Rwanda, Burundi elections to upset EA Common Market plans

The forthcoming elections in Burundi and Rwanda could throw implementation of the Common Market into disarray as they will interfere with first, the protocol’s ratification and second, its operation, experts warn.

East African Community officials said the electoral processes in these countries and their constitutions do not allow presidents to commit their countries to foreign obligations four months or less before presidential polls.

Burundi is slated to hold its elections in June, Rwanda in August and Tanzania October.

Apparently, the EAC Sectoral Council of Ministers has requested all the partner states to announce their election dates so that some community activities are rescheduled to next year.

More delays

This implies that some commitments to the integration process will have to wait. Since the EAC Treaty demands that all decisions should be made by consensus, the absence of one or more partner states during decision-making meetings render resolutions of such meetings null and void.

A Common Market activity likely to be rescheduled is the negotiation of pending annexes to the EAC Common Market by the High Level Task Force this month.

Similar meetings had been planned for April, May and June this year.

The regional elections will not only disrupt the Common Market, but also other key activities like implementation of a single tourist visa and harmonisation of tourism and wildlife policies and laws, whose discussion is planned in the four-month period towards Burundi elections.

The elections will also delay the integration of Rwanda and Burundi in the EAC statistics database and the meeting of Council of Ministers to make policy decisions and review implementation of Council decisions.

The partner states are also scheduled to meet over how they can come up with an institutional structure of the Community with the coming into force of the EAC Common Market Protocol that was signed in November last year.

“Usually it is the political meetings that are affected, but the technical ones could still go ahead. So we may have to postpone most of the meetings to next year,” said Deputy Secretary General in charge of Political Affairs, Beatrice Kiraso in a phone interview.

Fortunately, according to a senior official at Uganda’s Ministry in charge of EAC activities, a directive has been issued that partner states rush ratification of the Common Market Protocol.

“The directive is that we should have ratified the Protocol by April. The good thing is that all partner states are ready,” said Lawrence Mujuni, who is in charge of legal and political affairs at the ministry.

Ms Kiraso said she would propose harmonisation of electoral calendars of all the five EAC member states.