The Citizen (Dar es Salaam)
Zephania Ubwani
13 November 2009
Concern comes less than a year after the regional body faced a severe financial crisis
Alarmed by the skyrocketing travel expenditure by staff and delegates from the member countries, the East African Legislative Assembly (Eala) has called for the revamping of the audit office at the EAC Secretariat at Arusha.
The regional assembly's MPs said they had been shocked by the huge increase in spending on travel by the staff and sponsored delegates from the partner states of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi.
The representatives warned that the regional body could be spending more money on travel and subsistence allowances than on core development projects and other programmes beneficial to the citizens of the five countries.
The warning comes less than a year after the EAC faced a severe financial crisis, which nearly paralysed its activities. Sources within the EAC told The Citizen then that the cash crunch was as a result of the member states' failure to remit their outstanding contributions in time.
Uganda's minister for EAC Affairs, who is also the country's first deputy Prime Minister, Dr Eriya Kategaya, told the Eala session here on Wednesday evening that the rising expenditure on travel and associated allowances was a matter of serious concern.
He said while debating EAC Audited Accounts for the year ending June 30, ast year, that most of the expenditure had been incurred through sponsored delegates travelling around the region and beyond to attend conferences.
He told the regional assembly that there was no justification for an 87 per cent increase in travel expenditure during 2007/08 over the previous year despite commencement of negotiations for the EAC Common Market, which were rotated among the capitals of the member states.
"EAC officials have been attending many conferences within the region and abroad without us being told the value of such meetings to our integration efforts," he said.
The 46-page report presented to the House, sitting in Arusha, indicated that travel and subsistence allowances rose significantly from $1,916,882 (more than Sh2.5 billion) in 2006/2007 to $3,588,528 (more than Sh3.8 billion) in the next financial year, an increase of 87 per cent.
"This implies that there is lack of control over members of staff travelling to attend conferences and workshops," Mr Kategaya said.
Other legislators, who called for a revamping of the secretariat's audit section, supported him.
The EAC management is reported to have defended itself on the rising expenditure in the travel component, attributing it to increased activities and expansion of the community.
The situation was particularly so during the year with the Common Market and Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) negotiations and various regional workshops on Rules of Origin and the non-tariff barriers (NTBs).
According to the EAC records, the consolidated budget for travel and subsistence for the financial year 2007/08, amounted to $3,849,741 (more than Sh5.1 billion). Out of this, the actual and committed amount on the budget line was $3,588,528.
The Audit Commission of EAC is said to have recommended that costs be controlled by ensuring that "only those who have an input in these conferences" attend them.
The MPs called for the strengthening of the Internal Audit Unit, saying it was currently understaffed and could hardly cover the work of all the project accounts, which fall directly under the secretariat.
Ugandan representative Lydia Wanyoto said the unit should be empowered because the community was growing "with a lot of donor supported projects, which must be continuously audited to win their confidence and support."
The secretariat, the regional assembly and the East African Court of Justice, the three key organs of the regional body located in Arusha, have nearly 150 staff members, many of them professionals.
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