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Chairman of the EAC Council of
Ministers, Jakaya Kikwete. |
EALA endorses 'shoestring' budget
By Staff Writer
In an unprecedented move the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) last week
endorsed the other half of the 2005 /6 East African Community (EAC) fiscal year
budget, despite the fact that the same assembly had refused to approve that
budget three months ago.
Last June, the EALA Members had turned down the same budget estimates of US
Dollars 18.9million, saying the budget was too small and wouldn't be able to
finance the community's activities. They however approved only half of the
budget in order to keep the EAC activities afloat, pending further
consultations.
Late last month the same house resolved to endorse the same 'peanut' figure,
after the EAC partner states were reported to be sticking to their guns
declining to top-up the budget..
Presenting for the second time the EAC budget for year 2005/06 in Arusha, the
interim chairperson of the EAC Council of Ministers, John Koech, told the house
that the three partner sates have found it rather impossible to top up the
budget.
Koech had sincerely admitted that the issue of increasing the budget was out of
question since the Tanzanian parliament at the time, stood dissolved pending the
upcoming general elections, hence any proposed adjustments on the financial
implications of the EAC budget would not have opportunity to be considered by
the Tanzania parliament.
"Kenya and Uganda are also involved in constitutional review and referenda
processes that involved significant budget commitments," Koech told the house,
adding that in all the three partner states, the ministries of finance had
already closed their annual budget processes".
"In view of these constraining factors and circumstances and with the exception
of the budgetary implications in respect of the decision of the extra-ordinary
summit, re-opening the EAC budget process is not feasible at this stage," the
Minister explained.
He further asked the house to simply approve the remaining half of the budget,
with due expectations that any necessary adjustments were to be considered in
the context of the mid-term review of the budget scheduled for January, 2006 as
supplementary estimates.
Koech however assured the EALA that the negotiations would continue with a view
to implementing a proposal on alternative options of financing the community
budgets, explaining that the intention was to have decisions in place in respect
of alternative financing sources by the financial years 2006/07.
"With the foregoing explanatory notes, the council of ministers recommends to
the EALA to debate and approve the budget of EAC for financial year 2005/6"
Koech said.
During their debate, a total of 14 out of 21 members who attended the house have
Okayed the proposal while only seven opposed it.
The EAC Council of Ministers in June tabled a US $ 18.9m budget, but the
assembly approved a only US$ 9,468,047 of it for the purpose of meeting the
necessary basic expenditures of the EAC. When moving a motion to approve the
vote for the body in June, the Chairman of the EAC Council of Ministers, Jakaya
Kikwete, asked the legislators to endorse half of the budget to enable the EAC
activities to go on. Kikwete said there was a need to give more time to complete
the consultative process on the budget as the normal operations of the regional
body move on. He assured EALA members that the EAC partner states' consultations
are aimed at reviewing the budget proposal beyond December 2005. 'In this
regard, I would like to propose that the House approve the Vote of Account of
half the proposed budget as we go on with the consultations and approve our
national budgets,' Kikwete said. The approved Vote of Account of US$ 9,468,047
is apportioned as follows: US$ 6,692,812 for the EAC Secretariat (including the
Defence Liaison Office and the Directorate of Customs;) US$ 1,326,624 for the
East African Legislative Assembly; US $ 332,473 for the East African Court of
Justice and US$ 1,116,138 for the Lake Victoria Basin Commission. However, the
majority of legislators opposed the budget proposal, arguing the US$18.9m was
too little to finance the EAC activities. The EALA members were on view that the
council of ministers should review the budget and increase it at least to the
tune of US dollars 25m.
Contributing to the debate, Ahmed Zubedi (Kenya) said the US dollars 18.9m were
inadequate to enable the EAC to run its affairs smoothly. 'This is a joke by the
EAC technocrats who prepared the budget, because the US$ 18.9m budget is not
enough to run EAC headquarters' activities for the interests of over 90 million
East Africans,' he pointed out. Capt Richard Baker Ddudu (Uganda) said the
people of East Africa felt left out in the integration process because the
'meager' budgets that had been approved in the past three years could not enable
the EAC Secretariat to sensitize them. 'I can see this budget as a mere
catalogue of events; it does not have something tangible for the common people
of EA to feel the integration process. Yet we are boasting that the EAC is
people-centered,' Yonasani Bankobeza Kanyomozi ( Uganda) said. Shilla Kawamalla
(Kenya) expressed concern that the budget proposal does not give any direction
of where the EAC should go and challenged the Council of Ministers to review and
come up with a revised budget that will be realistic. Lydia Wanyoto Mutende
(Uganda) said: 'We support it, but we throw the ball back to the Council to
reconsider the budget,'
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