Speech by the Secretary General of the East African Community, Dr. Richard Sezibera to the East African Legislative Assembly
ARUSHA, Tanzania, May 26, 2011/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Speech by the Secretary General of the East African Community, Dr. Richard Sezibera to the East African Legislative Assembly
1. Mr. Speaker, Thank you for giving me the floor to address the esteemed Assembly on this occasion of my first speech in the House. In doing so, I would like to support the motion.
2. I join members of the House who have congratulated the Honourable Minister for tabling a well structured budget. I would like to thank him for a well formulated Budget Speech that takes into account the great strides made by the Community during the past Financial Year and highlights the major undertakings of the Community scheduled for the coming Financial Year. The Minister’s Budget harmonizes the allocation of scarce resources with planned activities and programmes to maximize their impact on the EAC’s ambitious goals and objectives during this period.
3. Before I proceed further, allow me, Mr Speaker, to put on the record of this august Assembly my sincerest thanks and gratitude to their Excellencies, the Heads of State of the East African Community, for appointing me as Secretary General of the East African Community. This is indeed a great honour bestowed upon me and I am determined to devote my energy and efforts to the service of the people of East Africa and to the advancement of our cherished goals. I also wish to thank you, Rt. Honourable Speaker, and Honourable Members of the Assembly, for your warm messages of congratulations and support. As the Treaty for the Establishment of the East African Community stipulates, I will do my best to faithfully represent this Community, as a body corporate, and not only the Secretariat I have the honour to head.
4. Mr. Speaker, allow me by the same token, to pay tribute to my predecessors, Ambassador Francis Muthaura, the first Executive Secretary General of the Community, from 1996-2001; Honourable Amanya Mushega, the second EAC Secretary General (2001-2006); and Ambassador Juma Mwapachu, my immediate predecessor. Cumulatively, under their successive administrations, a solid foundation has been laid on which to build the Community. I had the occasion to say that in my predecessor, the man met the moment, and our region is the better for it. . I will carry on from where my predecessors left, and I will strive to take the Community to higher levels of achievement and progress. I salute Mzee Mtei, the last Secretary General of the defunct EAC, and a committed East African.
5. The broad programme and vision of the East African regional integration process have been clearly defined. The institutional mechanisms for the realization of the mission of the Community are in place. In addition to the EAC Customs Union and the East African Common Market, a significant number of regional projects and programmes have been launched that are at various advanced stages of implementation. Successful implementation, as well as completion of negotiations on a monetary Union will lay a firm basis for a vibrant EAST Africa, and a successful political federation.
6. Mr. Speaker, I am an ardent believer that successful regional integration requires a high level of commitment and collaborative effort of all its key players and stakeholders. The Treaty for the Establishment of the East African Community charges the Organs and Institutions of the Community with crucial roles in the regional integration and development effort. A primary challenge in the delivery of the regional programme is to encourage harmonious relations and ensure complementarity of the roles and functions of the Organs and Institutions of the Community.
7. I will endeavour, in the discharge of my duties as the principal executive officer of the Community, to pay great attention to this particular aspect and requirement of the collective management of the Community. I shall always seek to foster genuine, collective response and judicious application of synergies, by all the Organs and Institutions of the Community and the broad spectrum of EAC stakeholders, to the challenges of East African integration and development.
8. As you are aware, Mr Speaker, I am not a stranger to the functions of the East African Community. I was deeply involved in the negotiations for the enlargement of the Community. During an extended period, I was privileged to play a role in the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region ( ICGLR) process of which the EAC was party to. In the more recent past, I have participated in the EAC Council of Ministers deliberations as the Health Minister of the government of Rwanda. It is gratifying to see a number of colleagues and friends in my former roles as members of this August body. I know East Africa is well represented.
9. Mr. Speaker, I therefore have keenly followed the developments of the Community, right from its inception to the present. In the process, I have gained insight and developed a clear appreciation of its workings.
10. One of the salient observations I have made is the role which this Assembly has played, with great success, in energizing the regional integration process. If today the EAC is poised on a fast tracking and practical orientation, it is, in no small measure, due to the valiant efforts and contribution of this Assembly. I have carefully listened to, and noted with great appreciation, the zeal and the passion with which this illustrious Assembly has championed the EAC cause as well as ensuring that the East African integration agenda translates into real benefits to the people of East Africa.
11. I therefore place a great premium on the role of this Assembly and on its continued contribution to EAC development as we move forward. The EAC Secretariat, under my watch, will remain unstinting in this commitment to facilitate the Assembly’s positive interface with all the Organs and Institutions of the Community. Our success is assured when we are all committed to perform in our various roles. When we support one another and find a way of measuring our progress and hold each other accountable against our own benchmarks of performance under this collaborative approach and commitment.
12. Mr. Speaker, the Community’s focus in the next Financial Year will be on further consolidating the Customs Union, actualizing the Common Market, establishing the Monetary Union and reinforcing the foundations for movement towards Political Federation.
13. In specific terms, we shall be required during the next Financial Year to undertake the following; -
i. Strengthening the operations of the Customs Union, in particular, working towards the establishment of the Single Customs Territory
ii. Unbundling the Common Market Protocol, by putting in place the necessary legal and operational frameworks and closely monitoring progress
iii. Concluding the Protocol on the Monetary Union as a component of our march towards Political Federation
iv. Intensifying regional infrastructure development but also ensuring that the infrastructure works for the people of East Africa in truly facilitating trade and other interactions among our people. This would mean at the same time intensifying the measures to eliminate the NTBs ; and
v. Working to promote Industry, innovation and research and,
vi. On the whole, strengthening popular participation, a common East African identity and political will behind the regional integration process.
14. Mr Speaker, this Budget seeks to sustain the momentum, not only in fast tracking regional integration but also concretizing the regional programme. The Budget that the Minister has outlined is clear and ushers a new, practical and results oriented phase of the Community and the reinforcement of the central pillars on which to construct an efficient, effective and achieving organization. We have come a long way, between today and yesterday. We have a long way to go, and I am confident that tomorrow will be better than today, both in the integration agenda itself, as well as in the management of the affairs of the Community.
I see a need to leverage the participation of the people of East Africa in the regional integration process. With our intention to deepen regional integration, we shall need to encourage the East African people to unleash their full potential in the development effort and to empower them to think and act beyond narrow and parochial interests and embrace larger interest as defined by the Treaty.
15. Secondly, we must be committed to putting in place a rapid results oriented management system in view of our stated objectives to accelerate, deepen and concretize regional integration . We need to strengthen the capacity and continually motivate the Staff of the Community to backstop the ambitious regional integration programme. We must build Institutions that are capable of dealing with the Challenges of tomorrow, not merely celebrate the achievements of yesterday.
16. Thirdly, is our realization that Institutional re-organization is not concerned only with provision of additional human or financial resources. On the contrary, it should be mainly concerned with ensuring prudent management of these resources, in particular cost rationalization, towards effective and efficient delivery of the regional programme and demonstration of tangible benefits of the Community to the people.
17. I have listened to the expressed need to make sure that the EAC integration process is only be rapid but also reliable, measurable and predictable. In this regard, the EAC projects and programmes should be crisp and clear and presented or indicated in bankable terms, including their funding implications on the Community’s and the respective Partner States’ budgets. We shall continue to work with you and the Partner States, and our other Partners to streamline our planning, budgeting, and accountability processes
18. It is not desirable that regional programmes present mere wish lists but definite commitments to realize and actualize. The ongoing process in the finalization of the 4th EAC Development Strategy should therefore yield a well thought out Development Strategy with a clear focus on stimulating investments, domestic and foreign, promoting employment and growth, as well as competitiveness in key productive sectors such as Agriculture, Industry and Manufacturing and Tourism. Members will continue to be associated in its development.
19. The Strategy seeks to address, inter alia, the presently serious deficits in energy and transport infrastructure at national and regional levels. There should also be a major focus on the development of the Lake Victoria Basin, which is arguably the region’s most precious shared economic resource of the greatest potential, as well as other basins, including, in particular, the Lake Tanganyika basin..
20. Mr. Speaker, the decision in 2007 of the Partner States to establish Ministers solely Responsible for EAC Affairs is one of the most noteworthy steps to facilitate faster decision making and ensure better programme delivery in the EAC.
21. The Sectoral Council of Ministers Responsible for EAC Affairs (SCMREA) is critical in driving the integration process to new directions. I commend the leadership of the Honourable Ministers in driving our integration agenda. There is need to ensure prompt domestication of the regional legislation and stricter implementation and monitoring of regional projects and programmes at the national level.
22. The need to implement the Community’s projects and programmes through systematic setting of deliverable targets and harmonization of Partner States’ Development Strategies and Strategic Visions with the EAC’s Development Strategies needs no emphasis and will be our major preoccupation in the period ahead of deepening East African integration.
23. I believe that with the right commitment, in particular the right resolve and determination to actualize the Common Market and the related projects and programmes of the Community, we can, within 5 years, realize and demonstrate dramatic economic upturn of this region. We need to move from current average 5% GDP growth to over 8% in order for our region to make a dent in our high poverty levels. In 1977, when the first Community collapsed our income per capita as a region was $700. Today it is only $300. You therefore understand that it cannot, it should not, be business as usual.
24. It is in this overall context, of regional integration as an idea whose time has come and a powerful force in the modern world economic system, that we should position ourselves as a strong, solid and sustainable, regional economic bloc, responsive to the needs of our people, committed to support and development of the Private Sector, and inclusive of all sections of our society, the youth, the women, civil, society, the media, and others.
25. Mr. Speaker Sir, with these remarks, I , once again thank the Honourable Minister for a well balanced and well presented Budget. I thank you and support the Motion.
SOURCE
East African Community (EAC)
