by leo odera omollo

A Strategy Retreat for Key Organs and Institutions of the East African Community was held in Kigali , Rwanda at the Serena Hotel on 9-10 February 2009. The Retreat, the first of its kind brought together the top leadership, Ministers, Permanent Secretaries, Heads and Senior Officials of Government, EAC Organs and Institutions; and representatives of the business community and civil society. The Retreat was convened by H.E. President Paul Kagame of Rwanda and Chairman of the Summit of Heads of State of the East African Community who officially opened the Retreat on 9 February.

The Retreat was held against the background of deepening EAC integration with the ongoing operation of the Customs Union, which was established in 2005, and the advanced progress towards the establishment of the Common Market, which is expected to be in place by January 2010. The EAC recognizes the need to constantly keep a step ahead in maintaining harmonious working relations among its organs and institutions to meet the new challenges and expectations of regional integration within the fast evolving world economic and social order.

Over 100 participants attended the Retreat, including Ministers, Members of the EAC Council of Ministers, the Speaker and Members of the East African Legislative Assembly, Judge President, Principal Judge, Registrar and Senior Officers of the East African Court of Justice; the Secretary General and Deputies Secretary General of the East African Community, Heads of the EAC Institutions ( Inter-University Council for East Africa, Lake Victoria Basin Commission, East African Development Bank, Lake Victoria Fisheries Organization and the Civil Aviation Safety and Security Oversight Agency) , Senior Government and EAC officials; representatives of the business community and civil society; and the Deputy Secretary General of the Commonwealth.

The Strategy Retreat with the theme “Collaborative Work Culture in the EAC organs and institutions for a Stronger East Africa”, focused on a review of the current operations of the EAC organs and institutions, sharing of views and insights on their effectiveness against their mandates under the EAC Treaty, which was signed in 1999; and drawing of lessons from other regional efforts in terms of collaborative work ethic among the EAC organs and institutions and between them and the Partner States.

President Kagame calls for unified, shared sense of purpose and commitment

In his Keynote Address to the Retreat, H.E. President Kagame said the vision of regional integration was a voluntary and dedicated political partnership based on pragmatic building blocks and time-bound milestones and targets. He said the organs and institutions of the Community should strive to improve their collaboration and strengthen their sense of shared purpose to perform better, individually and collectively, in order to realize the benefits of regional integration. He said that among the benefits of regional integration were larger markets, economies of scale, larger pools of human, financial, and physical capital. East Africa , he said, had the advantages of a rich legacy of socioeconomic, political and cultural interactions. He said these advantages should be consolidated by strong, first rate formal institutions embracing a learning attitude, continuously internalizing new knowledge, innovation and good practices to drive the East African integration process.

President Kagame said the EAC should build on the demonstrated strengths and successes of its established organs and institutions, seeking joint solutions to persistent challenges, and working closely with their multiple stakeholders and constituencies among the business community and civil society towards enhanced integration, removal of barriers to trade, increased investments promotion, movement of people, goods and labour, and bolstering employment opportunities.

He said the EAC organs and institutions , their leaders and staff – especially the Secretariat, the East African Legislative Assembly, and the East African Court of Justice – should adopt and operate with a broader regional viewpoint and ambition, projecting a truly East African character as opposed to being extensions of individual Partner States’ bureaucracies and vested interests. He said it was fundamental for the EAC to adopt a culture of self-assessment and stocktaking as the basis for investment in human capital, processes and systems for building assets, talents, and competencies required to drive the integration agenda effectively. He stressed the role of the private sector in the integration process stating that the EAC organs and institutions should adopt business friendly attitudes and practices – each providing its respective competency to promote wealth-creation and realization of a viable integration process based on a dynamic and well-functioning economic market.

Secretary General pitches for competitive regional economy

The Secretary General of the East African Community, Ambassador Juma Mwapachu said the Retreat offered a rare and unique opportunity to begin a crucial conversation on how best to forge coalitions of purpose that would galvanize efforts in promoting deeper EAC integration. He said the Retreat was being held at a time when the global financial and economic climate was at best gloomy and worrisome, challenging the regional integration framework to become, more than ever before, the bulwark in promoting greater competitiveness and shoring the economies of the region against the deleterious effects of a globalization that had turned awry. EAC needed to respond to these challenges of making the EAC national economies as well as the regional economy more vibrant and robust. He said the Retreat was driven by the notion that the transformation of EAC’s organizational work culture as well as the development of better clarified roles and relationships of and between EAC organs and institutions could leverage EAC’s performance leading to the realization of higher gains in the integration agenda.

Delegates offer candid reflection on EAC performance and need to step up collaborative commitment

Hon. Amason Kingi, Minister for East African Community, Kenya said it was a time to be open and candid in recognizing and accepting the challenges facing the Community and resolving to do something about it. He said it was becoming increasingly apparent that the EAC engine was not moving smoothly as it should, hence the convening of the Retreat to see where things were not going right and determining to remedy the situation. He said the founding fathers had intended the EAC organs and institutions to work together with the single and undivided purpose to midwife the integration process. He said EAC needed to come up with a culture of collaboration and team spirit to realize its goals for the benefit of the people of East Africa . The organs and institutions of the Community should project the face of the Community. They should see things as East Africans and not turn themselves into advocates or defenders of national interests at the expence of the greater regional interest. He said that from the top political and executive leadership of the EAC organs and institutions to the professional cadres and bureaucrats engaged in the EAC project, there was no option but to champion the EAC cause and realization of the Vision of the EAC Treaty through the stages of the Customs Union, already established, a Common Market, currently being negotiated, subsequently a Monetary Union and ultimately Political Federation.

Hon Mohammed Aboud, Deputy Minister for East African Co-operation, Tanzania observed that the financial crisis currently engulfing the developed countries would soon be felt in the East African region. With the decline of EAC’s traditional markets and the attendant reduced demand, retrenchment of direct foreign investments and tourist activity from the traditional sources, the pinch was slowly biting. This would further compound the global food and fuel crisis and galloping inflation recently experienced. The creeping world economic crisis would affect the implementation of critical regional projects such as infrastructure. He said the region faced a serious crisis and it was important to change the ways of doing things and take the necessary steps to mitigate the effects of the looming crisis.

The Vice Chairman of the East African Business Council Mr. Keli Kiilu said there was urgent need to involve the EABC deeper in the integration process as an organ or institution of the Community beyond the “Observer” status it has occupied since 1996 in the EAC. He said that the lesson from the current global financial crisis was to place the private sector at the forefront of the regional integration process. He said with the ongoing consolidation of the EAC Customs Union and the advanced process towards the establishment of the Common Market, the role of the private sector should become more pronounced and deeper entrenched. There should be more communications flow between the EAC and EABC and harmonization of their operations, work culture, ethics and vision of the EAC. He said EAC bureaucrats and senior officials of the Partner States assigned to the EAC project should be working in the Community, not to advance national interests but to promote the integration process. They should not be seen to be blocking the integration process but promoting integration. He said quite often decisions reached at the regional level were not communicated down to the operational levels and departments of the Partner States thus impinging on the progress of integration, in particular, he mentioned decisions concerning relaxation of border controls. Mr. Kiilu lamented the over-reliance on external investors at the expense of promotion of East African productivity, manufacturing and export. EAC, he said, should do more to promote local manufacture and investments to create export capacity as well as promote intra-regional trade by facilitating free movement of factors of production and , on the whole, reduce the costs of doing business in the region .

Conclusions and recommendations: towards a “new era” for EAC

At the conclusion of the Retreat, the delegates made far reaching observations and recommendations under what they dubbed the “Kigali Spirit” that would guide the operations of the EAC organs and institutions to a more rapidly achieving regional organization in the new era.

In their recommendations, the delegates emphasized the need for a re-affirmation of commitment to the spirit of regional integration requiring deliberate efforts by the EAC Partner States , organs and institutions as well as civil society and business community to prioritize the regional integration agenda within their respective national agendas.

The delegates called for a professional and ethical re-orientation of the EAC establishment to build an East African spirit among the staff of the East African Community. The delegates proposed the establishment of an EAC Public Service Commission, EAC Parliamentary Service Commission and EAC Judicial Service Commission. They proposed the introduction of standard terms of service for staff of all the organs and institutions of the Community and institution of a system of motivation and rigorous performance evaluation of staff on the basis of undivided loyalty to the Community and contribution to the realization of its vision and mission.

The delegates called for streamlining and strengthening of internal and external communications of the EAC to involve systematic, continuous consultations among the Heads of the organs and institutions of the Community and structured regular meetings to plan, review, monitor, and coordinate their programmes and exchange views on the implementation of the regional projects and programmes. They proposed the establishment of a strengthened central public information and communications office at the EAC Secretariat that would coordinate dynamic public information flow from the organs and institutions of the Community, utilizing advanced communication media, including print and electronic media and the Internet.

The delegates proposed measures to ensure effective implementation of EAC decisions and to this extent the need to set up regional mechanism for monitoring and evaluation of the implementation of EAC Council of Ministers decisions at the regional and national levels; monitoring and evaluation of implementation of EAC Acts passed by EALA at the national levels; and establishment of clear political leadership and responsibility for regional projects and programmes by clarifying the role of the Council of Ministers , including assigning specific portfolios to the Members of the EAC Council of Ministers.

On Budget issues, the delegates proposed urgent review from the current system whereby of equal contribution by Partner States and over-reliance on external funding of regional projects to a more sustainable and self reliant sourcing of funds for regional projects and programmes.

The delegates resolved to sustain the “Spirit of Kigali” and, to this extent, proposed that the EAC Strategy Retreat be institutionalized into an annual event and include holding of quarterly meetings of the Heads of EAC organs and institutions, biannual meetings of the Heads of the organs and institutions of the Community with the Chairperson of the Summit; and establishment of a Task Force to follow up the implementation of the recommendations of the Kigali Retreat. The full report and recommendations of the Kigali Retreat will be submitted to the Council of Ministers and Summit of Heads of State for consideration and decisions.

ends

leooderaomolo@yahoo.com

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Date: Mon, 16 Feb 2009 03:15:23 -0800 [02/16/2009 05:15:23 AM CST]
From: Leo Odera Omolo
Subject: SUMMIT CHAIR CONVENES HISTORIC MEETING TO USHER “NEW LOOK” EAC