BY THE ARUSHA NEWS REPORTER
Newly appointed East African Community (EAC) Secretary General (SG), Mr Stephen Mbundi from Tanzania, is expected to formally assume his responsibilities at the headquarters in Arusha on Friday, April 24, to replace Kenyan Ms Veronica Nduva, whose term has ended.
Mr Mbundi takes office for a non-renewable five-year term amid hopes for fresh momentum in the EAC, which only a few months ago faced a serious funding crisis due to chronic non-remittance of fees by some partners. It is still a limping regional bloc, with for the first time, strong wording from the Summit to defaulters to either “pay-up or pack-up.”
His leadership is expected to prioritise accelerating full implementation of the Common Market protocol and formation of Monetary Union, two of the four major pillars of East Africa’s regional integration, which eyes political confederation after ditching the earlier more ambitious “ultimately” political federation.
The Common Market protocol or the free movement of goods and people across the region, entered into force on July 1, 2010, but remains hampered by persistent non-tariff barriers. Monetary Union shall be a trickier terrain to navigate. Burundi’s earlier proposal, for example, to pay for membership fees in local currency was deemed simply unworkable.
Mr Mbundi is also expected to support regional peace and stability efforts in a region embroiled in one of the continent’s worst conflicts in Eastern DRC and South Sudan, advance strategic infrastructure development and connectivity and rebuild confidence within the expanded bloc through greater transparency, accountability and results-driven governance.
The EAC currently comprises founding partners Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda and later entrants Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Somalia.
