Kenyan lawmakers have given a harsh verdict on the operations of the East African Community (EAC) saying the regional bloc is not living up to its expectations as envisioned by the founding presidents.

The lawmakers said member states have been championing personal interest and operate individually.

While discussing the report of the Committee on Regional Integration on its consideration of reports of the East African Legislative Assembly (Eala), the lawmakers called on the Presidents of the member states to live the true spirit of the community.

The committee chaired by Nominated MP Irene Mayaka met with officials from the State Department for EAC Affairs to review reports from Eala.

According to the lawmakers, while Kenya has always met its financial obligations, some countries are yet to appropriate remittances. However, despite meeting its financial obligations, MPs noted that Kenya is not drawing enough benefits from the regional block.

Incidents of abduction and torture have been reported in neighbouring Tanzania and Uganda.“We must do a proper cost-benefit analysis. We must come up with clear indicators that show how we benefit as a country from this Community,” said Mukurweini MP Kaguchia John.

Wajir North MP Ibrahim Saney said it is time the EAC Treaty is reviewed and revisited since it is no longer making sense as envisioned.“At its inception, the EAC looked good, practical and made sense. Given the diversity in political democracies, demographics, and different foreign relations or inclinations, the EAC is no longer holding us together as it used to,” Mr Saney said.

Ugenya MP David Ochieng regretted that EAC cannot grow since individual countries do not want to cede any level of sovereignty.“They do not want to cede powers that would see the region grow,” he said.

According to Mr Ochieng, one of the main reasons the EAC was formed was to promote trade, regional cohesiveness, and to invest and develop jointly.

However, today, within the framework of EAC, through circumvention have more products coming from India and China into Uganda. Kenya, for a long time, was Uganda’s foremost trading partner. I fear that in the next five years“We have done so much as a country to a level where, as we speak, I dare say that there is no economic importance of our continued membership of the EAC. What we are gaining, we could gain without being in the EAC,” Mr Ochieng said.

Recently, Tanzania woke up and said they will not accept certain products from Kenya. Under what legal regime and framework? He asked.

The lawmakers called on Let President William Ruto, Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni and his Tanzanian counterpart Samia Suluhu to wake up and restore the vision of the EAC.

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