$1.4 BILLION BUDGET DEFICIT COULD GROUND EAC OPERATIONS

Presidents Uhuru Kenyatta, Yoweri Museveni and John Magufuli launching the 5th EAC Development Strategy in Kampala in February, 2018. Several EAC institutions are unable to meet their financial obligations due to the delays in remittance by the partner states.

Several East African Community institutions are unable to meet their financial obligations due to the delays in remittance by the partner states, which has left the Secretariat with a $1.4 billion budgetary hole.

Kenya and Uganda are the ones sustaining the operations of the Secretariat.

The region’s ministers are now pushing for punitive sanctions against defaulters.

During its meeting held in Nairobi in June the East African Legislative Assembly approved the EAC Budget for the financial year 2018/2019, which had been adopted by the EAC Council of Ministers in May this year.

Now South Sudan and Burundi, who have not paid up, are expected to develop a two-year remittance plan on the outstanding budgetary arrears that totals more than $29 million.

In the meeting, the Council of Ministers directed that each partner state was to contribute $8.3 million to the main EAC Budget for the Financial Year 2018/2019, a further $744,436 towards the budget for the Inter-University Council for East Africa; and Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania were to also to contribute $517,011 towards the budget for Lake Victoria Fisheries Organisation.

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