The East African Legislative Assembly is conducting a 14-day assessment tour of the region’s transport corridors.
The
lawmakers formed two teams each touring ports and border posts on the
Northern and Central Corridors to assess operations. The teams will also
visit the and the East African Community (EAC) institutions in the
member countries.
The team inspecting the Northern
Corridor began its tour at the Mombasa port in Kenya before heading for
the capital Nairobi and thereon to Uganda and Rwanda.
The
other team kicked off its tour of the Central Corridor in the
semi-autonomous Tanzanian island of Zanzibar. The team will then proceed
through Tanzania to Burundi and Rwanda.
“This tour
will enable the assembly to get feedback and recommendations from
citizens on their perception of the EAC integration process,” said
Wanjiku Muhia, an Eala MP from Kenya. She is leading the delegation
along the Central Corridor.
While in Zanzibar, the team
visited the East Africa Kiswahili Commission (EAKC), one of EAC organs.
The commission was established in 2015 to promote the use of Kiswahili
as the region’s lingua franca.
“Communication is very essential in promoting the regional
integration that’s why we are calling on the Secretariat to reduce the
bureaucracy in order for the commission to realise its activities,” said
Kenneth Simala, EAKC’s Executive Secretary.
Due to
funding constraints occasioned by lack of remittance of money by some
member states, services and operations of the EAC Secretariat and its
organs have been crippled.
“Without being prejudicial
to the findings of this tour we are however aware that there are
challenges which include weak institutions that lack capacity to enforce
sanctions against partner states that fail to implement the [EAC]
protocols,” Ms Muhia said.
EAC integration has been
hindered by non-tariff barriers and lack of commitment by member states
in implementing common regional projects.
EAC member states are Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan.
No comments :
Post a Comment