Press Release

EAC Centres of Excellence in Health to build local capacity in healthcare

East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, Tanzania, 19th August, 2019: The East African Community has expanded the region’s capacity to deliver high quality health services through the establishment of Regional Centres of Excellence (RCoEs) in the Partner States.

EAC Deputy Secretary General in charge of the Productive and Social Sectors, Hon. Christophe Bazivamo, further disclosed that the the RCoEs would also provide quality education, vocational training and research to students and practitioners in the health sector.

Hon. Bazivamo named the RCoEs as those for Kidney Diseases (Kenya); Heart Diseases (Tanzania); Cancer (Uganda); e-Health, Biomedical Engineering and Health Rehabilitation Sciences (Rwanda), and; Vaccines, Immunization and Health Supply Chain Management (Rwanda).

“We cannot develop skills adequately in these areas at the national level, but we can do so through these Centres of Excellence in the Partner States,” said Hon. Bazivamo.

Hon. Bazivamo said it was anticipated that the Centres of Excellence in health would reduce the huge numbers of East Africans travelling to India to seek specialized medical care.

Hon. Bazivamo was speaking at the EAC Headquarters when he received three Senators from the Kenya Senate Standing Committee on National Cohesion, Equal Opportunity and Regional Integration. The Senate Committee is undertaking a fact-finding mission to engage EAC Organs and Institutions from 18th to 30th August, 2019. On the team were Senators Judy Pareno, Mercy Chebeni and Christine Zawadi.

The Deputy Secretary General briefed the Senators on the progress made by the Community in the four stages of integration, namely: the Customs Union, Common Market, Monetary Union and Political Federation.

He cited some of the achievements made by the EAC over the past two decades as: increased intra-regional trade, reduction of non-tariff barriers, infrastructure development, harmonisation of education systems and curricula, development of the EAC international e-passport, signing of Mutual Recognition Agreements, payment of tuition fees at local rates by EAC nationals studying in other Partner States, and increased cross-border investment.

He singled out the tendency by Partner States to prioritise national programmes as opposed to those agreed upon at the regional level saying this posed challenges to the implementation of EAC projects and programmes.

In her remarks, Senator Judy Pareno said that the Committee was on a fact-finding mission to enable them understand the EAC and the role of the Community’s Organs and Institutions in the implementation of the EAC Treaty, in addition to their achievements and challenges.

The Senators noted that there was lack of awareness among East Africans on the EAC integration process, adding that Partner States governments and the EAC should do more to sensitise people at the grassroots on the Community and its role in their lives.

- ENDS -

For more information, please contact:

Simon Peter Owaka
Senior Public Relations Officer
Corporate Communications and Public Affairs Department
EAC Secretariat
Arusha, Tanzania
Tel: +255 768 552087
Email: sowaka [at] eachq.org

About the East African Community Secretariat:

The East African Community (EAC) is a regional intergovernmental organisation of six Partner States, comprising Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudna, Tanzania and Uganda, with its headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania.

The EAC Secretariat is ISO 9001: 2008 Certified

Syngrafii, East African Community & TradeMark East Africa Collaborate on Virtual Document Execution

TORONTO – Syngrafii Inc. – August 8th, 2019 – Syngrafii Inc. and TradeMark East Africa have collaborated and partnered with the EAC Secretariat to transform the method of executing agreements amongst and between the Partner States through the deployment of a Digital Channel for the remote signing of official documents.  TMEA has facilitated the deployment of the Syngrafii platform within the EAC Secretariat where we have installed the first Syngrafii LongPen™ in conjunction with sPaper™ to deliver improved operational performance, greater geographic market reach and faster document execution for the EAC Member States.  This will service both diverse governmental initiatives and their respective business units along with their partners and the constituents they serve.

Highlights:

The EAC Secretariat has adopted ICTs and continues to develop IT infrastructure in order to facilitate and support daily activities and operations. This has resulted in an increased efficiency. The EAC Secretariat established a Video Conferencing system between its headquarters and Partner States to facilitate its core business needs.

It wished to enhance the VC system by introducing an online signature system. There is a requirement to implement a system that allows a report to be signed online immediately after a meeting.

The solution integrates the LongPen™ and sPaper™ for the signing of critical and highly confidential documents which require an authenticated “Wet-Ink” signature in order to meet the diverse, geographically constrained governmental compliance and governance requirements.

  • Syngrafii’s LongPen™ Printer and sPaper™ enables The EAC signing Ministers to execute complex, highly sensitive legal agreements and contracts in a more timely manner while enhancing the level of compliance and improving the global carbon footprint.
  • Syngrafii’s seamless integration into The EAC’s operations has resulted in an immediate improvement to our document execution processes. The EAC will be able to reduce Minister and staff travel times while meeting or exceeding tight timelines of completion.  The EAC anticipates significantly further benefits as they expand the use of the platform.
  • The Syngrafii system does not require any pre-processing of documents allowing The EAC to use ALL existing approved documents and forms, reducing process change risk; as well as saving time and money on the integration into their operational systems. These savings in time and document management efficiency deliver an additional operational effectiveness.

Supporting Quotes:

The EAC

“We are very excited to be working with Syngrafii on this ground-breaking initiative. We believe that this technology is revolutionary, and it is already changing the way our legally binding documents and agreements are presented and ‘signed’ by our Partner States and other institutions and supporting agencies.

The reaction from our constituents to remote paperless signings thus far has been overwhelmingly positive. They are impressed not only by the fact that the paperwork is being processed faster, they also comment on how convenient & environmentally friendly the process is.

Syngrafii has enabled The EAC to securely sign documents across geographically dispersed locations and operations while exceeding all compliance and non-repudiation requirements of the transaction. Combined with Syngrafii’s convenience and ease of use we can securely, quickly and confidently execute agreements and contracts with our Partners States.”

Further TMEA Testimonial:

“Indeed it has been a pleasure working with Syngrafii. The gains from the operationalization of the online signature system, are perceptible and it has enhanced the speed of decision making at the EAC Secretariat. There are no longer major delays in key Organizational meetings (although of course some meetings remain physical in nature, especially those that require negotiations and longer deliberations).

TMEA is proud to have facilitated that process.”

About TradeMark East Africa

TradeMark (Trade and Markets) East Africa is a multi-purpose donor funded, not-for-profit Aid for Trade organisation, established to support the growth of trade – both regional and international – In East Africa. TMEA operates on a not-for-profit basis and is funded by the development agencies of the following countries: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, Norway, UK, and USA. TMEA works closely with East African Community (EAC) institutions, national governments, the private sector and civil society organisations.

Established in 2010, TMEA supports a portfolio of programmes across the East Africa Community partner countries, working closely with our partners - the EAC Partner States, EAC Secretariat, the private sector and civil society - TMEA has made a significant contribution to this growth by delivering large scale impact in its highly successful first strategic phase which was completed in December 2017.

TMEA Is now embarking on Its second strategic phase for the six years from 2017/18 to 2022/23 known as “Strategy 2” which seeks to increase trade by unlocking economic potential anchored on 2 key outcomes:

  • Reduced barriers to trade; and
  • Improving business competitiveness.

We believe there are several pathways from increased trade to sustainable, inclusive prosperity through, for example, job creation, poverty reduction, economic growth, increased government revenue, enhanced economic welfare, and greater economic resilience.

TMEA has its headquarters in Nairobi with offices in Arusha, Bujumbura, Dar es Salaam, Juba, Kampala and Kigali.

To find out more, please visit the TMEA website at www.trademarkea.com

About Syngrafii Inc.

Syngrafii is the only eSignature company in the world that brings the security & the case law associated with the execution of paper documents into the fast lane of the digital age.

Syngrafii provides the proprietary option of executing original biometric ink signatures onto hard copy or electronic documents when and where you want.

The only Signature solution that protects users’ Signature technology investment & business-forward flexibility. Syngrafii’s Signature platform allows users to implement the right Signature solution they need, whether click-to-sign, Type to sign, or the Gold Standard Wet Ink on Digital & Paper documents.   Syngrafii…  One Vendor…  One Platform

https://www.syngrafii.com

More Information:

Learn more about the Syngrafii LongPen™ & sPaper eSignature Solutions

More Information:
Matthew M. Gibson
CEO and Co-Founder
Syngrafii Inc.
E:  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Eng. Daniel Murenzi
Principal Information Technology Officer
East African Community

Nelson Karanja
Communications Director
TradeMark East Africa

Court grants interim order restraining the Inter-University Council for East Africa from recruiting Chief Research & Innovation Coordination Officer

East African Court of Justice Arusha, 5th July, 2019: The First Instance Division granted an interim order restraining the Inter-University Council for East Africa (IUCEA) from pursuing the recruitment process in respect of the position of Chief Research and Innovation Coordination Officer, until the determination of the main Case (Reference No.13 of 2017).

The Court said that it was satisfied that the Application has been conceded by the Respondent (IUCEA) through her supporting affidavit in reply, having agreed to suspend and halt the recruitment process in issue, pending the determination of the case. The court therefore did not subscribe to Counsel to the Community (CTC), Dr Anthony Kafumbe’s contention during the hearing of the Application, arguing that the Application is moot. Hence court granted the order.

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East African Community
EAC Close
Afrika Mashariki Road
P.O. Box 1096
Arusha
United Republic of Tanzania

Tel: +255 (0)27 216 2100
Fax: +255 (0)27 216 2190
Email: eac@eachq.org