4th Annual EAC Secretary General’s Forum for Private Sector, Civil Society and other interest groups held in Dar
The 4th Annual Secretary General's Forum for Private Sector, Civil Society and Other Interest Groups was held from 3rd to 4th March 2016 in Dar es Salaam, United Republic of Tanzania with participants drawn from the civil society, private sector and members of other interest groups from the Partner States.Addressing the participants during the official closing session on 4th March, 2016, Dr. Ramadhan Mwinyi, Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, East African, Regional and International Cooperation, Tanzania noted that the forum was the best practice of how to engage dialoguing parties for the East Africa integration agenda.
"This being the 4th year of consistent dialogue is testament of the commitment of all stakeholders to an all-inclusive sustained engagement in the EAC integration process", said Dr. Mwinyi
The Deputy Permanent Secretary who represented Minister of Foreign Affairs, East Africa, Regional and International Cooperation, Amb. Augustine Philip Mahiga further pledged to the participants that the region will remain very active in responding to the needs of the civil society, private sector and other interest groups.
In his remarks, the EAC Secretary General Amb. Dr Richard Sezibera challenged the citizens to lead the anti-corruption crusade in East Africa by electing ethical leaders. "Democracy should be about citizens determining their stake in how they want to be governed, empowering citizens to became prosperous and improving the dialogue of what model of countries they want to have", said Dr. Sezibera.
Amb. Sezibera emphasized the need for citizens in East Africa to stop rewarding corrupt and unethical leaders by not re-electing them back to office.
The German Ambassador to Tanzania and EAC, Amb. Egon Kochanke, while giving his remarks commended the EAC Secretariat and regional dialogue partners for having institutionalized the annual event saying the forum would yield positive outcomes for the integration process.
Amb. Kochanke further lauded the fact that out of 76 resolutions emanating from the dialogue over the past three years, more than 20 resolutions had been fully implemented, adding that about 40 resolutions were well on track to implementation. "We are impressed by the rich discussions that transpired throughout the forum and the diversity of citizens representations from all spheres of EAC," said the Ambassador
The EAC Deputy Secretary General in charge of Productive and Social Sector Hon. Jesca Eriyo noted the private sector's notable progress towards improving governance through the launch of the Code of Conduct for the Private Sector by the EAC Heads of State at their 17th Ordinary Meeting held on 2nd March in Arusha.
On his part Prof. Adebayo Olukoshi of the Asia Institute of Democracy and Electoral Assistance in his keynote address, challenged African leaders to embrace social justice and democracy by establishing strong electoral independent institutions.
Meanwhile, the EAC Secretary General officially launched the new EAC mobile application which seeks to provide real time news updates and improve access to EAC information through mobile phones.
Also present at the Forum was the EAC Deputy Secretary General in charge of Political Federation, Mr. Charles Njoroge.
The 5th Annual Secretary General's forum will be held in September 2016.