26 October 2008
Nairobi — Even as a group of African leaders were meeting in Uganda to prepare the ground for a Free Trade Area for 26 countries, it was clear that fears still linger about the scope of what is clearly the most ambitious economic integration scheme on the continent.
For instance, President Yoweri Museveni's idea of a political federation for the economic grouping was greeted with widespread skepticism with critics arguing that it was beyond the scope of the project.
Rwanda President Paul Kagame raised the flag on behalf of small economies and called for mechanisms to protect their interests.
"It is inevitable that integration will produce losers and winners initially. Successful integration schemes must incorporate compensation mechanisms to provide the least prepared member states with lead time to execute mitigating strategies against initial shocks," he said.
The Kampala summit culminated in the heads of state signing a communiqué to expedite the establishment of a free trade area. It will be the biggest single trade bloc on the African continent.
On the flipside, 18 of the countries in the bloc are least developed countries, relying on import duties for revenue, which they are set to lose once they open their borders. Comesa Secretary General Sindiso Ngwenya also conceded that this was a challenge for which compensation measures must be found.
"That's why we are looking for $150 million for a compensation fund for them," said Mr Ngwenya, whose bloc launches a customs union in December this year. This begs the question of what contingency measures there are for SADC.
The summit was attended by several leaders including Comesa chair Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki, Mr Kagame and South African President Kgalema Motlanthe (current SADC chairman), and President Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania, Zimbabwe leader Robert Mugabe and Lesotho Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili.
The summit directed executives of Comesa, EAC and SADC to within the next six months develop a roadmap for the establishment of the FTA, complete with a legal and institutional structure as well as measures to facilitate movement of business persons across the RECs. By October next year, the RECs should have a time frame for the commencement of the FTA.
In 1992, the then Comesa Secretary General Dr. Bingu wa Mutharika, now Malawi president came up with a document that was to guide the merger between Comesa and SADC, but the southerners were up in arms over what was seen at the time as Comesa swallowing up the southern Africa bloc.
Reported by Julius Barigaba and Charles Kazooba
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 The East African. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
