East African Arts and Cultural Festival ongoing in Nairobi
The Deputy President of the Republic of Kenya, H.E. William Ruto officially opened the 2nd edition of the East African Community Arts and Culture Festival (Jumuiya ya Afrika Mashariki Utamaduni Festival - JAMAFEST) yesterday at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre (KICC) Nairobi, Kenya.
The Deputy President, who represented His Excellency President Uhuru Kenyatta, urged the Partner States, through the Council of Ministers, to nurture arts and culture in the region by developing appropriate policies, strategies and programmes that address the creative industry in a holistic manner and tap into the abundant talents in the region.
He said the EAC Partner States in line with the Common Market Protocol must develop strategies through which the region can benefit from this lucrative trade opportunity to realise development gains while fostering, protecting and promoting the creative economy in the region.
The Guest of Honour further urged the Council of Ministers to be passionate about Sports and Cultural sectors by allocating enough resources for championing activities that bring the East African common citizens together.
“These activities, which are really close to the hearts of our common citizens, include festivals of this nature as well as sports and games competitions in all major disciplines”.
His Excellency Ruto said convening and hosting the 2nd edition of JAMAFEST in Nairobi was a big leap forward in creating social understanding among the East African people, who have common identity, aspirations and destiny; adding that “We need to use our arts and culture to creatively tell the East African story”.
The Cabinet Secretary for East African Community Affairs, Commerce and Tourism, Hon. Phyllis Kandie, who represented the Council of Ministers, disclosed that in an effort to strengthen the capacity of cultural actors, the Community will be focusing on facilitating and supporting the harmonisation of cultural policies and legislations within the region in order to create a conducive policy environment for transfer of knowledge, exchange of expertise and best practices among cultural actors in both the private and public sectors.
The Cabinet Secretary reiterated that the Council of Ministers recognises the important role that Culture and Sports play towards reinforcing the spirit of East African unity and development and galvanising a passionate, visionary and broad participation among the East African people, reflecting the basic principle of a people-centered regional integration.
The Secretary-General of the East African Community Amb. Dr Richard Sezibera said that although Jumuiya ya Afrika Mashariki is a political project, the region’s unity would ultimately not be achieved through politics, but through culture.
Amb. Sezibera further noted that the bloc’s creative industry happens to be one of the most rapidly growing sectors in East Africa not only in terms of income generation (it is a 2 billion dollar industry), but also employment creation, as well as export trade. “Human creativity and innovation are the key drivers of the creation of wealth of households and countries in the 21st century. Our Community is no different”, asserted Amb. Sezibera.
The Secretary-General reiterated that culture enables development and contributes to the region’s national economies through investments in identity, innovation and creativity, adding that “culture can help build new development pathways for individuals, communities and countries - and, in contra distinction to growth based on natural resources, it contributes to equity - across gender, generations, regions, and countries”.
Contingents of cultural workers, artists from all the five Partner States of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, United Republic of Tanzania and Uganda, and the Nairobi public are taking part in the week-long JAMAFEST under the theme; unleashing the economic potential of cultural and creative industries in the EAC. The festival website is: jamafest2015.eac.int.