Many obstacles to EA Federation, says Kamala

BAK · 2008-12-08T11:54:24+00:00

Many obstacles to EA Federation, says Kamala 2008-12-08 11:24:46 By Hellen Nachilongo The Minister for East African Cooperation, Dr Diodorus Kamala has said there are many obstacles that each EAC member state faces that hinder the creation of a political federation. The minister was officiating during a ceremony held at Genius King`s Nursery School over the weekend in Dar es Salaam,``Saying that Tanzania has to leave the rest of the EAC countries to proceed with the Federation does not sound good for our regional political and economic undertakings,`` Kamala said. The minister`s comments were prompted by school proprietor Julius Rutumbanja, who said his institution was facing a shortage of teachers who could teach in English. Rutumbanja told the minister that it was quite hard to get English teachers from neighbouring countries because it was taking too long for them to secure working permits. Dr Kamala said establishment of the East African Federation would not come soon, given the obstacles each EAC member state was facing. ``They (other EAC member states) are complaining that we are taking too long to sign the common market protocol, but both Kenya and Uganda have demanded that they should be given five years tax relief for their products. These ``five years`` also serve as obstacles to the proposed East African federation,`` he said. The minister said: ``Allegations that we are stalling the unification process do not make sense to us because you cannot just build a house without building a foundation first.`` He said some of the EAC states did n't have abundant arable land compared to Tanzania. ``They think that they would get land from Tanzania after joining the federation, but we cannot do that. We cannot simply give it to them. We can only allow them if they want to invest, but not to use it as their property after joining the federation,`` he said. He said Tanzania`s land had been preserved for future generations and conservation of the country\'s natural resources. Kamala said Tanzania could not simply jump into the Common Market without first applying concrete solutions to the problems it was still facing. In August Kamala addressed representatives from Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Burundi and Rwanda the five countries that make the EAC. The minister was quoted as telling delegates that although the country was committed to East African cooperation, it was still skeptical on provisions of the treaty concerning land. He said Tanzania would press on the omission of acquisition of land by non-citizens under the East African Common Market protocols. The Right of Residence one of the major items under the Common Market protocol does not automatically give a non-citizen from the East African Community states access to land. ``An investor in Tanzania can access land without any problem. But land is not in the Right of Residence protocol,`` said the minister Last month, Tanzania openly gave its stand - that there would be no land deal in the East African Community (EAC). East African countries have failed to agree on how to handle three major pertinent issues: land ownership, free movement of people and permanent residence. SOURCE: Guardian

Thread starter BAK
Start date Dec 8, 2008

BAK

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Many obstacles to EA Federation, says Kamala

BAK

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