............East African Commmunity: Together we stand   By Arthur Baguma THE East African Community (EAC) embraces a large and robust market of a combined population of 125 million people and land area of 1.8 million square kilometres with a combined GDP of $70b according to the World Bank statistics 2008. The region has the potential to become the economic hub in Africa. According to analysts the political integration process is proceeding as planned in all the five member countries.   Delegates from the East African Community states at a recent consultative meeting on good governance   However the ultimate success of the integration will depend on entrenchment of good governance in the partner states. As a result the EAC secretariat is in consultations to come up with a binding protocol on good governance. The deputy secretary general of the East African Community Beatrice Kiraso notes that good governance is a crucial prerequisite for regional integration. Opening a two-day consultative meeting on the proposed draft EAC Protocol for Good Governance for Partner States’ Members of Parliament recently, Kiraso said democracy, the rule of law and transparency were important for the deepening regional integration. The MPs were drawn from relevant national parliamentary committees, including those on legal, judicial, EAC, foreign, good governance, security and defence affairs. Others represented include those from the office of Attorney Generals and public accountability. Kiraso also briefed the MPs on the progress of integration and gave an update on the negotiations for the EAC Common Market Protocol. The Common Market is the second stage of the EAC integration process as stipulated in Article 5(2) of the Treaty followed by a Memorandum of Understanding which is expected to be attained by 2012. This is towards the ultimate goal of the regional cherished dream of a political federation. She stressed the importance of national parliaments in the regional integration process. “The EAC framework is an attempt to promote good governance in harmony with national efforts. They will be upgrading to the regional level within the internationally acceptable standards,” she told about 40 delegates from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Burundi. Rwanda MPs could not attend as they are on leave, but EAC will facilitate their input on the draft soon. The delegates discussed and made several recommendations towards widening the scope and depth of the proposed draft protocol. A consultant who presented a paper on good governance, Hon. (Rtd) John Kazoora, said parliaments have a crucial role to play in good governance. “Parliamentarians are trustees of public mandate and the legitimate expectation is that parliamentarians will uphold the national and public interests over other narrow and parochial interests,” Hon Kazoora said. The consultations are broad based and include various stakeholders which will enable EAC to come out with initial draft on Good Governance for discussions by partner states. After the conclusion of consultations the Good Governance Framework will be signed by the Heads of State as an EAC Protocol.   East African Community Heads of State   Rwanda and Burundi with a combined population of about 14.6 million people now fully enjoy the rights to free trade under the Customs Union Protocol. Before the admission of Rwanda and Burundi, Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania had an integrated market of nearly 90 million people with a combined Gross Domestic Product of $25b. The main thrust of the Customs Union is the realisation of a viable integrated market, which will stimulate production, investments, intra-regional and international trade. This will accelerate the socio-economic transformation of member states. Rwanda and Burundi import most goods and services from Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. The operations of the Customs Union were launched on January 1,2005 putting the integration process at a stage where it is expected to offer tangible benefits to East Africans. With a population of about 8 million, Burundi joined the community at a time when it needed collective effort to recover from years of instability. Rwanda joined after a decade of rapid economic recovery following the 1994 genocide. However regional security is also one of the major benefits expected to come with the integration. EAC heads-of-state at their Consultative Summit Meeting in Dar-es-Salaam in May 2005, directed the Council of Ministers to expedite the process of the admission of Rwanda and Burundi. Analysts viewed the rush as a move to expedite the integration process-aimed at removing bottlenecks that hinder free flow of goods and services within the region. The past trend of trade between Uganda and Rwanda is an indicator of how regional integration will propel development in member countries. Trade between Uganda and Rwanda has shot up in the recent past. This year alone Uganda’s trade with Rwanda was worth $160m while for Burundi it is about $50m. Economists predict that this trade will continue to grow as barriers to trade (including non-tariff barriers) are removed. The continued efforts to improve infrastructure, transport and communication between the two countries has also continuously eased the movement of business people between the sister countries. If this spreads to all member countries, the level of development will move at a break-neck speed. The increase in volume of trade between the two countries is also a result of the initiatives aimed at creating a favourable environment for private sector development. EAC plans to propel the East African countries to a stronger bargaining bloc economically and politically at regional and international fora. The countries will co-operate on trade, collectively handle issues such as one passport for all East Africans, regional approach to fighting corruption, fast-tracking towards political federation and development of science, technology and human resource.   The EAC has adopted a holistic integration approach where harmonisation of policies among the five-partner states is taking place in all areas—economic, political and social.     We are like brothers - word from Burundi Ambassador to Uganda   BURUNDI and Uganda share a lot in common. Uganda has played a key role in efforts aimed at pacifying Burundi. Gaspard Musavyarabona, the Burundi Ambassador to Uganda gives an insight into Burundi’s recovery path in an interview with Arthur Baguma.   Q: How far has Burundi gone with the democratisation process? Democracy in Burundi is now a reality. The country is enjoying relative peace. But, democracy started with independence, when people of Burundi got the right to decide who will govern them, how to have various agreements on peace, when all human rights of the Burundians were recognised.   Today all freedoms are recognised; freedom of press, of association, of human rights, etc. The programme of our government is to ensure equality of gender, education for all, health, to eradicate poverty, increase production of food and to reach the Millennium Development Goals. How would you describe the relations between Uganda and Burundi? The relations between Uganda and Burundi is excellent and this is proved by the reciprocal visits of leaders of the two countries. We have a general agreement of cooperation and we have signed various agreements of cooperation in many fields like health, education, trade, defence and trade. We have many Memoranda of Understanding in other areas. We hold many meetings between Ugandan officials and Burundian Officials both in Uganda and in Burundi. A group of agro/breeders from the 16 provinces of Burundi visited their counterparts of Uganda in view of exchanging experiences. At that occasion, we signed a Memorandum of cooperation in the framework of twinning the Municipality of Mbarara to the Municipality of Gitega as second Town of Burundi. We work hand in hand in the framework of regional integration in the East African Community, and the fast tracking of its political federation.   The free movement of goods between Uganda and Burundi will be now a reality. So, the relations between Ugandan people and Burundian is like one between brothers and sisters. How is Burundi’s tourism sector fairing? We have many opportunities in the area of tourism. Our geographic position in Great Lakes region is favourable for tourists. Secondly, Burundi is in the prolongation of all national parks of the countries of East African Community.   We have many tourist sites in Burundi: the stone of Pierre Livingstone and Stanley at the source of Nile river in southern Burundi, Karera Falls, and the site of Resha where a Ugandan is constructing a hotel. We have many hotels to host tourists. The program of our government is to the develop roads and infrastructure in order to facilitate tourism in Burundi. What is the government doing to improve education in the country? We have got assistance from NGOs and friends to improve education in Burundi. We must thank, among them, the government of Uganda for having given Burundi a helping hand in this matter. But the main efforts to improve education in Burundi comes from the population in conjunction with our President who provides materials for construction, and the Government of Burundi. Parents and citizens of Burundi build schools themselves. They want the program of education for all in Burundi to be achieved. So we will be able to achieve the Millennium Development Goals in Education. What is the government in Burundi doing to promote unity? Unity is now a reality. The ethnic relations are now very good, and we try to promote equality in gender. We have around 30% of women represented in the government. The plans of development are for all the country and not for one specific region, this makes the difference with former regimes.