ZANZIBAR CHIEF MINISTER CALLS UPON OFFICIALTO FOCUS MORE ATTENTION ON E. A. POLITICAL FEDERATION.

By Leo Odera Omolo Recently in Zanzibar.
KISUMU
9th December, 2006.

The chief Minister of Zanzibar Shamsi Vual Nahodha has said that the desire to
form the political Federation of East Africa is a natural step towards uniting
the region.

The Chief Minister made the remark when he performed the official opening
ceremony of the 4th Retreat Meeting for the permanent Secretaries at the
Zanzibar Beach Resort in Zanzibar.

The meeting was attended by over 30 Permanent Secretaries from Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania representing various Ministries involved in the East African Intergration Process.

He told the participants that Permanent Secretaries had key decision making
roles in the implementation of regional projects and programmes and were
therefore best placed to move the East African Community (EAC) forward and fast enough in the implementation of the Customs Union as we move forward to the common market and single currency and subsequently the political Federation.

The Chief Minister reminded his audience that the pre-colonial state, before the
''Big Scramble for Africa'' by European powers, East Africa was borderless and East Africans were able to move from one area to another without hindrance.

He said the ongoing Consultative process on East African Federation was crucial and East African citizens should be taken on board in formulating policy on the structure and operation of the sustainable political Federation.

Emphasizing that East Africans should always not lose focus of the challenges in
the existing protocols, in particular the Customs Union, ''the economic
challenges facing EAC require that we should move fast, but cautiously in
pursuing our political aspiration(while) recognizing the role of unity and co-
operation for poor countries in search for economic growth and prosperity,'' he
said.

The Chief Minister went on saying that the East African Community has an
emphatic development mission noting that the EAC Development Strategy (2006- 2010) places emphasis on delivery of the EAC development programme on roads, airports, communications system, energy, and other infrastructure.

Meanwhile the Board of Directors of the African Development Fund has approved a grant amounting to USD 13.8 million covering African Development Bank (ADB)- funded component of the East African Trade and Transport Facilities Project.

The grant is broken down as follows, USD 9.3 million for EAC, and USD 3.0
million for the Northern Corridor Transits Transport Co- ordination Authority
(NCTTCA) and USD 1.5 million for the Central Corridor Transits Transport
Facilitation - Agency (TTFA).

Other components of Projects are separately funded by the World Bank and EAC partner states. The activities under the project will commence from January 2007.

The African Development Bank (ADB) funded component of the project aims at enhancing cross border transport through the implementation of a one stop border posts including Namanga, Holili and Malaba and support for the implementation of EAC Road Transport Agreement.

The EAC Road Transport Programme was ratified in the year 2004 and aims at streamlining transport between the three countries through elimination of
multiple transits documents and establishment of route management committees to address transit issues in customs, immigration, security and road safety.

For the Trade and Customs point of the grant, support is extended to enhance the implementation of the EAC Customs Union through training, publication and policy studies.

ENDS. 
leooderaomolo@yahoo.com

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