This archive report was first published on 27 June 2020.
As the East African Community (EAC) secretariat struggles to pass a budget, the region's integration efforts are at risk of being derailed. The secretariat has yet to reveal its spending plans for the new financial year, which starts on July 1, despite the fact that the budget must be deliberated upon by both the EAC Council of Ministers and the legislative assembly before it is passed.
With the region facing growing uncertainty about its future, the implications of operating without a budget are grave. The institution will sink deeper into debt, and the smooth running of EAC agencies will be set back.
The budget crisis is a wake-up call to the waning commitment to the EAC. The region has been slowly drifting apart, pointing to a deeper malaise that has been nibbling away at the spirit of East African integration for a while now.
Despite existing rules to guide regional trade, Kenya and Uganda are negotiating a bilateral trade agreement to resolve differences that should not have been there in the first place. The past two years have seen a rise of unilateralism that has made a mockery of the once seminal regional protocols.
The EAC Heads of State Summit is nearly eight months behind schedule, with no sign of a meeting on the horizon. The region's leaders must take immediate action to address the budget crisis and reaffirm their commitment to integration.
