Sitta: Our people come first

Minister for East Africa Community (EAC), Samwel Sitta (R), speaks during meet the press at MAELEZO auditorium in dar es Salaam yesetrday. With him is the deputy permanent secretary to the ministry, Amatius msore.

Tanzania yesterday declared it was working to safeguard the interests of its people, and that won’t be cowed by other East African Community member states forming the so-called coalition of the willing.

 

As other member states work to fast-track quite a number of issues, Tanzania remains committed to the wishes of its citizens, a stand which other states interpret as reluctance to move along the integration process.

 

“Sometimes we may be seen as dragging our feet … it is because we are serving the interests of the public,” said Samwel Sitta, the Minister for East Africa Cooperation.

 

The minister made the in Dar es Salaam yesterday, saying that the term ‘coalition of the willing’ simply means other countries are not willing to cooperate with the group, which is not true.

 

He said the so-called ‘coalition of the willing’ had been pushing for certain conditions that may not be good for Tanzania and its citizens.

 

“Tanzania cannot act under pressure from any other EAC member state … the government wants every decision on regional integration to be people centered,” he stressed.

 

Speaking to journalists during a routine ministerial briefing on what the government was doing, the minister said there have been a lot of misconceptions in the coalition of the willing. 

 

He said while the EAC treaty allows two or more member countries to have collaboration on issues of common interest, it does not allow them to go against fundamental principles.

 

Sitta said Tanzania also initiated talks with neighbouring Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) with a view to establishing economic and trade relations, based on what the three had in common. 

 

He said economically, it was sensible to work with DRC because the country held immense economic potential in the region, and there were now plans to construct a railway line linking Tanzania to DRC.

 

The minister says the only problem is that the three countries forming the coalition were tackling issues as cooperation and working on agreements, quite similar to what EAC does.

 

The minister faulted other moves proposed by the coalition, citing the ongoing push to have a single tourist visa, which those behind the move claim will enhance tourist flow in the region, arguing that Tanzania may not get anything out of it.

 

Mr Sitta said Tanzania, home to many tourist sites,  may not earn anything out of such arrangement because most tourists will come through Kenya, pay their visa fees there, and then visit the other countries virtually free of charge.

 

Experts from Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda met in Kigali in September last year to advance discussions on how to implement a directive from their heads of state to have a single tourist visa available from 2014.

 

This came after the EAC council of ministers officially sought clarification on why the three countries had been running a parallel integration agenda that sidelined the other two partners.

 

But the “coalition of the willing” went a step further in its Mombasa meeting just months after, seeking to ‘fast track’ political federation.

 

According to reports, another summit will be held in Kigali to review what the panel of experts had agreed on before implementing visa and ID travel arrangements.

 

One of the things agreed on the single tourist visa was that the cost of $100 for a document covering all three countries would be shared equally, with each country being allocated $30 while the first entry point country would get a further $10 in what is termed as administrative costs.

 

Using identity cards

The tripartite meeting discussed the implementation of the proposed single visa and use of identity cards as travel documents within the three countries, among others.

 

But the minister faulted use of IDs instead of passports, saying: “It would be difficult to control and trace entry of people in the country, posing a security threat too.”

 

He said Tanzania which has the biggest land mass in the region, would probably be home to many immigrants.

 

On security issues, the minister noted that using IDs would not be applicable because there are countries whose citizens cannot easily get into Tanzania.

 

He said, for instance, that Tanzania had key differences with Somalia, whose citizens could not just come into the country without thorough scrutiny, which isn’t applicable in other countries within the region. 

 

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN