President Ruto to chair EAC heads of State summit
Kenya’s President William Ruto was on Saturday selected to chair the East African Community heads of state summit, a rotational but highest decision making organ of the EAC.
He takes over from South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir.
The decision arose from deliberations by the EAC heads of state, including President Samia Suluhu Hassan (Tanzania), Yoweri Kaguta Museveni (Uganda), Paul Kagame (Rwanda), Hassan Sheikh Mohamud (Somalia) and President Kiir. Burundi was represented by Prosper Bazombanza.
They held closed-door talks before the plenary session at the Arusha International Conference Centre in Tanzania.
The Democratic Republic of Congo President Felix Tshisekedi who was expected to take over from President Kiir did not attend the summit.
That they turned to Ruto was also some sort of compromise.
Sourves indicated that President Samia passed up the baton, citing some other commitments this season while Somalia wasn’t really ready to chair the EAC yet, having been admitted in November last year.
Somalia’s President Sheikh Hassan Mohamud will now be the rapporteur for the next one year with the possibility of assuming the chairperson position next year after President Ruto.
Ruto took over when the EAC was more divided, 25 years after it was re-established.
The original EAC collapsed in 1977 following ideological differences between leaders of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda at the time.
Ruto’s in-tray is already full as he assumes office in an economic regional bloc that is in need of peace, reduction of non-tariff barriers, to facilitate free movement of goods and people in order to increase intra trade that is currently stuck at 14 percent for the past three years.
Ahead of the summit, tension between Rwanda and the DRC okayed out.
The two had been accusing each other of backing rebels targeting their administrations.
It is the reason Angola has been mediating their tiff, thought to fuel the war in eastern DRC.
They recently formed a mechanism to monitor violations of an agreed ceasefire.
Ruto himself ran into controversy in the DRC, after he hosted some rebels calling themselves Congo River Alliance with ambition to topple the government in Kinshasa.
A military court sentenced them to death in absentia but Kenya refused to deport the rebels. Kinshasa has refused to accredit Kenya’s ambassador a year later.
But within the EAC, Ruto’s opportunity comes in a time when borders have been closed between Rwanda and Burundi, Rwanda and DRC, Uganda and DRC and a simmering tension in the horn of Africa, where Somalia is in a tiff with Ethiopia, an expected future member of the EAC.
In his opening remarks, President Ruto requested the EAC heads of State to remit their contributions to the EAC to enable it accomplish its agenda, a call supported by President Kagame of Rwanda.
“Allow me to express my gratitude for nominating me as the next chairperson for the next one year. I want to thank President Kiir, the outgoing chairperson for his excellent role for the past one year,” said Ruto.
“During my tenure, I will work towards improving the quality of life of the people of East Africa through increased competitiveness, value added production, trade and investments.”
Turning to the poor state of the EAC secretariat coffers, President Ruto urged his counterparts to prioritize the regional bloc by remitting their contributions on time.
“To spur economic development in the region, we will continue to strengthen regional peace, security, political accountability, and good governance,” said Ruto.
“To ensure successful implementation of the Community’s projects and programmes, I urge Partner States governments to uphold their commitment to the timely disbursement of statutory contributions and fast-track implementation of the sustainable financing mechanism.”
He requested the EAC secretariat to engage with the European Union to ensure the region takes advantage of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) that was signed between Kenya and the EU on December 18, 2023 and came into effect in July 2024.
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