National Consultations for EAC Political Confederation kick off in Republic of Uganda
pol East African Community Secretariat, Arusha, Tanzania, 23rd April, 2021: The national consultations for the drafting of the EAC Political Confederation Constitution for the Republic of Uganda kicked off with sessions in Entebbe and the western ugandan town of Kabaale.
The 14-day consultations will see the team of constitutional experts for Drafting the EAC Political Federation Constitution hold consultations with civil society, local leaders, opinion leaders and the business community among other stakeholders to seek their views on what kind of a Political Confederation they would desire for the EAC.
Apart from Entebbe and Kabaale, the team of experts will hold consultations in Mbarara, Mbale, Gulu, Arua and the capital city Kampala.
Speaking during the opening session of the team’s first sitting in Entebbe, Uganda’s Minister of State for EAC Affairs, Hon. Julius Maganda Wandera, expressed hope that the consultations would enable the Community to have working constitution for the proposed Confederation.
Hon. Wandera observed that the team of experts had finalised a situational analysis for constitutions of existing political confederations and were now conducting national consultations in order to come up with a zero draft for the EAC Political Confederation.
Hon. Wandera assured the team that the Government of Uganda was in full support of the process and had put in place measures to ensure that the national consultations were a success.
“We are ready to transit with team until the end of the process. East Africans are anxious to know about the Political Confederation that will be proposed. I therefore urge the team of experts to talk to the media as much as possible so that citizens understand what is at stake,” said the Minister adding that the Confederation was a transitional model to the Political Federation.
In his remarks, the Chairperson of the team of constitutional experts, Hon. Justice Benjamin Odoki, said that the views of all stakeholders including civil society, political leaders, local authorities, private sector, academia and opinion leaders would be taken in account while drafting the constitution for the Confederation, thus the national consultations that would be held in all the six (6) EAC Partner States.
Justice Odoki disclosed that the Republic of Burundi had the first round of consultations in January 2020 that he described as a success, adding that this would inform and guide consultations in other Partner States going forward.
Justice Odoki pointed out that the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic and the elections in Burundi and Uganda over the past one year had slowed down the progress of the national consultations but expressed hope that the future was now bright with the advent of the Covid vaccines and the peaceful elections in Burundi and Uganda.
The retired Chief Justice of Uganda clarified that the Terms of Reference for the team was to draft a constitution for the Political Confederation, which is transitional model to the Political Federation as enshrined in the Treaty for the Establishment of the EAC.
Speaking at the Kabaale consultation session, Busia (Kenya) Senator Amos Wako, who is also the Deputy Chairperson of the Team of Experts, urged participants to tell the team what amount of powers that the proposed Confederation should have in order to resolve emerging issues on the integration journey.
In their submissions to the experts at the Kabaale forum, some of the participants called for free trade that was not limited by tariffs, free education in other Partner States without limitations, lack of limitations on freedom of worship, and uniform national laws, policies and regulations in the entire region.
Other participants urged Partner States to implement the first free pillars of the integration, namely: the Customs Union; Common Market, and; Monetary Union before starting discussions on the Political Federation.
Other delegates called for the Political Confederation to be fast-tracked as a way of resolving the challenges to the other stages of the integration.
They further asked for quick resolution of existing disputes among Partner States even as consultations continue for the Political Confederation.
There were also calls by participants that Partner States seeking to join the Community must abide fully to the criteria as spelled out in the Treaty.
NOTES FOR EDITORS:
The Political Federation is the ultimate pillar in the EAC integration process, being preceded by the Customs Union, Common Market and Monetary Union in that order.
The Summit of EAC Heads of State in May 2017 adopted a Political Confederation as the transitional model to the Political Federation. The Team of Experts was appointed by the Summit in February 2018 and is chaired by Justice Benjamin Odoki, retired Chief Justice of Uganda. Justice Odoki is deputised by Busia (Kenya) Senator Amos Wako, who is also a former Kenyan Attorney General.
The objectives of the National Consultations for the EAC Political Confederation are threefold:
- Enhance awareness on the ongoing Constitution-making process for transforming the EAC into a Political Confederation;
- Obtain stakeholders’ views on their interests and key issues to inform the drafting of model Confederation and subsequently a Confederal Constitution in line with the principle of people-centred regional community, and;
- Prepare the public in general to give their inputs into the draft Constitution once it will be drafted.
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 Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda, with its headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania.
The EAC Secretariat is ISO 9001: 2015 Certified
Tags: Political Federation, #EAConfederation, Political Confederation