New era dawns in East Africa

MARC NKWAME in Arusha

THE Chairman of the East African Community (EAC), President John Magufuli (third left), leads the 17th Ordinary Summit of Heads of State of the Community in Arusha yesterday. Others are from left; Burundi Second Vice-President Joseph Butore, Uganda President Yoweri Museveni, Rwanda President Paul Kagame, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, Zanzibar President Ali Mohamed Shein and EAC Secretary General, Dr Richard Sezibera. (Photo by State House)

FRESH from being reappointed Chairman of the East African Community (EAC) Heads of State Summit, President John Magufuli started his task by breathing fire over the regional economic grouping’s secretariat choice of venue for the 17th Ordinary Summit.

The host president and current Chair of EAC observed that the conference hall at Ngurdoto Mountain Lodge in Meru District, where the EAC secretariat decided to hold the summit’s meeting was too expensive, the space too constrained while the hall proved to be ‘too hot’ even for the presidents themselves.

“The cost per head for sitting here is 45 US dollars while if the same meeting had been held at the Arusha International Conference Centre (AICC), it would cost us 30 US dollars per head.

Imagine how much would have been saved if we had used the state-owned facilities at the AICC,” he wondered. According to him, “cost saving should be top priority in the Community.

People at the Secretariat must always remember that East Africans are poor and that their leaders cannot afford lavish lifestyles’’. He added: “It is rather very unfortunate for you that I have once more been chosen to head the Community.

I will be following you very closely”. He cited an example of how much school desks or medical facilities could have been saved by using cheaper, yet better venues. Owned by Impala Group of Hotels, the Ngurdoto Mountain Lodge, located nearly 30 kilometres from this city, has always been a favourite meeting venue among conference organisers despite the fact that converging there also raises the issue of transport logistics involved in ferrying participants from Arusha to the venue and back.

AICC, owned by the government through the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, East Africa, Regional and International Cooperation, has various meeting rooms, including the large Simba Plenary Hall, which by itself has the capacity to sit over 1,000 delegates. In his closing remarks, Dr Magufuli also called on other member states to be tolerant and calm in building a unified EAC.

He insisted that each and every member states had its own problems, “which should not be an excuse for them not to pursue development goals’’. Earlier, President Magufuli told local and international communities that the situation in Burundi was still a matter of great concern to the region, giving an assurance, however, that all efforts are being made to ensure that peace is regained there.

In his opening speech, Dr Magufuli lauded the mediator of the crisis, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, saying that the ongoing peace efforts will soon bear fruits. He called upon all parties involved as well as the governments of East Africa to render all possible assistance and support to such effort.

“We as heads of state have appointed former Tanzanian President, Mr Benjamin William Mkapa, to be the facilitator of the ongoing Burundi peace negotiations to speed up the process,” announced President Magufuli.

The president also used the occasion to congratulate President Pierre Nkurunziza for his victory during last year’s elections in Burundi as he toasted President Museveni for winning last month’s polls in Uganda, further lauding President Paul Kagame of Rwanda for overseeing successful constitutional referendum in his country.

“We in Tanzania, will still work close with our EAC partners to ensure that our regional integration is realised for the benefit of people of East Africa,” said President Magufuli, pointing out that in the same spirit, it was high time the regional ‘lingua franca’ Kiswahili does not only become an official language but is vigorously promoted internationally.

The speech by Dr Magufuli was an indirect response to the concern raised here by a number of civil society organisations, institutions operating in Bujumbura and a number of other international organisations that the Summit had snubbed Burundi in its agenda.

Over 1,000 people have been killed and 250,000 others fleeing Burundi following the violence that erupted in the country in the wake of last year’s elections. Meanwhile, South Sudan is officially the new and 6th EAC member, Dr Magufuli announced here.

The Tanzanian president, who was nominated again to lead the EAC for another year, declared during the 17th Heads of State Summit here that the five presidents had unanimously agreed to welcome the new member into the bloc after going through all recommendations from experts.

South Sudan Vice-President James Wani Igga responded triumphantly to the decision, describing the gesture as historical and heartwarming.

“Our inclusion in the EAC is about history – past, present and future. Our forefathers aspire to join the community more than 50 years ago,’’ he said adding: “Regarding the conflict that had been taking toll in South Sudan, let me assure you that it is about to end, thanks to the support from our East African neighbours, especially Tanzania, through its ruling party, Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM”.

The admission of South- Sudan to the Arusha pivoted Community now paves way for its neighbour, further north in Khartoum, to also be considered to become the seventh member of the Community, which was revived in 1999. It was actually North Sudan, headquartered at Khartoum, which was first to apply to be allowed to join the Community.

However, its request was put on hold as for a country to be a member of the EAC, it must share a common border with any of the initial five partner states.

South Sudan, which borders the two EAC member states; Kenya and Uganda in the South, apparently stood in-between Khartoum, but now having become member, it is possible for North Sudan to re-apply and be considered to join the EAC.

Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania and Burundi, which formed the original EAC, had over 150 million people between them, with the land measuring over 1.8 million square kilometres, 50 per cent is in Tanzania.