Francis Ayieko
5 October 2008
Nairobi — Work permits, a major hindrance to free movement of labour within the East African Community, will soon be a thing of the past after Tanzania last week became the last country in the region to lift restrictions on the right of residence.
Tanzania, considered to have the most restrictive immigration rules in the region, announced the move during the third round of the negotiations on the EAC Common Market Protocol held in Bujumbura.
The eight-day meeting in the Burundian capital was attended by members of the High Level Task Force from the five partner states of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi.
However, the country, the largest in the region, maintained a hardline position on articles of the draft protocol regarding access to acquisition of land by nationals of other partner states.
Tanzania's move revives negotiations, which some observers had started saying were likely to bogged down by disagreements over right of residence as well as free movement of persons and labour.
Such fears seemed real during the second round of the negotiations, which took place in August in Nairobi, when the delegates referred a number of issues, including the right of residence, for further discussions in the specialised committee.
According to Article 27 of the model protocol on which the Community's Common Market is being negotiated, the right to reside in a host partner state will be granted to any East African resident seeking employment or to carry out an economic activity in a member state.
Currently, one must obtain a work permit to reside in any EAC partner state for up to six months. Article 27 seeks to address cases of those who want to reside -- for gainful economic activity or employment -- in another EAC partner state for more than six months.
Granting of a residence permit will depend on the status of the citizen -- whether employed as a worker, self-employed or retired.
The right of residence will be extended to the family or dependants of the worker or self-employed persons. This means family members or dependants of the person will also be entitled to residence permits.
Under Article 27, residence permit will serve merely as proof of the right of residence. Once issued, a residence permit will not be withdrawn even when the person has become incapable of work through illness, accident or involuntary unemployment.
Tanzania's relaxation of the residency restrictions is seen as a major breakthrough in the EAC economic integration.
Seen as the most stringent in applying immigration restrictions in the region, Tanzania has over the past few years thrown out several Kenyans over not having work permits even when they were working for Kenyan firms with investments in Tanzania.
But the negotiations in Burundi seem to have injected new life into this second stage in the integration of the EAC.
"The Bujumbura round was the entry point for negotiations on some of the most crucial issues and critical requirements of a Common Market, including the outstanding issues on the right of establishment, right of residence and free movement of services," Burundi's Vice-Minister for East African Community Affairs, Nduwimana Deogratias, said in a statement.The negotiations were proceeding "with very encouraging indications," said Mr Deogratias.
After Tanzania lifted its objections to the inclusion of the right of residence in the proposed Protocol, the article on the right of residence was reinstated.
The delegates also reached consensus on a number of provisions that will govern the right of establishment within the Common Market.
They provided in the draft protocol that the partner states abolish all restrictions on the right of establishment based on nationality of companies, firms and citizens of the partner states. Such rights shall be subject only to limitations justified on grounds of pubic policy, pubic security or public health.
With reservations that were recorded by Tanzania, for further consultations, the delegates provided in the draft protocol that, among other things, a national of a partner state shall be enabled to "acquire/access and use land and buildings situated in the territory of another partner state for purposes of establishment."
The specific issue of "acquiring/accessing" land and buildings was referred for further deliberations in the ongoing negotiations process.
But Tanzania maintained that the "acquiring/accessing" clause in the article be deleted, arguing that "it is not a Common Market issue."
This now remains among the matters bracketed for further consultations and resolution by the negotiating parties.
Under free movement of services, members of the task force agreed on the provision that the partner states shall progressively remove existing restrictions and should not introduce any new restrictions that impede trade in services among the partner states.
The EAC Secretariat, which is providing support services to the task force, told the meeting that a study is being undertaken within the framework of Community's Economic Partnership Agreement negotiations on the state of play of the services sectors within the partner states.
When completed, the study will be made available to the task force to inform some of the deliberations on trade in services.
An interim report of the study would be tabled in the next meeting of the task force in Kampala this month.
The Common Market is scheduled to come into force in January next year.
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