Beatrice Kiraso, the deputy Secretary General of the East African Community

WITH the start of a fully fledged Customs Union on January this year, the EAC Common Market will follow in July this year with wide ranging ramifications for the ordinary citizens’ ability to move, trade and settle anywhere in East Africa.

In an indepth interview with Beatrice Kiraso, the EAC deputy secretary general in charge of political federation, Business Vision’s David Mugabe details the requirements for citizens to move their labour or capital to any of the member states.

QUESTION: What does the East African Community Common Market mean for the region and its people?

ANSWER: The EAC Common Market provides for the free movement of goods, services, labour, persons, capital plus the right of establishment and residence.
East African citizens will be able to progressively enjoy these rights once the Protocol comes into force effective July 1, 2010.

What should a Ugandan worker who wants to go and work in Kenya or Tanzania know so that they are not shocked by some realities?
Any EAC citizen that wants to work in another partner State should look at Annex II of the Protocol (Schedule for the Free Movement of Workers) which shows the timeframe within which each category of labour will be allowed to move.

What does Burundians who wants to move their capital to Tanzania have to know?
The Burundian should look at Annex VI of the Protocol (Schedule on the Free Movement of Capital) which shows the progressive elimination of restrictions on capital.

Three Partner States (Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda) have already opened up their capital accounts while Tanzania and Burundi committed themselves to progressively open up their capital accounts from 2010 to 2015.

Free movement of capital, labour and people, what does this mean?
This means that existing restrictions of the free movement of capital, labour and people within EAC will be progressively eliminated over an agreed timeframe.

What is the timetable for the implementation?
The timetable for implementation is reflected in the various annexes to the Protocol but is generally from July 1, 2010 to June 30, 2015.

Are there going to be laws applicable for East Africans generally as opposed to laws for individual citizens of a partner state when they move to work in new EAC countries?
Partner States’ laws are going to be amended to remove any discrimination against citizens from other partner States – in other words, citizens from other partner States will be treated as locals.

There are concerns (and a research presented during the conference on “Moving EAC to a fully fledged Customs Union” in Arusha late last year) that the rest of East Africans have found it difficult to invest in Kenya because they are squeezed and Kenya over protects its firms and people, yet they have been welcomed in the rest of the EAC.

What is your comment and what are you doing about this?
Investing in other EAC Partner States is now fully covered by the Common Market Protocol under free movement of capital.
So we hope that the ratification process continues to facilitate implementation of the Common Market. In July this year, all Partner States including Kenya will open up for the rest of the East Africa to invest in their countries.

Enough confidence has now been built among the East African business community to look at EAC as one entity rather than individual small economical and viable countries.

Are there any limits to the implementation of the common market if you compare how citizens will be treated or are expected to behave in the new states they move to as opposed to their countries of origin?
Generally, the key principle of non discrimination will apply but limits could be imposed based on public policy, public security or public health.

What do you estimate will be the monetary and trade value the region will gain from the common market?

Benefits to EAC are enormous and unambiguous. A study is soon to be commissioned to quantify the overall benefits to EAC. But statistics available at the Secretariat already prove that there has been an increase of more than 30% in the volume of internal trade within East Africa.

Even the countries that were skeptical about the Customs Union have benefited tremendously from the removal of tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade within East Africa.

2015 is not far, what is the process on the political federation?
2015 has not been agreed as the year when East Africa will move to a political federation.
It may be earlier or later, but what is important is that the on-going process ensures that a firm foundation is laid by harmonising on EAC partner states’ policy, legislation and institutional capacity related to political matters. These include governance issues like democracy and democratisation processes, human rights, anti-corruption, rule of law and access to justice, foreign policy, peace and security, defence and any other political related matters.

Popularising the integration process through wider and in-depth sensitisation is still a challenge though this is an on-going programme to ensure that there is political will for the integration process in general but political federation in particular.

Are we still on schedule for the monetary union and the political federation?
While a specific time frame has not yet been reached on when to have an East African political federation, so many activities are on-going on co-operation in political matters and these lay the firm foundation for the political federation.

I can say yes, we are on schedule given the sensitivities in the political area.
The time set for the monetary union is 2012, and the draft protocol is ready, will soon be negotiated to beat that deadline as we move towards the political federation.

How far have you gone with harmonising election timetables in the EAC?
The issue of harmonising the electoral time table for EAC countries is an idea that has not formally come to the policy organs of EAC. It is something in my wishful thinking, I would be happy to see happen because it would be a very big step towards political integration.

But also from the Secretariat’s point of view, experience has shown that during electoral periods most EAC activities suffer because EAC decisions are taken through consensus of all the five partners who should be present at the meetings.

Now with five countries it will be even more critical to address this consensus approach, probably by defining clearly what we mean by consensus and how to apply it without necessarily slowing down the integration process.

There is the concern that the secretariat and the governments are moving faster than the citizens, are you doing enough to sensitise the masses about the benefits of the integration?
On the contrary, the complaint is that the people or citizens are frustrated that we are not moving fast enough. People in practical terms are ahead of their governments. But the problem still lies with doing enough to sensitise the masses.

A comprehensive programme has been developed and the strategy to communicate and cover East Africa has now been approved. It is an expensive venture but an unavoidable one because this should be a people centered integration.