Prepare for changes, EAC boss tells staff

Arusha. East African Community (EAC) is facing a precarious financial situation and the new secretary general, Mr Liberat Mfumukeko, has put workers at the headquarters on notice, telling them to get ready for drastic changes.

Speaking at a welcoming party organised at an Arusha hotel last week, Mr Mfumukeko said owing to the alarming financial state the regional body was going through, he was forced to take radical changes for the organ to survive.

He made it clear that the EAC secretariat was operating on a shoestring budget because its donors, who accounted for about 70 per cent of its budget, had lagged behind in fulfilling their promises by at least 30 per cent.

Though he is generally regarded as a less talkative person, the maiden speech the newly appointed East African Community (EAC) Secretary General gave painted him as a no nonsense person geared towards bringing much-needed changes on the way the EAC Secretariat and the community in general operates.

Among major priorities, Mr Mfumukeko said he would concentrate on and push for full implementation of protocols and agreements signed or ratified by the EAC partner states, specifically the Customs Union, the Common Market and the East African Monetary Union protocols. He also made it clear that he favoured fast-tracking the integration of South Sudan, a new member of the bloc, into activities, programmes and projects of the EAC.

At the same time, he said during his welcoming party by the staff of the community that he would spare no effort in making EAC a friendly and humane workplace, implying that he wants to make the organisation respectful and the one which meets the basic rights of its employees.

“I would like to reassure everyone that the EAC remains an institution characterised by a high performance level with brilliant employees who can make very valuable contributions to the integration agenda,” said the new EAC boss, as he took over the mantle from Richard Sezibera whose five-year non-renewable tenure ended on April 25.

He affirmed: “During my five years of tenure, we’ll work very hard. Kweli hapa EAC itakuwa ni kazi tu -- ‘no-frills’ will, indeed, prevail at EAC. And I hope we will make the EAC shine before men and the world,” he pointed out, outlining that it was his dream to take the EAC integration “to greater heights and that the work would be consultative, inclusive, and listening but frank, fair and firm.”

He further said during his tenure at the helm of the EAC, he would enhance and strengthen the capacity of the Secretary General’s office “to effectively serve you and discharge my mandate as per Articles 67 and 71 of the Treaty for the Establishment of the EAC.”

He vowed to take the bull by the horns in tackling challenges facing the regional organisation, specifically the current financial crisis.

“It will not be business as usual. Time for change has come,” said he when addressing the EAC Secretariat staff during the ceremony held at Mount Meru Hotel in Arusha last week.

He warned that the EAC, which has won accolades from near and far as one of the best performing regional economic groups, was currently going through challenging financial times with forecasts for next month showing a deficit of over $11 million.

The annual budget estimates for the EAC for the 2015/16 fiscal year, which was approved by the East African Legislative Assembly (Eala) in May last year, was $138 million.

The situation, according to him, has been aggravated by failure by development partners, who account for close to 70 per cent of the annual budget, to disburse about 30 per cent of the expected funds two months before the end of the 2015/16 financial year on June 30.

He admitted that the financial woes facing the Community, which recently admitted South Sudan as its sixth member, was worrying because the regional organisation had never been subjected to such situation before.

“Although we’ve experienced situations of instability on regular basis, we never sunk into a deep crisis before because our leaders in partner states have always reacted in time,” said Mr Mfumukeko, who is not new to the regional body secretariat.

He said his administration would propose ‘stringent measures’ geared at cost-cutting, value for money, accountability and transparency and that it would not be business as usual, as the regional organisation had to cope with unprecedented deficits in its budget.

But he drew the attention of the nearly 300 employees of the EAC Secretariat at the Arusha headquarters and institutions scattered across the region when he remarked that he might be compelled to take tough choices in turning around the organisation and that the choices would have consequences.

That implied, he would act hard on any employee, who would underperform in the major task ahead to redeem the image of what he described as an esteemed organisation.

“We’ve an obligation to improve ourselves. Eventually we suffer the side effects of our inability to change,” he pointed out, remarking further that in his coming five years, he expected every employee of the EAC and its organs and institutions to “work very hard and make the EAC to shine before men and the world.”

The incoming secretary general noted that although work on sustainable financing of the EAC, which could see it lessening dependency on donors, was in advanced stage, the financial situation of the community was still fragile.

Mr Mfumukeko, a Burundi national, assumed the highest office at EAC and succeeded Dr Richard Sezibera from Rwanda whose five year non-renewable term ended last week. Both countries were admitted into the bloc in July 2007 after enjoying a status of observers to the community from the late 1990s.

He was appointed the fifth secretary general of the community during the 17th Heads of State Summit held on March 2, 2015, at Ngurdoto Mountain Lodge outside Arusha. He becomes not only the first Burundi national to hold the post, but also the first of the 10-plus deputy secretaries general the current EAC has had to be elevated to the level of Secretary general.

He had served as the Deputy Secretary General in charge of Finance and Administration from February 20, last year. Under the EAC Treaty, each member state should have a deputy secretary general in top executives’ line-up at the secretariat except the partner state which produces the secretary general.

Mr Mfumukeko, who visibly appeared a no-nonsense executive as he talked to the staff members, would be leading for the next five years. He is in his 50s and held several senior positions in the Burundi government before joining the the EAC early last year.

Not a new man

He is not entirely new to the EAC. As the director general of the Burundi Water and Electricity Utility (Regideso), he at one time held the chairmanship of the Steering Committee of the East African Power Pool (EAPP).

He remarked that it was a pity that the EAC had signed many protocols which had not been fully implemented. He called for the fast-tracking of the integration of South Sudan into activities, programmes and projects of the bloc.

The former SG, Dr Sezibera said the crisis in Burundi and terrorist attacks in Kenya were the main challenges he faced during his tenure as the EAC Secretary General.

He added that the problems he faced also included pressure for financial autonomy to the Eala which was finally granted.

He said the financial problems facing the community may be reduced significantly through installation of video-conference facilities.

Mr Mfumukeko becomes the fifth EAC secretary general after Dr Sezibera (2011-2016), Ambassador Juma Mwapachu from Tanzania (2006-2011), Nuwe Amanya Mushega - Uganda (2001-2006) and Ambassador Francis Muthaura from Kenya, who served as the first SG of the revived community from 1996 to 2001.

The SG is the principal executive officer of the Community, the head of the secretariat and the Secretary of the Summit of the Heads of State, the principal organ of the community. After the stepping down of Dr Sezibera, Rwanda will now appoint its national for the position of deputy secretary general.