11 November 2013 , Source: Sabahi
Tanzania is distressed by the conduct of East African Community (EAC) member states Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda, which have decided to side-line Tanzania and form “the union of the willing”, President Jakaya Kikwete told parliament Thursday (November 7th).
Kikwete told lawmakers in the nationally televised speech that the three member states have been isolating themselves and operating contrary to the EAC treaty and protocol of 1999, which is unacceptable.
“They have formed the union of the willing, who is not willing?” Kikwete said.
Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda met the end of last month in Kigali, without fellow EAC members Tanzania and Burundi.
The tripartite deliberated on eight issues, but Tanzania is largely concerned with their endeavour to form a committee tasked with writing the EAC constitution and their decision to form a single customs union, “which should legally include all members of the community”, Kikwete said.
Tanzania contributes 12 billion shillings ($1.3 billion) annually to run EAC affairs, therefore it is an insult to say Tanzania is not willing to speed up the EAC integration process, the president said.
He said the three states want to rush to the next stage of forming the federation before finalising the first three stages as legally required by the treaty and the protocol.
“The treaty is very clear. It directs us to start with customs union, common market, single currency and ultimately the federation,” Kikwete said. “We need to build a strong economic foundation which will warrant our political federation.”
He said all EAC member states met in Arusha on April 28th and agreed to report back at the heads of state summit scheduled for November 30th in Kampala. But in June, the three states decided to act unilaterally, without Tanzania’s involvement.