By Benjamin Jumbe
Finding alternative sources of financing for the East African Community is one of the key items on agenda for the heads of state 19th ordinary summit kicking of this morning in Kampala.
This comes amid growing challenges faced in partner states in fulfilling their commitments to the annual contributions.
The EAC deputy secretary General Jesca Eriyo tells KFM that some countries have not actually made any contribution this year while others are yet to fully clear their contributions.
She says some alternative sources of financing to address this gap have been identified and are to be presented to the summit for approval.
They include a proposal for increasing taxes on imports to the region.
Other areas for consideration during the summit will include a report on the Economic Partnership Agreements with European Union and a progress report on the verification exercise for the admission of Somalia into the community.
The summit is running under the theme “Enhancing Socio-Economic Development for Deeper Integration of the Community”.
Earlier, the president of the Republic of Tanzania expressed disappointment with the slow implementation of agreed regional projects.
This came after the secretary general of the East African Community Ambassador Liberat Mfumkeko told the joint presidential Infrastructure and Health summit in Kampala on Thursday evening that out of the 286 sub projects endorsed by the summit, only 14 were complete.
President John Magufuli said the EAC secretariat should not have gone ahead to front new projects for implementation yet many that previously endorsed have not been worked on.
