Kenya polls cripple EAC heads of state summit talks

MARC NKWAME in Arusha

A SUMMIT of the EAC heads of state slated for Arusha has been postponed for the third time with the latest reason being the ongoing primary voting process in Kenya, a key Member State in the East African Community.

This time, the heads of state from the six countries making up the EAC have decided to let Kenya complete the ongoing primary voting exercise, a vital link as the country prepares for its proposed August 2017 General Election.
As the result, the summit of the EAC heads of state meeting which was to be held here on Wednesday, 10th of May, 2017 under the chairmanship of President John Magufuli will now be held on Saturday, 20th of May, 2017.
But again, this date is also subject to change without notice. So far, says a report from EAC Secretariat here, the initial venue for the Summit has since been relocated from Arusha, where the Summit was supposed to be held at the International Conference Center (AICC) on the 6th of April, to Dar-es-salaam where the EAC leaders will sit next week, in case the dates don’t get changed again.
Last month, the EAC head of Corporate Communication and Public Affairs, Mr Richard Owora Othieno had announced that the EAC Summit which was to be held here on the 6th of April, 2017 had been scrapped –ostensibly to pave way for Burundi, which dedicates the sixth day of April every year as “Assassination Day” to remember the death of the late President Cyprien Ntaryamira, who together with President Juvénal Habyarimana of Rwanda were killed when the plane they were flying in their return home– from Dar --was shot down by unknown assailants in 1994.
Previously, the date rescheduled for May 10-- which now moves to May 20.