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Kenya to review laws to suit Common Market
Kenya will soon start reviewing various laws to make them conform to the provisions of the East African Community Common Market protocol.
Officials said that a major national campaign is also planned for Kenya to sell the Common Market to citizens.
The minister in charge of the EAC affairs, Amason Jeffah Kingi, says that a team of experts will be formed to audit the provisions of the protocol, its annexes and regulations to recommend the administrative and legal reforms that need to be undertaken for smooth implementation of the protocol.
According to Mr Kingi, Kenya plans to roll out a major national awareness campaign on the Common Market as soon as the Cabinet approves the protocol.
The experts will be drawn from relevant ministries as well as the Kenya Law Reform Commission.
“We expect that this process will lead to optimisation of opportunities, especially for Kenyan goods and services in the Common Market,” Mr Kingi told journalists in Nairobi recently.
He said that the country had also started the process of ratifying the protocol, signed on November 20, 2009.
A joint Cabinet memorandum, he said, had been prepared to seek approval to ratify the protocol.
The joint Cabinet memorandum is sponsored by Mr Kingi, Attorney-General Amos Wako, Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, Foreign Affairs Minister Moses Wetang’ula, and Trade Minister Amos Kimunya.
The Common Market, the second stage in the integration process of the East African Community, is scheduled to come into force by July 1 after being ratified by the five partner states.
Under the protocol, there will be free movement of persons, labour and services.
Ratification
After the EAC Common Market protocol was signed by heads of State last November, the EAC Secretary-General Juma Mwapachu, sent it to member states on December 14, 2009 for ratification.
Member states are expected to use their internal processes and procedures to come up with a “common government” endorsement.
The common endorsement signifies that a member state has accepted the protocol as containing both the country’s national and regional interests.
