President Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania and Pierre
Nkurunziza of Burundi stayed out of the loop of the third infrastructure
summit in Kigali, Rwanda but their absence loomed large in the
conference room.
Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni told
journalists in a brief press conference Monday that talk of a “coalition
of the willing” involving his country, Rwanda and Kenya was inaccurate
since the three were only discussing infrastructure projects along the
northern corridor and would involve Tanzania once discussions moved to
the southern corridor.
However, the final communiqué after the meeting of
the three heads of state did not include an update on efforts to
fast-track the East African political federation, a matter whose
discussion outside the East African Community Tanzanian officials have
expressed concern over.
At the last infrastructure summit in Kenya's
coastal city of Mombasa, Uganda was tasked to spearhead efforts to
fast-track the political federation and a committee headed by the
country’s Internal Affairs minister Aronda Nyakairima met in Kampala
this month to start the writing of a draft constitution.
They had been expected to provide an update to the Rwanda summit.
Gen. Nyakairima declined to comment on the
exercise, while Kenya’s East African Affairs, Commerce and Tourism
Cabinet Secretary Phyllis Kandie said talk of a political federation was
a “side-show”, which had not been discussed by the ministers or the
heads of state in Kigali.
Tanzania’s ministry of East African Cooperation
recently issued a statement warning that the tri-lateral talks among
Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda were against the EAC protocol.
A private visit
The statement argued that all EAC member states
had to endorse the regional infrastructure deals signed by presidents
Kenyatta, Museveni and Kagame, otherwise they contravened Article 7(1)
(e) of the EAC protocol.
“Even though this Article allows member countries
to enter bi-lateral or tri-lateral agreements, it is a must that issues
under consideration for implementation under this arrangement are fully
discussed and agreed upon by all member countries,” the statement from
the ministry said.
However, President Museveni Monday said he was unaware of complaints from Tanzania about the trilateral agreements.
“Unless I get an official letter from the state, I
consider what I see in the press as lies,” he said in response to a
journalist’s question.
Tanzanian diplomats are understood to have
expressed their concerns about being left out of the regional plans
through the Council of Ministers.
Officials in Dar es Salaam say they had not been
invited to participate in the Coalition of the Willing and were expected
to raise the matter more directly at the next EAC Heads of State Summit
in Kampala in late November.
Burundi sent a ministerial delegation to the last
summit in Mombasa and President Nkurunziza visited with President
Kenyatta a few days later on what was said to be a private visit.
It could not be confirmed whether Bujumbura or Dar es Salaam had been invited to the Kigali summit.
SOURCE: AFRICA REVIEW
SOURCE: AFRICA REVIEW
