The 40th Ordinary Meeting of the East African Community Council of Ministers started yesterday both physically and virtually.
The four days session is expected to consider the Proposed Agenda and Programme of the 21st Summit of Heads of State scheduled to take place on Saturday, 27th February 2021.
Among the items on the agenda are the consideration of various reports including those on the Implementation of Previous Decisions of the Council; Office of the Secretary General; Planning and Infrastructure, and; Productive and Social Sectors.
Other matters to be considered are: Political Matters; Customs and Trade; Finance and Administration Matters; and Reports of other EAC Organs, namely the East African Legislative Assembly and East African Court of Justice, according to a statement by the EAC secretariat.
The Council of Ministers is the policy-making organ of the community. The Council consists of the Ministers responsible for EAC Affairs and/or Regional Cooperation of each Partner State and such other Ministers of the Partner State as each Partner State shall determine.
Among the key agendas of the Head of States Summit is the nomination of the next Secretary-General of the bloc to take over from Burundi’s Liberat Mfumukeko.
Appointed on a rotational basis, member states often nominate their best talents who are then endorsed by the Summit of Heads of State.
Kenya had been expected to nominate its person, but South Sudan last week wrote to the EAC nominating Aggrey Tisa Sabuni, the country’s former Finance Minister, as its candidate.
Admission of Somalia and Democratic Republic of Congo will also be one of the key agendas in the much-anticipated Heads of State meeting.
Somalia has been pushing to join the bloc since 2013 when it presented its application to the EAC secretariat to join the existing six member states namely, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and South Sudan.
In July 2018, the country joined the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), a free trade zone comprising 21 African nations. This will serve as a huge boost in its quest to join EAC.
DR Congo submitted their official request to join EAC on 8th June 2019 through a letter addressed to the bloc’s leader Rwanda President Paul Kagame. The mineral rich nation already shares strong trade ties with most East African countries like Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, and Tanzania.
By allowing the two countries into the East African bloc, the region will benefit from a large consumer market comprising over 235 million residents up from roughly 150 million people currently found in the EAC. Somalia’s long coastline along the Indian Ocean is also likely to contribute to the economic expansion of the East African region.
Also, to be discussed is how to deal with the effects of COVID 19 pandemic.
President Uhuru Kenyatta, Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni, Rwanda’s Paul Kagame and South Sudan’s Salva Kiir attended a Consultative Meeting of the EAC Heads of State on Regional Response to Covid-19 and the Free Movement of Goods last May.
It was convened following the recommendations of a joint consultative meeting of partner states’ ministers. Tanzania and Burundi did not attend the meeting.
