Uganda’s State Minister for EAC Affairs urges youth in the region to embrace the spirit of competition
East African Community Secretariat; Arusha, Tanzania; 28 June 2017:
Uganda’s Minister of State for East African Community Affairs, Hon. Maganda Julius Wandera, has urged the youth in the EAC region to embrace the spirit of competition.
Hon. Wandera said that the EAC and the world beyond were inherently competitive, adding that the youth would not benefit from the opportunities being created in the region if they were not ready to compete.
Hon. Wandera, who was speaking at the launch of EAC Brand Architecture Design Competition at the College of Engineering, Design, Art and Technology (CEDAT) of Makerere University, Kampala, said ring-fencing the competition to the youths in the region is not by accident because the Community recognizes the significance of the youths in the integration process.
Hon. Wandera said that Partner States were obliged under Article 120 of the Treaty for the Establishment of the EAC to engage the youth as a special interest group in the integration process.
The Minister said the Community encourages competition and that was partly the reason it enacted the EAC Competition Act 2006, which led to the establishment of the EAC Competition Authority, as one of the Institutions of the EAC.
“Although its main mandate is to curb unfair trade practices and protect consumers from sub-standard goods in the region in the region, its spirit is to engrain competitiveness in all our undertakings,” he said.
He told the students that the current EAC Logo and Flag were not adaptive to the expansion of the Community in terms of geographical location and the colour scheme, a situation which called for the re-designing.
The Hon. Minister commended the Team from the EAC Secretariat for ensuring that the EAC Emblem and Logo Re-design campaign takes off in the Partner States, which will eventually lead to redesigning of the identity symbols that will be aligned to the current developments in the region.
“The purpose of the EAC is to bring accelerated economic development for all and help us move away from a least developed to a developed region in the shortest possible time,” he added.
Earlier, a team from the EAC Secretariat led by the Head of Corporate Communication and Public Affairs Department, Mr. Owora Richard Othieno sensitized students/youths from CEDAT and other Universities within Kampala, who had converged at the CEDAT Conference Hall, on the latest developments taking place at the regional bloc and on the Brand Architecture Design Competition.
Mr. Othieno informed the students and youths that the positive developments taking place in all the pillars of the integration in the region were indicative of the right path EAC was pursuing. “Partly that is why some of the neighboring States want to associate and join the Community”, asserted Mr. Othieno, adding that “Our Community is moving forward, visible and focused”.
He said in the period ahead, emphasis will be on full implementation of the Single Customs Territory, EAC Common Market Protocol, East African Monetary Union Protocol, regional infrastructure development, and movement towards the Political Confederation as a Transitional Model of the East African Political Federation.
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For more information, please contact:
Mr Owora Richard Othieno
Head, Corporate Communications and Public Affairs Department
EAC Secretariat
Arusha, Tanzania
Tel: +255 784 835021
Email: OOthieno [at] eachq.org
About the East African Community Secretariat:
The East African Community (EAC) is a regional intergovernmental organisation of five Partner States, comprising Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda, with its headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania.
The EAC Secretariat is ISO 9001: 2008 Certified