SANCTIONS NO SOLUTION TO EAC CRISIS

 

Embargo against defaulting East African Community (EAC) partner states is not the best solution to resolve emerging crises.

It's practicability is difficult because officials tasked to enforce the measures would always side with their respective countries.

"At the end of the day, it will end up being counter-productive", said George Odongo, a Ugandan member of the East African Legislative Assembly (Eala).

He told the House sitting in Arusha this week that repeated suggestions to punish defaulting members of the regional bloc through embargoes or sanctions hold no water. 

Although he acknowledged challenges borne by some member countries,punishing them would kill the desired spirit of integration.

Suggestions to slap sanctions against EAC countries which default binding directives have often been made in the House and in other platforms.

Many of them hinge on failure by some countries to remit or delay  their mandatory budget contributions for EAC operations. 

Others relate to some states' inaction to sign or ratify protocols, a move which often stalls implementation of key projects in the region. 

Mr. Odongo insisted that punishing a partner state was not only counter-productive but would hardly win the support of the very officials tasked to enforce the punishment.

He cited the EAC Council of Ministers, a powerful organ of the Community responsible for policy decisions and budget affairs. 

"Members sitting in the Council are officials of the partner states. They will always protect the interests of their countries", he said.

Pressure to impose sanctions against some EAC partner states  gained momentum at the height of the organization's cash crisis from 2019 to 2021. 

Accusing fingers were mostly pointed at two of the six partner states blamed for  delayed remittances of their annual budget contributions to the EAC coffers.

One of them was reported to have paid only "a paltry amount" since it joined the bloc while continuing to enjoy the services rendered. 

During her maiden visit to the EAC headquarters in June last year, the Foreign Affairs and EA Cooperation minister Liberata Mulamula said Tanzania was not owed any monies by the EAC for budget support. 

Mr. Odongo made the remarks during the tabling of the EAC Audited Accounts for the fiscal year ending June 30th, 2019 before the House.

Ms Fatma Ndangiza of Rwanda said instead of fiddling over delayed remittances, the  EAC leaders should opt for other mechanisms to raise budget funds.

She said the alternative financing mechanism, mulled more than a decade ago, was still on the cards despite the worsening cash crisis.

"Even the African Union (AU) has opted for this mechanism. Each member state contributed 0.2 percent of its import tax to AU", she said. 

In December last year, the EAC Council of Ministers announced that the proposal on a hybrid model of financing the bloc's budget needs more consultations.

Tabling the report, the Chair of the Accounts Committee Kennedy Kalonzo Musyoka from Kenya decried poor implementation of regional integration projects.

He said the EAC secretary general has repeatedly been tasked by the House to produce a quarterly report on the status of projects' implementation.

"As a result, a number of audit queries have continued to appear in the successive audit reports", he pointed out.

He said recurring audit queries  underline weaknesses in EAC management’s efforts "to adhere to the EAC financial rules and procedures, policies and resolutions.”  

The Kenyan lawmaker claimed that the level of implementation of the Council of Ministers’ directives was below 40 percent. 

"These reports have become a ritual. There are a lot of gaps and the Council needs to take up this matter seriously,” he stressed.

However, Habib Mohamed Mnyaa from Tanzania asked why they were examining and debating the audit report of yester years (2018/19 fiscal year).

He suggested that audit reports tabled before the House should not be more than six months old due to the huge time variance with the one currently on the table.

Besides the perpetual delays in partner states remittances, the report highlighted weak internal audit functions at the EAC.

Other lawmakers noted that it does not make sense for the House to debate the same issues, year in year out, without solutions being found.