East African Business Week

KAMPALA, UGANDA - The Rwandese Minister for East African Community (EAC) Affairs, Monique Mukaruliza has said that ordinary citizens should use their national Identity Cards (IDs) to move across the region as part of the implementation of the EAC Common Market instead of passports.
       She called upon the EAC Secretariat to put in place a forum, for partner states that have agreed to the use of National IDs for the movement of their citizens across the region, to discuss the modalities.
      She was speaking during a meeting with the EAC Secretary General, Dr. Richard Sezibera in Kigali, last week.
      "As part of the process to implement the EAC Common Market Protocol, there was an urgent need for those countries that had agreed to the use of IDs to meet and agree on the modalities," she noted.
      She hailed the progress being achieved by the partner states in the issuance of national identity cards where Uganda had started issuing, Kenya was to start issuing by September/October this year and the tendering process had already started in Tanzania.
      Burundi is also in the process of establishing the IDs while Rwanda is the only EAC partner state that currently has operational National Identity cards.
      Sezibera said that the five-key priority areas he intends to focus on during his tenure of office include the establishment of a fully fledged single customs authority, implementation of the Common Market Protocol that will involve the introduction and use of IDs in all the partner states and the single tourist visa.
      Others include total elimination of non-tariff barriers, negotiation and launch of the Monetary Union, a robust regional infrastructure development and the involvement of the civil society, private sector and the ordinary citizens in the EAC integration and development process.
       He said the secretariat is developing a framework on Public-Private-Partnerships which is expected to increase private sector participation in infrastructure projects.