Tanzania lawmakers outline way forward for EAC

Arusha. Lawmakers from Tanzania took the regional Assembly sitting by storm here yesterday, outlining their preferred priorities for the East African Community (EAC).

While some defended the country’s commitment to the union, others spoke of what should be done to empower the youth.

James Ole Millya said contrary to some perceptions, Tanzania was doing all its best to promote regional integration.

“EAC is for all people. We feel we are part and parcel of its programmes because at the end of the day we will all benefit,” he said.

He told the newly elected MPs that President Samia Suluhu Hassan has shown the way by regularly getting in touch with fellow leaders.

“When she came into power, she visited all EAC states as a sign of commitment to promote the bloc,” he said at the Eala chambers.

Mr Millya, who was elected Simanjiro MP (Chadema) in 2015 acknowledged challenges facing the seven nation bloc.

“It is true there are challenges of funding but there are also hopes”, he said at the sitting which doubled as an induction for newly elected MPs.

The youthful legislator said the EAC should give new impetus to infrastructure development projects, especially the roads and railways.

The former EAC (1967-77), collapsed in 1977 over ideological differences between the three founder states; Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya.

The youthful legislator said the EAC should give new impetus to infrastructure development projects, especially the roads and railways.

He cited the 41km Arusha Bypass which was inaugurated recently and the on-going construction of another Bagamoyo-Tanga-Malindi highway.

On her part, Dr Mlozi Shogo Sedoyeka, also from Tanzania, said the EAC should strive hard to engage and empower the youth.

“About 60 percent of the EAC population are youth. We should engage them in our communication strategy,” she said.

She observed that the Community and its programmes and projects are not well known in some segments of the population in the region.

“Digital communication such as facebook, radio, TV, social media and websites are more suited to this segment,” she pointed out.

Dr Abdullah Hasnuu Makame (Zanzibar) said budgetary constraints facing the regional body should not deter the EAC roadmap.

“These challenges are there but will one day be tackled. What is required is solidarity on the budget”, he said in response to a presentation on ‘EAC Challenges and Opportunities’.

Dr. Makame challenged the EAC technocrats to fully engage the Council of Ministers, the authoritative organ of the Community.

He wondered as to why some decisions of the Summit (EAC Heads of State) were not honoured or implemented by the relevant institutions.

He said it has taken three years for the Clerk of Eala to be appointed while no single institution under the EA Monetary Union has been operationalised.

Paul Musamali (Uganda) lauded the former EAC secretary general Juma Mwapachu from Tanzania as an exemplary leader.

“He was bold on the integration issues to his staff, bureaucrats in the partner states, his deputy secretaries general”, he said.

The four day induction involved a record of lawmakers from the seven members of the bloc including DRC Congo which joined the EAC last year.

Currently, EALA has a total of 63 elected members, nine each from the partner states. Ex-officio members are the secretary general, Counsel to the Community and EAC Affairs ministers from all member countries.