OCTOBER 2, 2018 www.mygov.go.ke Verbatim NEWSFOCUS | 7 African community integration been amended or repealed with new legislation enacted. This has considerably improved the liberalisation of trade within Kenya in the EAC context. Harmonisation of national laws to conform to the Monetary Union Protocol is ongoing at the regional level. Legislation to be harmonised has already been identified and a matrix prepared with a road map on the harmonisation process. The Ministry developed a policy on Harmonisation of Kenya’s national laws to conform to EAC laws. The Harmonization policy will support the implementation of the regional integration agenda. The policy proposes to establish a Harmonitant to sustain momentum of the journey towards integration. Since 2016, the ministry has institutionalised the EAC Stakeholder’s Roundtable as an annual forum that brings together key stakeholders from the public and private sectors, civil society and non-governmental organisations and other interest groups to dialogue and define and harmonise strategies for deepening and widening the integration process. The forum provides a platform for stakeholders to monitor and evaluate the EAC integration progress, and share views on how the process can be enriched. How does EAC relate to lives of ordinary Kenyans? Why is it important, particularly to Kenyans at the grassroots? Regional integration touches all facets of life. The coming together of EAC countries into one bloc with about 150 million people makes it more attractive for investment by providing a larger market. Increased investment into the region means more jobs for all citizens of partner states, including Kenya. The free movement of labour, capital and people also unlock increased opportunities for Kenyans and other East Africans across the region. Increased intra-EAC trade means market for goods, allowing entrepreneurs to thrive. All this means that integration is good for the country and all Kenyans, and needs to be supported to succeed. There have been issues particularly around KenyaTanzanian trade. What is the ministry doing about it? The ministry continues to constantly engage at different levels to ensure that trade between Kenya and other EAC countries thrive. We are also working, together with Tanzania and other member states to address the issues of non-tariff barriers to trade. Union Protocol. Kenya continues to participate actively in integration efforts through the relevant organs and institutions. The establishment of the ministry to coordinate EAC integration bears testimony to the fact that Kenya remains committed to this process. The ministry’s functions include implementation of the EAC treaty, policy on East African community, Co-ordination of implementation of EAC Regional programmes and projects and promotion and fast tracking of EAC integration. There are regular forums for engagement spearheaded by the EAC secretariat that bring together different interest groups from each of the member states. The groups include private sector organisations, civil society organisations, professional bodies, academia, media, EAC organs and institutions, development partners, among others. This kind of dialogue is imporOpportunity for Kenyans to take up job opportunities in the region is one of the benefits of regional integration. What is the government doing to make it a reality? Access to employment opportunities has increased with the implementation of the EAC Common Market provisions on free movement of labour and workers. In addition, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda have waived work permit fees for the citizens of East Africa. The initiatives are aimed at enabling workers to provide services in the other Partner States. Such initiatives include: harmonisation of procedures for issuance of work permits for uniformity and reduction in issuance lead-time; signing of mutual recognition agreements by various professional bodies to facilitate free movement of professionals across the region; as well as harThe ministry continues to constantly engage at different levels to ensure that trade between Kenya and other EAC countries thrive. We are also working, together with Tanzania and other member states to address the issues of nontariff barriers to trade monised curricula and education frameworks, at secondary schools and university levels to facilitate movement of students and exchange of lecturers. Mutual recognition agreements have been signed and operationalised for Accountants, Architects, Engineers and Veterinarians. Similar agreements for Land Surveyors and Advocates were concluded in 2017 and are awaiting signature; whereas negotiation of agreement for Pharmacists has commenced. The EAC Summit, in March 2016 adopted the implementation of an EAC e-passport and set out January 2018 as the commencement date for issuance. Kenya commenced issuance of the e-passport in September 2017. The e-passport meets the international requirements for a more secure travel document and will therefore ease the travel within East African and across the world. The Republics of Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda have adopted the use of national Identity Cards as travel documents to ease cross-border movements. How far have we gone with harmonisation of laws and policies in the region? According to the Treaty, all partner states are required to amend their laws to conform to its requirements. Kenya set up an Inter- Ministerial Taskforce to audit the Common Market Protocol in 2010 and proposed amendments to 27 pieces of national legislation that were found to be inconsistent with the Common Market Protocol. Since then, most of the legislation proposed by the taskforce were drawn from various sectors and are being implemented by different stakeholders. They included Immigration laws, Commercial and Investment laws, and Professional and Financial services laws, amongst others. Some of the legislation has already zation Committee as a Multi-Agency Standing Committee comprising of representatives from the key ministries, departments and agencies in the harmonisation process. The Harmonisation Committee will be tasked to identify and recommend legislative proposals for harmonisation of national laws to EAC laws monitor and oversee the implementation of the harmonisation process. The Harmonisation Committee will be coordinated by the State Department. The policy is expected to be validated and operational before the end of 2018. Related to the harmonisation of laws, has been harmonisation of tax policies and laws on domestic taxes by partner states with a view to removing tax distortions in order to facilitate the free movement of goods, services, and capital, and the promotion of investments within the Community. Frameworks for Policy for Harmonisation of Income Taxes and the Policy for Harmonisation of VAT & Excise duties have been developed, as well as the EAC Model Tax Treaty that has also been adopted and is under implementation to guide negotiations of Tax treaties with the 3rd parties. Harmonisation of standards has also been a key area of focus to make it easy for these products to access EAC Market with a lot of ease. EAC has harmonised a total 1,428 standards of which five hundred and seven (507) are indigenous, designated as East African Standards and the Nine hundred and twenty-one (921) are international standards agreed upon and endorsed for adoption by the Partner States. Kenya as at June 2017 had adopted 1,062 out of the total harmonized EAC standards. NTBs remain a major hindrance to regional trade. What does the score card look like when it comes to eliminating them? The prevalence of Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs) frustrates trade within the community. Such NTBs manifest themselves in form of prolonged clearance procedures, delays at the ports of entry/exit, delays at weighbridges and numerous road blocks; delays in restrictions on ferrying of cargo by transit vehicles; non-recognition of EAC certificates of origin; non-recognition of quality marks issued by EAC Bureau of Standards; retesting of products; delays by statutory boards in releasing the results of analysis of sample and issuance of import licenses; among others. To address NTBs, the Community has put in place mechanisms, including national and regional committees to identify and monitor their elimination. In addition, the EAC Elimination of NTBs Act, 2017, was assented by all EAC Partner States’ Heads of State in April 2017 and is in the process of being operationalised. As at October 2017, 122 NTBs had been cumulatively resolved since 2009. Despite the various efforts made towards the elimination of NTBs, the NTBs remain a major impediment to the growth of the Intra-EAC Trade. The declining value of Kenyan exports to the EAC region in the past five (5) years could be as result of NTBs.
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