By Dorothy Nakaweesi
In Summary
Four years into the establishment of the East
African Common Market Protocol, its implementation is expected to be
close to the final stages, according to experts.
However, the process which is in its fourth year
of implementation, has suffered a slow pace of the amendment of laws,
rules, policies and procedures with just a year left to the intended
actualisation of a fully-fledged Common Market.
The Protocol that calls for free movement of
goods, labour, capital and services among East African Community (EAC)
member states, came into effect on July 1, 2010 and was meant to be
implemented over a five-year period.
According to the current status report on the
Common Market, partner states have undertaken numerous initiatives
through their relevant sectors and National Implementing Committees
(NICs) to implement the EAC Common Market Protocol.
One of the EAC principal planning officers, Mr
David Sajjabi, notes that there are three major challenges that are
slowing down the implementation of the Common Market.
One, member states are taking long to amend
national laws, Non-tariff Barriers (NTBs) are still a problem and there
are delays to ratify other Protocols that contribute to the
implementation of the EAC Common Market Protocol.
Laws
Uganda is said to be lagging behind on the implementation of laws that conform to the Common Market Protocol.
Uganda is said to be lagging behind on the implementation of laws that conform to the Common Market Protocol.
In an interview with Prosper magazine, on Uganda’s
status of compliance, the director EAC Affairs at Ministry of East
African Affairs (MEACA), Mr Lawrence Mujuni Mpitsi, said they are moving
fast on amending the laws and hopefully target to be compliant by
December this year.
He said MEACA will present the identified laws to other stakeholders in the relevant departments for debate on July 3.
“We have already identified more than 20 laws and
are working with the law reform commission. Hopefully, by December this
year we shall have amended them to suit the Common Market protocol,” Mr
Mpitsi said.
NTBs
The recurring NTBs make business costly in the region.
The recurring NTBs make business costly in the region.
“Partner states have maintained and in some cases,
introduced new NTBs that hinder the smooth movement of goods and
services in the region,” Mr Sajjabi mentioned.
The updated EAC Time Bound Programme shows that 24
NTBs were unresolved; three were reported as new, 61 were resolved and
eight new NTBs had been introduced.
The report shows that the five member-states
imposed NTBs with Uganda carrying the majority ranked at nine, Kenya and
Tanzania both imposed seven NTBs, Burundi imposed five, while Rwanda
had the least imposed NTBs ranked at four.
Expounding on the issue of NTBs, Mr Andrew Luzze,
the executive director of East African Business Council—a regional
private sector umbrella body, says: “Member countries need to establish
committees to address these NTBs and explain why they have been
introduced.
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