Empire Voice: Politics

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By PATTY MAGUBIRA-- Former Secretary General of the defunct Organisation of the African Union, Dr Salim Ahmed Salim, and Tanzania’s Brigadier General Hashim Mbita, have been honoured with the ‘Sons of Africa’ award.

They go on record as the first recipients of the new African Union's (AU) Son of Africa Award for their lifetime achievements in the promotion of peace and dignity on the continent.

The award is due to be presented on a regular basis to eminent Africans who have served the continent with great distinction.

The commissioner of the AU Peace and Security Council, Mr Simail Chergue, presented the award to the two eminent Africans during a ceremony held at Mount Meru Hotel in Tanzania’s northern safari capital of Arusha.

Brigadier General Mbita's daughter -- Sheila -- received the award on behalf of her father who could not make it to the ceremenoy due to his health challenges.

Sheila said she was pleased with the award given to her father as she joined Dr Salim in extending their gratitude to the AU council for recognizing their contributions.

Judge (rtd) Christopher Lihundi said he knew Dr Salim's leadership talent since he was the Secretary General of the defunct Organisation of the African Union also based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The AU in collaboration with the Tanzania Government organized a three-day retreat with the technical support from the African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD) and the Institute for Security Studies (ISS).

The retreat has brought together the leadership of the AU Commission and its special envoys and representatives, members of the AU Panel of the Wise, and ambassadors, among others.

It is being held in response to a call this year to 'silence the guns' by the year 2020, and to develop coherent strategies for reaching this goal on the African continent as soon as possible.

The Arusha retreat will adopt a long-term and structural approach to understanding and responding to violence and instability on the continent and it will consider two specific threats of particular concern.

The first of these threats is the phenomenon of terrorist insurgencies and the ways in which local extremist networks relate both to global trends as well as to transnational organised criminal networks.

Secondly, the retreat will consider the emerging threat of climate change to peace, security and stability on the continent, a threat likely to grow over coming years and that, if not addressed, will undermine all efforts to silence the guns.

By ADAM IHUCHA -- South Sudan’s xenophobic attitude against foreigners could complicate its bid to join the East African community.

The EAC secretariat in Arusha is keeping a tight watch over a recent Juba’s ban on foreign workers, including the EAC citizens.

Though, the EAC secretary general, Dr. Richard Sezibera has not made an official statement, only posted on Jumuiya twitter account that the issue will be tabled during the negotiations with South Sudan.

“Our treaty is clear on fundamental rights of its Citizens…. We will table all issues of concern at negotiations for accession " Dr. Sezibera twitted.

Inside sources say that the EAC is seriously concerned with the Juba’s xenophobic stance, which ranks high, among the tough issues that are likely to thwart its application to join EAC.

Though the Juba ban on foreign workers came as a surprise to the World, for EAC it wasn’t as the issue was prominently highlighted on its report on verification of the country’s application to join the region.

The report of 2012 highlighted the xenophobic attitude among the Juba’s technocrats towards EAC citizens on ground that would grab their jobs and escalate criminal activities, as a serious concern.

The EAC verification Committee presided over by Mr Raphael Kanothi fear the xenophobic mentality would impact on free movement of persons and services provided by the EAC common market protocol.

“Besides xenophobic mindset, there’s limited understanding of EAC and its objectives among the RSS officials” the EAC official said in confidence.

It is understood, other two issues haunting the South Sudan’s final walk to join EAC, comprise the recent war and a pending case in the regional court, where Ugandan traders in Juba seek to block the bid.

Fighting broke out in the oil-rich country, the world's youngest nation, in December 2013 following a clash between troops loyal to President Salva Kiir and his former deputy Riek Machar.

The war, which spread rapidly across the country and has been marked by widespread human rights abuses and atrocities by both sides, is one of complex issues facing its accession deal.

The Republic of South Sudan, a landlocked country in east-central Africa became an independent nation in July 2011 and in the mid-October the same year, the country applied to join the EAC.

As things stand now, the negotiations are likely to commence anytime in October 2014, if all goes as planned.

Case

In October 2013, Uganda Traders Association of South Sudan Ltd and three others filed a case reference number 8 of 2013 at the East African Court of justice (EACJ), seeking the court to block South Sudan’s admission to the EAC on the grounds that Juba does not adhere to good governance.

The case which its hearing is likely to kick off in November, 2014, was grounded on article 3 (3) (b) of the EAC treaty, which requires for membership that a country must adhere to universally accepted principle of good governance, democracy, rule of law and observance of human rights and social justice.

In particular, the applicants, who included Patrick Walusimbi Ntege, Dan Ssenga and Mohamed Waiga, alleged that Uganda traders in South Sudan have neither judicial nor administrative protection from the Republic of South Sudan.

They further claimed that Juba does not provide a conducive environment for business, commerce, investment and the protection of property rights and other rights as required by the EAC treaty.

Worse enough, the applicants charged that Ugandan traders in South Sudan have been raped, tortured, killed, maimed and even imprisoned without trial.

Moreover, the traders claimed that their merchandise have been confiscated and vehicles detained by soldiers without any redress from the courts as they are incapable of addressing these injustices.

The applicants, therefore, seek the EACJ to declare that South Sudan is not a fit and proper country to be granted membership in EAC.

“And that the Attorney generals of Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Burundi and Rwanda as well as EAC secretary general, should not admit the South Sudan into a regional body as a country does not adhere to the good governance principles” reads part of the case document.

By ADAM IHUCHA--A proposed ‘pay as you import’ as an alternative mechanism to source funds for the East African Community has split the partner states into two rival factions, leaving the secretariat in dilemma.

The EAC secretariat proposed a one percent levy on imports value for each member state to finance its operations as a way to reduce overreliance on donors to bankroll the trading bloc’s budget.

Experts say that at the moment, donors fund the EAC budget up to 70 percent, whereas the partner states and other sources foot only 30 percent.

However, during the discussions of ‘Modalities of Sustainable Financing Mechanism of the EAC Integration’ in Arusha, Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda have supported the model, but Kenya and Tanzania, on the other hand, were not in favor of the idea.

Source privy to the negotiations says that Kenya and Tanzania snubbed the deal due to the fact that the mechanism will see the two shouldering the lion’s share of the EAC budget.

Taking for example of the 2011 imports data, Kenya would have paid to EAC $145.11 million, Tanzania $108.06 million whereas Uganda would have contributed $49.10 million, Rwanda $8.15 million and Burundi $4.33 million.

Permanent secretary for Tanzania’s Ministry of EAC cooperation, Ms Joyce Mapunjo says that if Kenya and Tanzania were to pay more than others, then the deal should be accompanied with some benefits.

The two partner states, among others, demanded a lion share of employment quota and more say on the economic and financial matters of the EAC, if they were to seal a give-and-take deal.

“This will make it easy for countries paying more to explain to the tax payers and members of the legislatures why they must contribute disproportionately than other members” Ms Mapunjo explained in an exclusive interview.

The EAC Council of Ministers report shows that Tanzania was of the view that the Secretariat did not sufficiently address the directive of the Council to develop a comprehensive paper that explores all possible options of financing mechanism.

In addition, Tanzania proposed that the comprehensive paper, apart from exploring fully various options of financing mechanisms, should also include the entire range of the principle of equity-- as opposed to equality -- in other contributions and other areas.

Dar further demanded the secretariat to identify areas of the Treat that will need to be changed to accommodate the new principle.

“It is the view of Tanzania that this paper has to be completed to form a basis for decision making” the report reads in part.

Tanzania proposed that the principle of financial solidarity has to be modified so that the principle of equity, as opposed to equality, can be extended to other dimensions of the EAC.

“The principle of equity should be extended to the size of population of countries in allocating employment quota so that countries with larger population gets correspondingly larger quota” reads the report.

Currently, the EAC use quota system in which partner states share community jobs equally irrespective of their population and contribution to the bloc’s finances.

At the end, Kenya and Tanzania demanded the Secretariat to provide an analysis of all the financing options and their implications.

They also required the Partner States to consult stakeholders in their respective countries on the financing mechanisms options and report to the council of Ministers in August 2014.

Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda were of the view that there is need for the Council to discuss and agree on the principles of alternative financing mechanisms and further details on the modus operandi to be considered later.

Rwanda prefers the hybrid contribution based on 40 percent contribution from Partner States and 60 percent from collections of one percent on the value of imports from outside the EAC.

Burundi insisted that the financing modalities would take into account the principle of equity and the principle of solidarity.

The EAC deputy secretary general, in charge of Finance and Administration, Mr Jean Claude Nsengiyumva, argues that partner states should understand that overdependence on development partners whose support is, the investment driven, does not augur well for the regional integration.

Mr Nsengiyumva said that with the EAC expansion due to concurrent implementation of the three pillars of integration of customs union, common market and monetary union, the current financing mechanism was not sustainable.

The EAC statistics show that from the fiscal year 2007/8 to 2011/12 the regional budget has substantially increased from $23.91 million to $124.3 million, but out of this, partner states’ contribution increased from $13.78 million to $33.67 million.

To make the matters worse, there have been ceilings in contributions and delays in remission of funds from partner states.

As a result, the development partners’ contributions soared significantly from $6.13 million to $90.33 during the period under review.

In 2o13/14 fiscal year, the EAC total budget was pegged to over $140 million, but out of this, partner states contributed just over $37.2 million with the rest coming from external development partners.

This, experts say, poses a risk for EAC integration due to unpredictability and unsustainability of earmarked donor funding.

“We are fooling ourselves with the current financing mechanism. Its is high time the partner states embrace the proposed one percent levy of the value of imports as a more predictable source of financing for EAC secretariat, organs and institutions, as well as community wide-socio-economic-projects” he stressed.

Following, the fiasco the EAC heads of the 12^th states Summit directed the council of ministers to study all feasible sustainable financing options and report to the 16^th ordinary summit in November 2014.

By ADAM IHUCHA--

Local authority in northern Tanzania plans a major land reform, a highlight of which will be a seizure of big tracks of lands under investors and distribute to the land hungry villagers.

Meru District Council in Arumeru district, Arusha region, says it intends to repossess all underutilized farms from investors in a fresh drive to address historical injustice in Meru community.

There’s general feeling that there have been unequal access to agricultural land in Meru, where a small number of companies and individual own vast acreages of land, while the majority farm in very small plots.

As a result, lately, villagers have been attacking farms, saying their productive land has been benefiting rich people, at the expense of thousands of genuinely natives who are landless.

Fresh data indicates that there are nearly 2,300 acres lying idle or underutilization under the slopes of Mount Meru, amid growing landlessness.

Given the jobless growth and the spurt of violence by landless people in Meru, the local authority leaders now feel that the idle farms should be used to reduce poverty and create jobs.

Meru District Council Chairman, Mr Godson Majola confirmed that the land reform would be headed by the land ownership audit, which is currently underway.

Meru land audit exercise, among others, targets the famous Dolly Estate and Karangai sugar plantation with 1,000 and 600 acres respectively.

Mr Majola said that preliminary report shows that the two major farms are either underutilization or their use plan have been changed contrary to the law of the land.

These farms were meant for agricultural undertakings in a bid to maximize production; both of food and export crops and in the process would reduce poverty and create jobs.

It is understood, a better part of Dolly estate has since been turned into golf, wildlife and a real estate with a number of privileged people erecting exclusive posh houses.

The estate is situated in 1,000 acres, approximately 25 km from the tourism stopover of Arusha, and a similar distance from Kilimanjaro International Airport.

Golf and wildlife estate comprises an 18-hole championship golf course set within an area of outstanding natural beauty, overlooking the Mount Kilimanjaro and Meru.

“We will issue a 90 days notice of intent to revoke the lease after that we will write to President Jakaya Kikwete to repeal the lease. Idea is to lease some of these idle farms to the landless people in a bid to defuse tension and others to serious investors who can make the best use of it” he explained.

Other farms under scrutiny include Karam estate with 300 acres, flycatcher farm with 100 acres and Oscar farm covering 150 acres.

“It is a national disgrace that so much land is lying idle and not being used while our youths are jobless,” Mr Majola noted.

One of farm owner who spoke on condition of anonymity argues that farm development is a process and not an event where immediately after one acquires it should turn into agriculture next morning.

“Commercial farming involves a lot of factors such as market fluctuations of what you want to produce. Sometimes you plan to grow coffee, but all of sudden the market floods so as serious investor you can’t just go ahead to put money into a crop that you don’t know where to sale” the investor said.

With regard to the transfer, the investor says the Tanzania land Act of 1999 allows land transfer and even change of land use plan.

Indeed, Tanzania Horticultural Assocition (TAHA) Chairman, Mr Eric Ng’imaryo said the Meru land repossession faces an uphill task as the investment law protects bona fide investors.

“Its not easy option to reclaim a land from investor who acquired the asset legally” noted Mr Ng’imaryo who is a prominent lawyer.

The Tanzania Investment Act section 22 (b) provides that no person who owns, whether wholly or in part, the capital of any business enterprise, shall be compelled by law to cede his interest in the capital to any other person.

Nearly 80 percent of Tanzania’s total horticulture greenhouses are on the slope of the splendid Meru Mountain in Meru District, Arusha region.

This is due to its large size and varied landscape that provides ideal water, soil and climate conditions for a complete range of floriculture and horticulture productions.

Experts say that Mount Meru slope’s temperate highlands are ideal for European flowers and vegetables, while tropical lowland zones are superlative for warm-climate fruit and flowers.

Executive Director for Tanzania Horticulture Association (TAHA) Jacqueline Mkindi said her members are operating in Meru land legally and any attempt to temper with them will cost the country dearly.

Meru with a 20 horticulture farms worth nearly $600 million, employs thousands of local people, Ms Mkindi said, adding that TAHA as an apex body, is watching closely a change in the political wind in Meru.

Horticulture, the third major foreign currency earner after mineral and tourism, earned the second East African community (EAC) largest economy, nearly $1.4 billion in the past four years, cementing its position as the third largest foreign currency earner.

In 2009, TAHA boss says, the industry brought home a total of $3010million, while in 2010, the fastest growing sub-industry earned the country $330million.

In the year 2011, horticulture fetched $350million and in 2013 the industry earns $374 million. The sub-sector also created nearly 467,000 direct employments to local people.

Flowers account at least 80 per cent of horticultural exports from Tanzania. Besides Western Europe hub, some few companies have secured markets in the Mediterranean region, the Middle East and the US.

Growth of the industry is recorded at about 10-13 percent per year, which is one of the fastest growing sectors of the economy.

The industry’s vision is to attain the level of income generated from horticultural businesses at a rate of $1-2billion per year in the next three years.

This will also increase employment by 55 percent and increase other economic activities resulting from horticultural industry growth.

By ADAM IHUCHA-- Tanzania is facing pressure as activists demand for the abolition of the death penalty in an attempt to save hundreds of death row inmates.

A fortnight ago the Constitutional Review Commission (CRC) unveiled the second draft Constitution before the President Jakaya Kikwete, but anti-death penalty campaigners say the blueprint has retained capital punishment against their expectations.

Article 72. -(1) (k) of the second draft stipulates that: “The President in his position as the Head of State shall have the power and duties to, among others, (k) endorse the execution of the death penalty as issued in accordance to the laws of the country.”

Annah Mghwira, a human rights activist said that the clause is conflicting to Article 24, which guarantees one’s right to life and protection from the state and the community in accordance to the laws of the country.

“Enough is enough for the death penalty in our own land because two wrongs cannot make right. The punishment doesn’t augur well as it tends to stir hatred among the members of the society,” Ms. Mgwhira said.

She said that they are weighing options to push through the constituent Assembly due to convene next month (February) to abolish the capital sentence.

The Legal and Human Right Centre (LHRC)’s Executive Director Dr Helen Kijo said that members of the constituent Assembly ought to remove the Article in the draft constitution that provides powers to the President to sign execution order.

Otherwise, Dr. Kijo was of the view that death row prisoners should be substituted with life imprisonment sentences to give them the opportunity to reform.

Statistics from Tanzania Prison Services (TPS) show that as of October 15, 20013 there were 364 inmates in various prisons waiting for the execution.

According to the TPS legal commissioner, (CP), Dr. Juma Malewa 86 out of the country’s 364 death row prisoners have appealed before the Court of Appeal Tanzania.

However, legal experts say that fewer appeals from the court of appeal are decided in favor of appellants by the court of appeal.

In mates who have lost in their appeals suffer physiological disorders for not knowing their fate.

In addition, congested and underfunded prisons incur more expenses in maintaining them.

Though data are not readily available, but it is understood, during the first phase government a few death sentences were carried out.

However, this trend had changed as several death sentences have been executed during the second phase government.

Intelligence sources say that the third and fourth regime under President Benjamen Mkapa and the incumbent head of the state, Jakaya Kikwete, have never signed the execution order.

The Attorney General, Justice Frederick Werema, could not explain why Presidents have not signed execution orders as the law provides.

Justice Werema added that the fact that Tanzania follows customs and moral in its leadership it might be a source of making it hard for the two presidents to execute capital punishment.

“In the views of human rights activists, Presidents’ hesitations indicate unwritten moratorium by Tanzania in response to international criticism” says Law Lecturer at Tumaini Makumira University, Elifuraha Laltaika.

The United Nations and other International human rights institutions condemn death sentence as being cruel, inhuman and degrading.

"In democratic societies, death penalty is regarded as a barbaric form of punishment” he says.

Amnesty International has pleaded to all civilized and democratic states to abolish death penalty.

During its 1977 conference at Stockholm a declaration was adopted on the abolition of the death Penalty. This is known as declaration of Stockholm, 1977."

The Stockholm conference on the Abolition of the Death Penalty composed of 200 delegates and participants from Africa, Asia, Europe, The Middle East, North and South America and the Caribbean region.

However, the Law Reform Commission of Tanzania conducted a survey on the abolition of the death sentence way back in 1993 and majority of Tanzanians prefer its retention in the laws.

Death penalty was introduced in Mainland Tanzania by the Colonial rule.

The legislation was passed to apply section 302 of the Indian Penal Code, to the territory and such legislation was replaced by section 2 of the Punishment for Murder Ordinance, No. 28 of the Tanganyika Territory, in 1921.

In Mainland Tanzania the only offences, which attract capital punishment are murder pursuant to sections 196 and 197 of Penal Code, (Cap. 16).

In the case of murder it is mandatory for the High court to impose the death penalty, while on the other hand, it is discretionary in the cases of offences of treason and treasonable felonies.

Ms Saada Mkuya, Finance Minister.

By ADAM IHUCHA--President Jakaya Kikwete has reshuffled his cabinet, bringing in several new faces and elevating a number of deputy ministers.

Ms Saada Mkuya Salum has been promoted into a full Finance Minister, with Mr Mwigulu Nchemba and Mr Adam Malima as her deputies.

She replaced Dr, William Mgimwa who died on Jan. 1 after a long illness. Ms Mkuya was deputy minister since 2012 and before that finance commissioner in Zanzibar.

The promotion of Ms Mkuya, is not expected to herald a policy change in the fast-growing east African economy.

"The appointment of the new finance minister signals that there will be continuity at the Finance Ministry," said Honest Ngowi, a senior economics lecturer at Mzumbe University's Business School in the commercial capital Dar es Salaam.

"This is a donor-dependent economy therefore it needs to engage donors in a continuous debate," he said. "Donors have engaged with her regularly when she was deputy finance minister” Dr. Ngowi says.

Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Tourism, Mr Lazaro Nyalandu, takes over as minister while Mr Mahamoud Mgimwa becomes his deputy.

Mr Nyalandu faces a number of challenges, poaching menace ranking high, among others.

Tanzania has been hit by an upsurge in poaching; with at least 60 elephants killed in the two months of December 2013 and January 2014.

Wildlife officials say between 2008 and 2012, poachers have slaughtered a total of 776 elephants in various national parks.

The ministry records show that way back in 2008; poachers killed 104 elephants, while in 2009 and 2010 they slaughtered 127 and 259 jumbos respectively.

In 2011 poachers were responsible for killing 276 and 2012 up to mid April they have decimated 87 elephants.

Tanzania, with 70,000-80,000 elephants in 2009, is thought to be home to nearly a quarter of all African elephants.

“But with this rate of loss we will have none left in 10 years. The African Elephant could be extinct by 2025” says Tanzania Association of Tour Operators (TATO) Vice-Chairman Mr. Peter Lindstrom.

Mr Lindstrom further said that in the last 10 years, one third of all ivory seized across the world has originated from Tanzania.

Central bank’s latest economic review proves that travel has outshined gold as the country’s leading foreign exchange earner, thanks to the gold falling prices at the world market.

The Bank of Tanzania said in its September Monthly Economic Review that the value of gold export declined from $2.15 billion in the year ended September 2012 to $1.748 billion in the year ended September 2013 while tourism surged from $1.61 billion to $1.82 billion during the same period.

Mr Mathias Chikawe is new Home Affairs Minister, while Mr Pereira Ame Silima remains deputy minister.

Former United Nations Deputy Secretary General, Dr Asha- Rose Migiro, takes over the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs from Mr Chikawe, while Ms Angelah Kairuki remains deputy minister.

Dr Titus Kamani takes over as Minister of Livestock and Fisheries Development, with Mr Kaika Telele as his deputy replacing Benedict ole Nangoro.

Dr Hussein Mwinyi takes over as new Minister for Defence and National Service, while his deputy at the Health Ministry, Dr Seif Rashid, succeeds him, with Dr Steven Kebwe as his deputy.

Education and Culture Minister Dr Shukuru Kawambwa, Water Minister Prof Jumanne Maghembe and Agriculture, Food Security and Cooperatives Minister Christopher Chiza.

Other surprise faces dropped include Dr Terezya Huvisa who was Minister of State in the Vice-President's Office (Environment).

Ms Pindi Chana takes over as Deputy Minister for Community Development, Gender and Children from Ms Ummy Mwalimu, who has been transferred to the VPO as deputy minister responsible for union matters replacing Mr Charles Kitwanga.

Mr Kitwanga has been appointed Deputy Minister for Energy and Minerals; replacing Mr George Simbachawene who goes to the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Human Settlements to replace Mr Goodluck ole Medeye.

Mr Gregory Theu has been dropped as Deputy Minister for Trade and Industry and his place taken by Ms Janet Mbene, who was formerly a deputy minister for finance.

Veteran broadcaster and Kondoa South MP Juma Nkamia becomes the new Deputy Minister for Information, Youth, Culture and Sports.

By ADAM IHUCHA--Talks on South Sudan’s accession to the EAC have failed to take off as slated due to ongoing violence in the World’s newest nation.

Initial negotiations were slated for January 13-22 in northern Tanzania safari capital of Arusha, but they had to be shelved indefinitely after Juba’s mission failed to show up.

South Sudan applied for entry into the EAC in 2011 soon after acquiring Independence.

“To date, the EAC secretariat has not received any formal response from South Sudan about the country’s participation on the accession negotiations,” said EAC spokesperson Owora Richard Othieno.

Mr Owora says that the EAC has learnt from the Minister of Finance of South Sudan that the country has proposed a deferral of the negotiations.

“We understand that official communication in this regard will be dispatched soon to the EAC headquarters,” Mr Owora said.

For now, the new negotiation dates will be determined upon consultation with the EAC partner states of Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi.

South Sudan has been gripped by violence since December 15, when clashes broke out between army units loyal to President Salva Kiir and those supporting former vice president Riek Machar.

United Nations estimates that close to half a million civilians have fled their homes over the past month, to escape what has become an ethnic war between members of President Kiir’s Dinka people — the country’s largest tribe — and Mr Machar’s Nuer community.

Up to 10,000 people are said to have been killed in the fighting.

Last November, a high level mission from South Sudan led by Aggrey Tisa Sabuni, the minister of finance, commerce, investment and economic planning was hosted by Mr Sezibera at the headquarters in Arusha. The delegation had gone to assess the requirements for joining the regional bloc.

The EAC council of ministers constituted a high level negotiations team (HNLT), which included three members from each partner state, to start the negotiations by January 2014. The second and third meetings were scheduled for March and April 2014.

The HLNT would have reported the outcome of the negotiations to the EAC Heads of State Summit in April for a decision to be made. However, with the current situation, analysts predict that Juba’s walk to join EAC will be long.

A source close to the EAC said the ongoing violence could imply that the young nation is not ready to join the bloc.

“The violence sends a wrong message to the EAC. Partner states will start questioning whether Juba will be able to cope with diversity in the EAC when it can’t manage its own security,” the source said.

EAC Secretary General Richard Sezibera is on record as saying that the current crisis in South Sudan does not augur well with its bid for membership in the EAC.

Adherence to universally acceptable principles of good governance, democracy, the rule of law, observance of human rights and social justice are among the criteria South Sudan needs to fulfill to be accepted into the bloc.

Other criteria include contribution to the strengthening of integration within the region, geographical proximity to and inter-dependence between it and partner states.

The country would also have to maintain and establish a market driven economy, and have social and economic policies that are compatible with those of the community.

The EAC verification report indicates that South Sudan meets four of the six criteria above.

These include geographical proximity, market driven economy, compatibilities in social and economic policies and potential contribution to the strengthening of integration.

South Sudan is slightly larger than Kenya in area, but has a population of just 8.5 million. Kenya’s population is more than 40 million.

Juba provides a huge market, and Kenya and Uganda have more than quadrupled their exports in goods and services to Southern Sudan in the past 10 years.

“There is a sense of belonging and attachment to EAC socially, historically, culturally and geographically,” reads the EAC report.

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Empire Voice

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Dr. Salim, Bregadier Mbita Receive Prestigious AU Award

South Sudan Nearly Shoots Its Accession Bid to the EAC

How Kenya, Tanzania Thwarted EAC New Financing Bid

Tanzania's Major Land Reforms In the Offing

Tanzania Adamant To Abolish Death Penalty

Tanzania Unveils a New Cabinet Ministers

Civil War Stalls Talks for South Sudan to Join EAC

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