Veronica Nduva who was sworn-in as EAC Secretary-General. PHOTO | POOL
Veronica Mueni Nduva, the new Secretary-General of the East African Community, has her job cut out for her.
She joins the bloc at a bad time when it is afflicted by multiple crises, worse of which is a cash crunch that has threatened to bring operations to a halt.
Already, some programmes have been put on ice, pending budget allocations, hopefully in the new financial year starting July 1.
Last week, the regional court and assembly announced the suspension of sittings due to funding hitches, exposing a $40 million budget hole in the bloc.
It is also a time when the region’s citizens are losing confidence in the bloc’s abilities to implement the integration agenda, with various hurdles hampering the effective utilisation of the Common Market and the Customs Union. The other two pillars, the Monetary Union and Political (con)Federation, are still up in the air as partner states continue to seek consensus on crucial institutions to cement them.
The Secretariat and the region in general will expect Ms Nduva to restore confidence after the unceremonious recall of her predecessor and compatriot Peter Mathuki.
23rd Extra-ordinary meeting of the Summit of the EAC Heads of States Heads of States, chaired by President Salva Kiir Mayardit of South Sudan. The Summit appointed the new EAC Secretary General, Veronica Mueni Nduva in Kigali, Rwanda on June 7, 2024. PHOTO | POOL
Kenya did not give reasons for Dr Mathuki’s withdrawal and redeployment to Moscow as ambassador, but the recall came at a time the East African Legislative Assembly, sitting in Nairobi, had started debating his conduct of the affairs of the bloc, including an “unauthorised”expenditure of some $6 million.
Dr Mathuki denied any wrongdoing.
Now, Ms Nduva is faced with a broke bloc and is expected to mobilise resources to jumpstart the programmes that had stalled.
A debate is ongoing on the ideal funding model of the Community after years of grappling with irregular payment of contributions by the member states. As at May 17, 2024, the newest entrants, Somalia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, had not remitted even a cent.
While Mogadishu is still filling out the requisite documents, Kinshasa has been aloof.
The region agreed on a funding formula that could resolve the problem, but experts say the issue is enforcement.
The proposed model requires partner states to contribute equally 65 percent of the budget while the remaining 35 percent is paid based on the assessment of partner states' average nominal GDP per capita for the past five years.
Abdi Dubat, Kenya’s Principal Secretary in the EAC ministry, said they already adopted the proposed models of funding, but the devil is in making the partners pay.
“We have to look at sanctions for non-payment. That conversation is coming together with institutional reforms, rationalisation of the budget, among other reforms,” Dubat told The EastAfrican.
Enforce sanctions
There are proposals to amend the Treaty to capture the new members, implement the proposed and adopted finance model, and enforce sanctions against errant partner states among other proposals.
“This conversation is ongoing but is one that we intend to see to the end. It was a directive of the summit,” Dubat said.
Ken Mukulia, chairperson of the Budget Committee at the East African Legislative Assembly, wants sanctions against partner states that fail to remit their annual budget contributions, as well as those that introduce non-tariff barriers to trade.
“We are saying that if you don’t pay you have to be sanctioned. If you are having issues with the implementing the laws of the Community, you are impeding trade, there should be sanctions. This is already in the EAC Treaty.”
“But we have to amend our legal instruments. If you are paying more, then you should be given more powers. This means that our legal instruments must be amended to fit into the new financing mechanism so that if you are paying more, you will have more power, have more staff to be employed,” Mr Mukulia added.
Among the regional economic communities (RECs) it is only the EAC that does not employ sanctions against defaulting members.
And default is not just an EAC problem; even the African Union has grappled with it over the years. Before 2016, the AU depended on two sources: Contributions by member states and aid from development partners.
It was noted that this model was unsustainable, as over 40 percent of members were not paying their yearly contributions, prompting the 2016 institutional reforms which introduced the AU import levy.
The AU employs sanctions against its members who fail to pay by not allowing them to participate in its activities.
The Southern African Development Community follows an assessed contribution model based on GDP. But all member states have equal rights in terms of decision making and other benefits of the bloc.
This model takes into consideration the ability to pay by member states as well as solidarity and mutual support among the SADC members.
In contrast, the EAC budget is financed by equal contributions from the partner states. The model was adopted when the Community had only three partners, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.
Now, the Community has expanded to eight members, with varying economic structures and sizes.
Given this, the equal contribution model may not be sustainable since it puts a heavier burden on the smaller economies. This could partly explain the delayed payments and this is the most urgent matter the new boss in Arusha is expected to deal with.
“Resource mobilisation for the Community has been very low and therefore she should start taking up the issue,” Mr Mukulia said.
“We have lost the glory of this Community. She should bring back the glory of the Community because issues of corruption, negligence, mismanagement, and nepotism have tainted the image of this community.”
On the other hand, integration has been hobbled by NTBs and political and diplomatic spats between members, necessitating a fast tracking of the Common Market.
John Bosco Kalisa, CEO of the East African Business Council, said she will need to “proactively engage with the private sector,” to understand the issues that they’re facing.
“We are grappling with high taxes, dwindling private sector investments in partner states due to unconducive business practices, among other issues,” he said.
“When you look at the Treaty, it does dictate and instruct the Secretary-General to meet the private sector regularly to create an enabling environment. And if there is no such dialogue, that is why intra-trade is stuck at 15 percent.”
Private sector and governance experts believe there is a need to review the governance structure at the EAC with the aim of creating a more vibrant administrative wing that takes care of the interests of the expanded Community.
Mr Kalisa, who last week in Dodoma held discussions with Tanzania’s Finance minister Dr Mwigulu Nchemba, said there is a need to fast track the Monetary Union, whose implementation has been pushed back to 2031.
“Postponing the implementation of the Monetary Union to 2031 is not a solution. Why can’t we use our EAC currency? Integration is about a gradual process. It is not an event,” Mr Kalisa said. “We need to re-establish what we call the Green Lane, to ensure that trade remedy is working. There should be a robust mechanism of resolving trade disputes.”
“We have a huge agenda as a Community and we just want her to fulfil the integration agenda. We want the new secretary-general to push the four pillars to the next level,” said Mr Dubat.
“We still have a lot on the Customs Union; we still have a lot of work to be done on the Common Market. We have advanced discussions on how we are going to manage the Monetary Union, and the Political Federation discussions are going on.”
“We have institutional reforms, sustainable financing and we have the sanctions that are being discussed. We have a lot of the things we need her to work on,” Mr Dubat said.
“She needs to get the EAC out of this financial quagmire. Countries are not seeing value for their contributions. The value must be demonstrated in trade and investments,” Mr Kalisa said.
Ms Nduva will also need to ensure that Kenya implements the Single Customs Territory especially with Tanzania.
“At the One-Stop Border Post of Namanga, Kenya is yet to post officers to implement the Single Customs Territory,” Kalisa said. “We agreed for a single customs territory, which is not working. Kenya’s staff are yet to be deployed on the Tanzania side of the Namanga border to implement it.”
The EAC is also grappling with diplomatic tiffs that have come in the way of integration.
Rwanda-Burundi border is closed after barricading the border with DRC Rwanda-Uganda border partially working.
Eastern Congo is at war, especially after Kinshasa unceremoniously kicked out the regional peacekeeping mission, EACRF.
While it might need political will to make these countries lift the barricades, this is necessary for trade and integration to continue.
Several initiatives have been put in place to bring rapprochement between Kigali and Kinshasa, who fell out due to allegations that Rwanda has been backing the M23 rebel group, which has been fighting government forces and their allies in the Kivu region in eastern DRC.
Kigali has consistently denied the allegations, in spite of several UN reports accusing it of backing the Rwandese-Congolese rebels.
In September 2023, DRC sued Rwanda at the East African Court of Justice (EACJ) in Arusha and the application was amended early this year. DRC accuses Rwanda of abetting the war in the Kivus as well as violating its territorial integrity.
Territorial integrity
“Over the past 25 years, Rwanda has on innumerable occasions violated the DRC’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence,” the application read.
The case details what it calls a list of atrocities committed allegedly by the DRC against Rwanda going back more than 25 years ago.
“States and regional organisations have undertaken several bilateral and multilateral diplomatic initiatives to end the conflict. These initiatives include the International Conference on the Great Lakes and the EAC led by former Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta as African Union’s peace envoy and EAC’s facilitator,” DRC said in the application by the DRC’s Minister for Justice Mutombo Kiese Rose.
The DRC has sought orders to bar Rwanda from infringing on its territory and has asked Kigali to withdraw its troops it claims are based on its soil.
It prays that “A declaration be issued that Rwanda’s action of violating the DRC’s territorial integrity through the deployment of its RDF’s troops within the DRC’s territory has violated the EAC Treaty and a declaration be issued that Rwanda’s material, financial and logistical support of the M23 has led to numerous violations of human rights that violate the EAC Treaty.”
It is not just the M23 wreaking havoc in the restive Congo region. Just this week, Ugandan Islamist rebels Allied Democratic Forces were accused of killing at least 16 people in the region.
ADF, allied to Islamic State, started as a Ugandan insurgency but has operated from the jungles of eastern Congo for almost three decades.
The victims were hacked to death with machetes while they were in their homes or in the fields, the official said, adding that some were executed while they were trying to escape.
Supporting rebels
Burundi accuses its neighbour of supporting rebels who carried out attacks on its soil.
Burundi says the RED-Tabara group staged an attack on December 22 near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), killing 20 people, including women and children.
President Evariste Ndayishimiye accused Rwanda of backing the rebels -- a claim denied by the Rwandan government.
In Kigali, the government said it “regrets the unilateral closure of the border by Burundi”.
“This unfortunate decision will restrict the free circulation of people and goods between the two countries and violate the principles of regional cooperation and the integration of the East Africa Community,” a statement said.
The RED-Tabara, which has a base in the eastern DRC province of South Kivu, emerged in 2011 and is now the most active of Burundi’s rebel forces with an estimated 500 to 800 fighters.
“We have closed our borders (with Rwanda), anyone who tries to go there will not get through. The decision has been made,” Burundi’s Interior Minister Martin Niteretse told reporters in January.
“After having noted that we had a bad neighbour, (Rwandan President) Paul Kagame... we stopped all relations with him until he returns to better feelings.”
He said Rwanda “shelters criminals who harm Burundians”.
“Rwandan nationals, we don’t want them,” Niteretse said.
Relations between Burundi and Rwanda have often been tempestuous.
Although ties began improving after Ndayishimiye took power in 2020, they have soured again over Burundi’s involvement in the DRC.
