EAC’s $90m budget set for tabling during first physical session
Arusha. The East African Community (EAC) budget for the 2021/22 financial year will be read in the regional Legislative Assembly here on Tuesday next week.
The budget speech will be delivered by the chairperson of the EAC Council of Ministers, Adan Mohammed, who is Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for EAC Affairs
The EAC organs and institutions are expected to spend $90 million during the coming financial year which begins on July 1.
After tabling the estimates, the East African Legislative Assembly (Eala) is expected to debate and vote on the proposals.
The three-week sitting of the Assembly will be the first time that Eala is holding a physical session after holding virtual meetings since last year.
The virtual sittings, due to Covid-19 outbreak, was not the only drawback. Approval of the budget for 2020/2021 was delayed until January this year.
According to a statement by Eala, the proposed estimates have been approved by the Council of Ministers - a powerful organ of the regional economic integration bloc.
The House will convene for the sixth meeting of the fourth session from tomorrow, Friday, at the EAC headquarters in Arusha.
Mr Charles Kadonya, the acting Eala Clerk, said a total of $53.1 million (58 percent of the entire budget for 2021/22) will be raised from the six EAC partner states.
The other $37.4 million (42 percent of the total $90 million budget) will be sourced from an array of development partners of the Community.
Each of the six partner states in the bloc - Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Burundi, Rwanda and South Sudan - has to contribute $7.8 million to the kitty.
The other window for the partner states’ contributions would be through fees from road agencies and and other miscellaneous incomes.
Budget funds would also be raised from membership fees and reserves to the Inter-niversity Council of East Africa (IUCEA) and Lake Victoria Basin Commission (LVBC).
EAC annual budgets have been gradually declining in recent years from $111 million in 2019/20 to $97 million in 2020/21 - and to $90 million in the next fiscal year.
Other activities of the Assembly, headquartered in Arusha, include debating and enactment of the EAC Supplementary Bill, 2021 and the EAC Appropriation Bill, 2021.
