The ongoing negotiations on integrating trade and infrastructure among Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda do not violate the East African Community treaty, the ministry of EAC, Commerce and Tourism said yesterday.
Integration secretary Barrack Ndegwa said the EAC treaty allows members to sign bilateral or tri-lateral deals provided they leave room for others to later join.
He was responding to Monday’s resistance by Tanzania that the so-called “coalition of the willing” was violating article 7(1) (e) of the EAC common market protocol signed in July 2010.
Tanzania’s ministry of East African Co-operation protested the coalition’s pact on a joint regional railway, pipeline and oil refinery in June, and ongoing discussions on common travel documents ahead of their third infrastructure summit next month in Kigali.
“Even though this article allows member countries to enter bi-lateral or tri-lateral agreements, it is a must that issues under consideration for implementation under this arrangement are fully discussed and agreed upon by all member countries,” the ministry said in a statement.
Ndegwa however said the treaty does not bind all the EAC members to agree before a deal among some of them is signed. He cited the provision for a common EAC identity card in the protocol that Tanzania did not support.
“The common market protocol is a negotiated arrangement and we should not hammer Tanzania because they are free to engage or not to engage depending on their interest,” he said in a telephone interview.
“Implementation of the treaty is however normally good when all the five members are in agreement.” Ndegwa had on October 8 called for speedy amendments to national laws to align them to the EAC treaty so citizens could fully enjoy benefits of the protocol signed in July 2010. Tanzania’s EAC ministry spokesperson Vedastina Justinian had also registered his government’s displeasure with the “coalition of the three countries…. being run under their respective foreign affairs dockets and not through the EAC secretariat.”
The Star
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