East Africans Unite

Published on 29th June 2010

The people of East Africa should not squander the rare opportunity to be once more unified as they were before colonial boundaries divided them. They should  creatively position themselves to tap into the region’s massive opportunities.

Five EAC Partner States namely; Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda committed in November 2009 to a Common Market when the EAC Heads of State signed the Common Market Protocol and ratified it earlier this year.

July 1 2010 marks the beginning of the noble and long awaited process of East Africa’s Common Market stage of integration. This will see free movement of labour, goods, services, capital and the right of establishment.

East Africans should not however think that things will change overnight. More needs to be done by individual citizens and respective governments to actualise the Common Market Protocol. Partner states should speedily explain the process of implementation of EAC Common Market to their citizens; highlight existing opportunities and educate them on how to tap into the market for mutual benefit. They ought to steadfastly amend relevant policies and laws to facilitate operationalisation of the Protocol; establish requisite structures for implementing the free movement of labour, goods, services, capital and the right of establishment; and stick to the adopted detailed annexure for purposes of implementing the Common Market Protocol.


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