Divisive agenda on European trade pact with EAC to cloud summit

Tanzanian President John Magufuli. FILE PHOTO | AFP  

By ZEPHANIAH UBWANI

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Summary

• The meeting of the heads of state, which was initially scheduled for Dar es Salaam Wednesday, will be held in Arusha on April 6 following consultations between EAC secretary-general Liberat Mfumukeko with the leaders of the partner states.
• During the 17th Extra-Ordinary Summit of the regional organisation held in Dar es Salaam last September, it was agreed that the EPA stalemate be tabled again during the meeting of the regional presidents early this year.
• A business expert, Mr Theofil Kashasha, said Tanzania had no obligation to seal the EPA deal and its partners in the EAC bloc should give it time to seek more consultations on the issue.
• He said Kenya, unlike Tanzania, had good reasons to sign EPA because of its horticultural exports to the EU and large investments from western Europe.

The postponed summit of the East African Community (EAC) leaders will be held early next month as the region continues to be divided over the Economic Partnership Agreement with the European Union.

The meeting of the heads of state, which was initially scheduled for Dar es Salaam Wednesday, will be held in Arusha on April 6 following consultations between EAC secretary-general Liberat Mfumukeko with the leaders of the partner states.

“The upcoming 18th summit is scheduled for Arusha on April 6,” affirmed the EAC boss in Nairobi on Friday last week after holding talks with Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta.

During the 17th Extra-Ordinary Summit of the regional organisation held in Dar es Salaam last September, it was agreed that the EPA stalemate be tabled again during the meeting of the regional presidents early this year.

Tanzania, which has spearheaded its rejection against the EAC-AU trade arrangement deal, was given until the following meeting of the EAC heads of state to decide whether to ratify the pact or reasons for the delay.

EAC-EU-EPA negotiations started in 2002. It was not until 2007 that the framework agreement on tariff was finalised.

The East African countries had committed to liberalise up to 82.6 per cent of imports from the EU by value.

But the process was interrupted in July last year, when Tanzania, Burundi and Uganda declined to ratify the deal, preferring further consultations on economic implications.

Officials of Customs and Trade Directorate at the EAC secretariat could not be reached to comment on the EPA issue Thursday. But those reached said it was too early to know what would be on the agenda of the April 6th summit.

READ: Dar EPA stance dims Kenya’s bid for uniform customs rules

Negative impact

A regional business analyst based in Arusha, Mr Simon Mapolu, said he was very sceptical if Tanzania would ratify the EAC-EU-EPA after recent remarks by President John Pombe Magufuli during the state visit of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni.

“The deal will have a negative impact on our economies because Europe will want to bring in their expensive products with cheap goods from the Asian countries for our poor people,” he said in reference to the flooding of East African markets by goods from the Far East.

Another business expert, Mr Theofil Kashasha, said Tanzania had no obligation to seal the EPA deal and its partners in the EAC bloc should give it time to seek more consultations on the issue.

He said Kenya, unlike Tanzania, had good reasons to sign EPA because of its horticultural exports to the EU and large investments from western Europe.

However, recently some EAC officials expressed fears that the divide could weaken the Customs Union and render the Common External Tariff (CET) ineffective in case Kenya would be importing zero-rated goods, while the same imports were charged duties in Tanzania.

Expounding on the EPA, President Magufuli described it as a form of colonialism, thus making it impossible for Tanzania join Kenya and Rwanda in signing the deal.