East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, Tanzania, 16 September 2020: Border Posts are high-risk areas regarding the spread of COVID 19 and other infectious diseases from one country to another. These “Points of Entry” are at the center of movement of people, animals and goods from one country to another.
The capacity of border post staff to prevent the spread of the virus and to quickly and expertly respond to infections in people who cross the border determines the efficiency. “The region has started opening its borders and space to allow movement of travelers in the region. This involves a risk as the pandemic has not yet ended”, says Hon Christophe Bazivamo, the Deputy Secretary General Productive and Social Sectors at the East African Community (EAC) Secretariat. To minimize this risk, the EAC will convene a training of trainers at 12 “One Stop Border Posts” (OSBPs) in the region to enhance the capacity of staff for infection prevention and for communicating the COVID-related risks to travelers.
East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, Tanzania, 10th September, 2020:The outgoing Nigerian High Commissioner to the United Republic of Tanzania, His Excellency, Dr Sahabi Isa Gada on Wednesday 9th September, 2020, paid a courtesy farewell visit on the Secretary General of the East African Community, Amb. Liberat Mfumukeko, at the EAC Headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania.H.E Gada will be returning to Nigeria after three years’ tour of duty in Tanzania and East African Community.
Addressing the Secretary General, Amb Gada said he was proud to see the positive developments taking place in the regional integration agenda. He lauded the progress registered by the Community since its revival, saying it was an inspiration for the other Regional Economic Communities on the African continent.
The RECDTS App is designed to stop Corona in its tracks along EAC key transport corridors
East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, Tanzania, 8th September, 2020: The East Africa Community (EAC) Secretariat and its Partner States today held a virtual roll out event to mark the technical completion and development of the Regional Electronic Cargo and Driver Tracking System (RECDTS). RECDTS is designed as a mobile phone application and will enable the issuance of the EAC COVID-19 digital certificates that are mutually recognised by Partner States, thus eliminating need for multiple testing as well as contributing to alleviating ongoing congestion at East Africa border crossing points.
The roll out was witnessed by the Chair of the EAC Council of Minister, Hon Prof Nshuti Manasseh, Ministers of Health from Kenya and Uganda as well as the EU Ambassador to Kenya, H.E Simon Mordue.
East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, Tanzania, 8th September, 2020: The East Africa Community Secretariat and its Partner States will hold a virtual event to officially mark the roll out of the Regional Electronic Cargo and Driver Tracking System (RECDTS) from Malaba/Malaba the border between Uganda and Kenya and Mirama Hills / Kagitumba, the border between Uganda and Rwanda, today Tuesday 8th September, 2020 at 2PM.
The tracking system provides a surveillance system to monitor long distance trucker’s crew and enable contact tracing. It allows Partner States to electronically share truck drivers’ COVID-19 test results; therefore, minimizing need for multiple COVID-19 tests in a single trip.
East African Legislative Assembly; September 3rd, 2020: Arusha, Tanzania:The East African Legislative Assembly late yesterday at a virtual sitting, approved a Vote on Account of USD 19,697,574.88 Million to support the normal operations and to cater for expenses of the EAC in the first quarter of the Financial Year 2020/2021. Under the approved Vote on Account, the EAC Secretariat is to receive USD 9,095,178.88, East African Legislative Assembly – USD 5,295,062, East African Court of Justice, USD 574,063, and the Lake Victoria Basin Commission, USD 941,717. The East African Science and Technology Commission is to receive USD 512,037, East African Kiswahili Commission – USD 305,482, East African Health Research Commission, USD 362,333, while East African Competition Authority is allocated USD 352,576. On its part, USD 1,89,257 is earmarked for the Inter University Council of East Africa and USD 305,482 pegged for the activities of the Lake Victoria Fisheries Organization.
East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, Tanzania, 28th August, 2020: The East African Community has kicked-off national launches of the 50 Million African Women Speak Networking Platform (50MAWS), a digital platform aimed at empowering millions of women in Africa to start, grow and scale up their businesses.
Gracing the national launch for the United Republic of Tanzania at the Karimjee Hall, in Dar es Salaam, Hon. Ummy Mwalimu, Minister of Minister of Health, Community Development, Gender, Seniors and Children, said the government of Tanzania has received the project, and was happy to embrace the initiative to further enable women to connect, network and transact business.
Kampala, 17th August 2020 – Twenty young lecturers from Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania Regional Flagship TVET Institutes (RFTIs) supported by the World Bank East Africa Skills for Transformation and Regional Integration Project (EASTRIP) have been awarded scholarships to upgrade their qualification in Science and Technology to support advancement of Technical, Vocational Education and Training (TVET) in East Africa.
The scholarships were awarded by the Chinese government, as part of the tripartite partnership between the Inter-University Council for East Africa (IUCEA), the People’s Republic of China through the Ministry of Education, and the World Bank to promote excellence in TVET and facilitate regional integration in East Africa.
East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, Tanzania, 7th August, 2020: The EAC Deputy Secretary General, in charge of Productive and Social Sector, Hon Christophe Bazivamo has disclosed that all is set for the launch of the EAC Regional Electronic Cargo and Driver Tracking System (RECDTS) in collaboration with the EAC Partner States National Focal Points on Covid-19 and TradeMark East Africa (TMEA).
Addressing a weekly online EAC Ad hoc Regional Coordination Committee meeting (EARCC) on Covid-19, the Deputy Secretary General confirmed that RECDTS will be launched at five border points of Rusumo (Tanzania/Rwanda) on 12th August, 2020; Mutukula (Uganda/Tanzania) on 14th August, 2020, and; Malaba border (Kenya/Uganda) on 21st August, 2020.
East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, Tanzania, 6th August, 2020: The East African Community Council of Ministers has finally adopted the Community’s 2020/2021 budget estimates.
The Council at its 41st Extra-Ordinary Meeting held via Video-Conferencing adopted the US$97.6 million budget that will cater for three EAC Organs and Institutions’ recurrent and development expenditure for the current financial year which runs from 1st July, 2020 to 30th June, 2021.
Of the total amount, US$55.6 million will come from EAC Partner States while Development Partners will contribute US$41.9 million.
East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, Tanzania, 24h July, 2020: The East African Community in partnership with Arusha City Council conducted a community service on 24th July 2020 at Maweni Primary and Mkonoo Secondary Schools in Terat Ward, Arusha, Tanzania.
The event earlier as part of the celebration of the International Women’s Day 2020 themed “#EachforEqual” could not take place in March due to the outbreak of Covid-19. The event featured the donation of sanitary pads to about 600 students and created awareness on menstrual hygiene and benefits as well as the opportunities of East African Community Integration.
