TANZANIA MPs REACT TO EAC BUDGET QUAGMIRE

 By GRACE MACHA IN ARUSHA

A Tanzanian member of the East African Legislative Assembly (Eala) has rubbished claims that the House passed the budget which was inconsistent with the ceiling.

Mr. Abdullah Hasnuu Makame said he was not aware of the $ 97 million ceiling purported to have been agreed upon by the EAC Council of Ministers in the 2023/24 budget proposals.

He said the Council of Ministers session held in Bujumbura, Burundi early this year approved $ 103.8 million as the expenditure budget of the Community and not $ 97million.

"Our position of Eala is that the budget estimates that were approved by the Council of Ministers have not been tempered with", he was quoted saying recently.

Mr. Makame, who is a member of Eala Commission, said the  regional Assembly had a stake in the East African Community (EAC) budget besides passing it.

He quoted Article 132 (5) of the EAC Treaty which stipulates that the resources of the EAC to finance its activities shall be determined by the Assembly on the recommendation of the Council. 

The lawmaker, who was recently re-elected for his second five year term, is also a member of Eala's General Purpose Committee (GPC) which scrutinizes the EAC budget before being tabled in the House. 

The EAC budget for 2023/24 financial year that was tabled and passed by Eala in June has not been implemented after Tanzania and the DR Congo (DRC) refused assent.

Both countries observed in their letters to the Eala Clerk that the EAC Supplementary Bill (No.1) 2023 and Appropriation Bill, 2023 had some irregularities.

Tanzania said the Bills as approved by the Assembly were "inconsistent with budget ceilings that were approved by the  Council of Ministers" during its 41st extraordinary meeting of Council of Ministers.

This was contrary to Article 59 (2) and 132 (1) and (2) of the EAC Treaty as read together with Regulation 18 of the EAC Financial Rules and Regulations (2012). 

DRC, on the other hand,registered its objection to the assent to both bills because "the passed bills don't respect the budget ceilings for each organ/institution as agreed by the partner states in the Council of Ministers meetings".

In a letter to the Eala Clerk dated August 22nd, the former Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation minister Stergomena Tax identified a variation of $ 576,891 in favour of Eala accounts. 

According to the EAC Appropriation Bill, 2023, some $ 50.9 million had been budgeted for the EAC secretariat's estimates for 2023/24 by the Council.

However, when the estimates were taken to Eala for debate, there was a negative variation of some $ 533,661, pulling down to $50.3million what was budgeted for the executive arm of the Community.

The Council had budgeted $ 17.6 million for Eala, the legislative organ of the EAC, as annual expenditure for 2023/24.

When the estimates were tabled before the House in June, Eala ended up with a positive variation (more funds) of $ 576,891, increasing its budget to $ 18.2 million. 

Other EAC organs and institutions affected by the variations for both bills (EAC Appropriation Bill, 2023) and EAC Supplementary Bill, 2023), included the East African Court of Justice. 

Others are Lake Victoria Basin Commission (LVBC) and the East African Competition Authority (EACA), the newest of a dozen institutions of the Community.

Eala, however, had a negative variation in the Supplementary Appropriation Bill; it approved $ 1.9million against $ 2.5million budgeted by the Council.

Another Tanzanian MP reached out on the saga, James Millya  challenged the key players in the EAC budget to ensure there was no repeat of the current stand off.  

However, he defended Tanzania's move to question the legality of the budget proposals, noting that "each country has its own legal space to go through it (budget) before assent.".

Millya, a lawyer, said the current siege at the EAC over the stalled budget was a wake up call for all the partner states to ensure their officials attended all sessions of the Assembly. 

He said such scenarios can be easily avoided if officials of the partner states, including ministers, were present during the entire phases of budget preparations.