EAC budget impasse drags on

Arusha. The East African Community (EAC) budget crisis deepened further on Tuesday after the House sitting convened to address the impasse was adjourned.

This is as the cash crisis continue to bite at the Arusha-based organisation which employs nearly 400 people and with has institutions scattered across the region.

The House met for several hours from Tuesday afternoon until 9pm when it adjourned sine die that is until the Speaker reconvenes it.

Only the members of the General Purpose Committee (GPC) which normally scrutinises the budget estimates before being tabled before the House attended physically.

“The House (East African Legislative Assembly) has been adjourned sine die. That means until the Speaker reconvenes it,” a senior official told The Citizen yesterday.

The plenary had been hastily convened for Reconsideration of the EAC Appropriation Bill, 2023 and the EAC Supplementary Appropriation Bill, 2023.

By 9pm, no consensus had been reached, forcing the Speaker, Mr Joseph Ntakarutimana, a lawmaker from Burundi,to adjourn the House to a later date.

Initially, plans were that the House should reconvene today (Thursday) but reports intimated to The Citizen that the session could take place on Tuesday next week.

“The Speaker is trying to settle this matter and such sessions have to be held virtually because the EAC is short of funds to meet the travel costs,” the official went on.

He added, speaking on condition of anonymity, that Eala has no powers or mandate to re-allocate from one vote to another.
He further added that by busting the ceilings of the budget ceiling of the EAC organs and institutions, Eala could have overstepped its mandate.

The bone of contention, analysts in the know of the EAC trends hint, could be which between the Council of Ministers and Eala has more powers than the other on the budgetary matters.

According to the EAC Treaty, the Council of Ministers is the policy organ of the Community, answerable only to the Heads of State Summit,

On the budgetary matters, its functions include initiating and submitting Bills to the Assembly and consider the Budget of the Community.

The composition of the Council include the ministers holding the EAC docket from each partner state and the Attorney General of each country.

Eala, on the other hand, comprises nine members from each of the seven member state as well as the minister/cabinet secretary responsible for EAC affairs.

Other key members of the regional Assembly include the EAC secretary-general and Counsel to the Community (CTC), the chief legal advisor.

Tanzania, later joined by DR Congo, objected to the $103 million budget that were tabled, debated and later passed by the Assembly in the middle June this year.

Both countries observed in their letters to the Eala Clerk that the EAC Supplementary Bill (No.1) 2023 and Appropriation Bill, 2023 had some irregularities.

Tanzania said the Bills as approved by the Assembly were “inconsistent with budget ceilings that were approved by the Council of Ministers” during its 41st extraordinary meeting of Council of Ministers.

This was contrary to Article 59 (2) and 132 (1) and (2) of the EAC Treaty as read together with Regulation 18 of the EAC Financial Rules and Regulations (2012).

DRC, on the other hand, registered its objection to the assent to both bills because “the passed bills don’t respect the budget ceilings for each organ/institution as agreed by the partner states in the Council of Ministers meetings”.

In a letter to the Eala Clerk dated August 22, former Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation minister Stergomena Tax identified a variation of $576,891 in favour of Eala accounts.

According to the EAC Appropriation Bill, 2023, some $50.9 million had been budgeted as annual expenditure the EAC secretariat for 2023/24 by the Council.

However, when the estimates were taken to Eala for debate, there was a negative variation of some $533,661, pulling down to $50.3million what was approved as budget for the secretariat, the executive arm of the Community.

The Council had earlier budgeted and approved $17.6 million for Eala, the legislative organ of the EAC, as annual expenditure for 2023/24.

But when the estimates were tabled before the House in June, Eala ended up with a positive variation (more funds) of $ 576,891, increasing its budget to $18.2 million.

Other EAC organs and institutions affected by the variations for both bills (EAC Appropriation Bill, 2023) and EAC Supplementary Bill, 2023), included the East African Court of Justice.

Others are Lake Victoria Basin Commission (LVBC) and the East African Competition Authority (EACA), the newest of a dozen institutions of the Community.

Some Eala members have defended the House on the impasse, saying the House has some powers on the allocation of resources “within the EAC”.

“We may not be empowered to go beyond the ceiling of the whole estimates for the EAC but can transfer funds from one vote to another,” said Mr Abdulla Hasnu Makame, Eala member from Tanzania.

He quoted Article 132 (5) of the EAC Treaty which stipulates that the resources of the EAC to finance its activities shall be determined by the Assembly on the recommendation of the Council.

He said the Council of Ministers session held in Bujumbura, Burundi early this year approved $103.8 million as the expenditure budget of the Community and not $97 million as earlier reported by a section of the media.

“Our position of Eala is that the budget estimates that were approved by the Council of Ministers have not been tempered with,” he told The Citizen.

With a stalemate on the EAC budget, questions arise as to how impacted are the day to day activities and operations of the Community.

Most of the senior officials have since the crisis began distanced themselves from the media on the issue with the rest looking a bit worried of an unprecedented trend.

Other officials did not hide their feelings, hinting that if the rules and regulations were to be strictly adhered to the EAC could be heading to deeper crisis.

“Without any budget, the EAC can come to a standstill… it may shut down. But I don’t see that likelihood,” a political analyst based here observed.

What he sees is the likelihood of an intervention by the Heads of State to intervene and rescue the regional body from further decline.

The core principles of the EAC; the SG, the Assembly Speaker and the President of the Court were full of steam yesterday during an event the EAC organised at an Arusha hotel.

None of them spoke about the budget quagmire during an induction of newly hired officials from different partner states.
The SG said; “Challenges should not take us back. Challenges should make us stronger to address the hurdles that have been facing,”

The President of the East African Court of Justice (EACJ) told The Citizen that he was aware of the budget crisis but was optimistic they will be sorted out soon.