Kigali hosts EAC good governance conference

By Vision Reporter
 
The fourth edition of the East African Community (EAC) annual conference on Good Governance opened Monday in Rwandan capital, Kigali.

The two-day conference is run under the theme: “Sustaining the Fight against Corruption to promote Regional Integration”.
 
‘’The Conference will focus on corruption as an impediment to the regional integration agenda,’’ said the EAC Deputy Secretary General (In charge of Political Federation) Charles Njoroge.

This will be the new EAC Deputy Secretary General’s first major assignment since appointed by the EAC Heads of State last month. He has replaced his country mate Dr Julius Rotich who completed his two-three year fixed terms.
 
‘’The timely realization of negative effects of corruption in the pursuit of regional integration cannot be overemphasized,’’ added Njoroge, noting that the EAC Partner States have engaged in various initiatives aimed at preventing and combating corruption.
 
He pointed out that all EAC partner States have ratified the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) and the African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption. At the national level, establishment of national anti-corruption/ombudsman agencies is a move in the right direction.
 
‘’The same agencies, however, still experience challenges thus the need for regional standards and benchmarks,’’ said the EAC official.
 
The decision by the EAC Council of Ministers to negotiate the Protocol on Preventing and Combating Corruption, he said, was a vivid demonstration of the Partner States’ commitment to address the vice.
 
He added: ‘’with increased trade, movement of persons, goods, services and capital under the Customs Union and Common Market Protocols, corruption has been identified as one of the Non- Tariff Barriers (NTBs). It impedes investments, trade, and movement of capital and provision of services and in the end, enhances poverty levels in our region’’.
 
About 150  representatives from Ministries responsible for Good Governance, EAC Affairs, Justice and Constitutional Affairs, National Institutions of Governance such as Anti-Corruption Agencies, Human Rights Commissions; National Electoral Commissions, Anti-Corruption Courts, East African Court of Justice and East African Legislative Assembly.

Others include Transparency International, Ministries of Home Affairs, Law Reform Commissions, the academia and the Civil Society Organizations will attend the two-day conference. There will also be participation by the African Union, Transparency International and the United Nation Development Programme (UNDP).