Professional bodies urged to attend infrastructure summit

By Billy Rwothungeyo

PATRICK Okello, the commissioner of Labour, Industrial Relations and Productivity at the Ministry of Labour, Gender and Social Development has urged members of professional bodies in Uganda to attend Northern Corridor Integration Projects (NCIP) summits.

During a recent meeting with several representatives of professional bodies at the ministry, Okello said the in-put of professional bodies was needed in the formulation of schedules regarding liberalization of labour within the partner states.

“We do not want to sell your country when you are seeing. Please attend these summits. Without the involvement of professional bodies, we cannot go far,” he said.

One of the resolutions passed at the recent NCIP meeting held in Rwanda on March 16thwas that there is on the need to convene a meeting of professional bodies such as lawyers, doctors, engineers. The next summit is slated for June in Kampala.

Sources indicate that the liberalization of movement of labour across partner states is becoming a contentious issue. Rwanda is pushing for total liberalization of movement of labour, something that Uganda is not comfortable with.

“Since this is a new innovation, we cannot allow total liberalization in all areas. We have argued that this must be done in an organised manner starting with select categories,” Okello said.

“We do not want to commit our ministers to sign agreements when we have not done enough surgery on issues that are arising.”

During the meeting, Ambassador Nathan Irumba, the Executive Director of the Southern and Eastern African Trade Information and Negotiation Institute (SEATINI) said there is need for integration process to be orderly.

“The critical issue is to avoid the issues that led to the failure of the first EAC. Integration should not only be driven by politics but also by realities on ground,” he said.   

NCIP are joint efforts between Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda to fast track the Common Market Protocol, which provides for two or three members of the EAC bloc to move swiftly on projects aimed at fostering integration.