbery.

At the same time the Secretary General of the East African Community Dr Richard Sezibera in a statement issued in Bujumbura, Burundi where the Council of Ministers of the bloc are meting together with the members of the East African Legislative Assembly a head of the Summit slated for next Wednesday, said that the partner states f the EAC were clear on their support for Kenya’s military operation “Linda Inchi” meant t flush out the al-qaeda backed Al-Shabaab terrorists in Somalia.

“Somali will be to on the agenda of the Council of Ministers and Heads of State Summit slate for next Wednesday, will seek to provide a long lasting solution on the Somalia conflict.”.

On the possibility of the entry of Southern Sudan into the EAC, Dr Sezibera said the lingering state f insecurity in Africa’s youngest nation should be n obstacle.

He made these remarks on sideline of the 24th ordinary meeting of the Council of Ministers. He said Southern Sudan is just coming of conflict and there are residual problems with countries emerging from conflicts. ”We have Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi. EAC has lots of wisdom borne out of experience with which it can assist South Sudan become stable.”

On recent ban by Tanzania on maize exports to Kenya, the Secretary General said the issue had already been resolved. “Tanzania has lifted the ban on maize exports to Kenya while Kenya on its part is working to do the same.

“The East African Community Customs

In the battle front, Kenya has so far lost ten men with one missing in action an the Al-Shabaab appeared to have resorted not to challenge the mighty Kenya military forces on conventional war, but have resorted to urban guerrilla tactics which is similar to the fashion used by Vietnamese during the Indochina War of 1960s of hitting enemy target in strategic places behind the line. It has strike once in Garrisa Town near the Kenya Somali border when its agent attacked a police station killing one police man and escaped with his G3 rifle and by waylaying land mines on strategic roots aimed t Kenya’s military vehicles movements.

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EAC: Burundi head of state calls for the speeding up of the regional Customs Union

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Writes Leo Oera Omolo

The outgoing chairman of the Summit of the East African Community, President Pierre Nkurunziza of Burundi has called the member countries to speed up the establishment and signing of the regional Customs Union.

President Nkurunziza who will be relinquishing is position as the Summit of the EAC chair next week at the next Summit scheduled on November 30 in Bujumbura said Non Tariffs Barrier{NTBs} have not only inhibited development and raised the cost of dong business, they have also acted as impediment to the Customs Union and Common Market Protocol.

President Mwai Kibaki of Kenya is expected to resume the chair of the Summit of the EAC next week during the next Summit slated for Bujumbura on November 30,2011.

President Nkurunziza asked members of the East African Legislative Assembly who are currently meeting in Bujumbura ahead of the next week’s Summit to scale monitoring so as to tackle the issue of the Customs authority.

Establishment of a regional Customs Union is part of the Customs Union, which became fully fledged on January last year, after five-year transition period.

A single regional Customs Authority would mean that customs revenues are collected at the first point of entry, and imported goods proceed to the final destination without stopping at national border points for customs charges or inspection.

President Nkurunziza further called for the speedy implementation of decisions of the EAC Council of Ministers, and implementation of the Protocol and commitments agreed on by partner states in order to ensure the benefits of the regional integration are felt by all.

“It is imperative, therefore that this Legislative Assembly and the Council of Ministers to collaborate more mechanisms to initiate laws that enforce the expeditious implementation of Customs Union and the Common Market Protocol so that East African citizens can reap benefits

Accruing from them,” the Burundi leader said.

Nkurunziza spoke during the Second of the Fifth Session of the East African Legislative Assembly meeting held at the Congress Palace, in Bujumbura.

The Legislative arm of the East African Community, which started its sittings last week has lined up a series of Bills that will be debated over the next two weeks, among them the second and third reading of the controversial EAC Polythene Materials Control Bill.

Various motions, reports and resolutions deepening and widening the integration agenda are also on the agenda, and will be adopted at the two weeks plenary, according to information emerging from the EAC secretariat in Arusha.

Early this month two senior Kenya government officials were reported to have clashed as they debated whether Kenya should ban use of polythene materials.

Industrialization Permanent Secretary Dr Karanja Kibicho and the Permanent Secretary to the EAC David Nalo had presented differing views during public hearing of the Polythene Materials Control Bill.

The mover of the Polythene Material Control Bill {PMCB} Patricia Hajabakiga argued the Bill is about managing waste not controlling production of polythene materials. But Dr Kibicho said although the Bill means well, it might lead to closure of many firms if it is passed as a law.

On his part, Nalo said the Bill is not about plastics, which most of the manufacturers in Kenya are involved in, but rather the menace caused by polythene on the environment.

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Category Archives: East African Community News

AU Summit: Malawi Stands With Darfur Victims

EAC member states jointly sharing waters of lake Victoria are blamed for not policing bad fishing practices including the use of chemicals for killing fish in breeding grounds

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East Africa: Experts predicts that the polluting industrial waste and water hyacinth weeds are killing Lake Victoria

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EAST AFRICA: CRY FOR JUSTICE

eac experts are meeting in Arusha to discuss the birth of the EAC single currency and regional monetary union

EAC countries to lure their professionals with comfortable perks to stop the brain-drain

EAC LEGISLATORS BEGIN ASSESSMENT OF LAKE VICTORIA SANITATION PROGRAMMES

EAC: Terrorism, piracy and rising crimes posing major threat to the East African region

EAC Ministers to discuss master plan for energy and power supply in the region

KENYA: UGANDA MPS WANT THE CREATION OF EAC MONETARY UNION DELAYED UNTIL AFTER ALL FUNDAMENTAL ISSUES ARE CLEARED

EAC: Is the EAC heading for another collapse as Tanzania skipped its key meeting in the last couple of weeks?

EAC, Sudan, Kenya, ICC: The ongoing diplomatic row between Nairbi and Khartoum may jeopardize Sudan application for its entry into the East African Community

Kenya Scores diplomatic double against Al-Shabaan terrorists in Somali as it secured approval and support of two key important regional bodies

EAC: Burundi head of state calls for the speeding up of the regional Customs Union