Funding for EAC secretariat drops by $12m

Flags of the East African Community (EAC) and member countries. The EAC Secretariat will receive $12 million less for its expenditure during the 2016/2017 financial year as the bloc embarks on cost-cutting due to dwindling support from donors. PHOTO | FILE |  NATION MEDIA GROUP

By ZEPHANIA UBWANI

In Summary

• The Secretariat will get about $12m less for its expenditure during the 2016/2017 financial year as the EAC embarks on cost-cutting due to dwindling support from donors.
• If the proposed estimates are approved by the regional parliament, the entire budget for the EAC, its organs and institutions under it will total $101.3m for the next financial year, which is slightly less than $110.6m which was approved for expenditure during 2015/2016.

The East African Community (EAC) Secretariat will get about $12 million less for its expenditure during the 2016/2017 financial year compared to what it received for the current fiscal year as the Community embarks on cost-cutting due to dwindling support from donors.

The Secretariat is the top executive organ of the EAC and is headquartered in Arusha, Tanzania. It is headed by Secretary General Richard Sezibera of Uganda.

It will get $57.8 million for 2016/2017 against $69.6 million it received during 2015/2016.

The regional court will also receive less cash in the next fiscal year while the East African Legislative Assembly (Eala), which has been in the past been criticised for alleged misuse of funds at the bloc, will have its budget for 2016/2017 upped marginally to $16 million from the $15.8 million it received during this fiscal year.

If the proposed estimates are approved by Eala which is currently holding a session in Tanzania, the entire budget for the EAC, its organs and institutions under it will total $101.3 million for the next financial year, which is slightly less than $110.6 million which was approved for expenditure during 2015/2016.

The East African Court of Justice (EACJ), which together with the Secretariat and the regional Assembly make the principal organs of EAC, will receive $4.2 million, slightly less than the $4.3 million it was allocated for 2015/2016 financial year.

The budget estimates also indicate that institutions under the EAC, including the recently established ones, had their budget allocations for the coming fiscal year much increased with some having their finances doubled compared with the current financial period.

Those which had their estimates doubled include the East African Competition Authority ($1.5 million), the East African Kiswahili Commission ($1.1 million) and the East African Health Research Commission ($1.3 million).

Other institutions under the Community which will get slightly more money for expenditure during the coming fiscal year than the current period are Lake Victoria Basin Commission ($11.2 million), Inter-University Council of East Africa - IUCEA ($44.5 million) and East African Science and Technology Commission ($1.1 million).

Only the Lake Victoria Fisheries Organisation (LVFO), which is one of the oldest organizations of the revived EAC, had its budget for the coming financial year cut by about a half compared to the current fiscal year.

Next fiscal year, the organisation based in Jinja, Uganda, will get $2.1 million which is less by far than $3 million budgeted for it during 2015/2016