For many Zanzibaris – government officials, legislators and businesspersons — the East African Community (EAC) is still a difficult institution to understand: How they can benefit from it? What is their role?
What is the status of Zanzibar in the regional grouping? How will the community affect their daily lives?
In many forums and Zanzibar House of Representatives, complaints against the EAC have been heard, probably indicating that there is scanty knowledge about the objectives of the EAC.
Just to try to answer the above questions, TradeMark East Africa (TMEA) organised a forum for the members of the Zanzibar National Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture (ZNCCIA) to enlighten them on the EAC.
The forum also attracted officials from some government institutions, entrepreneurs, and the newly-established Zanzibar Bureau of Standards (ZBS). Participants, according to the facilitators, had constructive ideas about how Zanzibar can benefit from EAC. Arguably, majority Zanzibaris still have little knowledge about EAC, and ‘many’ think Zanzibar may lose a lot in the community instead of gaining.
Some propose that Zanzibar should stand on its own (be an independent country) in the community, instead of being a member under the umbrella of the Union Government. Other countries are Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi, while South Sudan, Somalia, and Ethiopia wish to become members.
The five-member regional block was revived in 1999 with a focus on establishing a common market between member countries, remove the customs barriers and apply the same tariffs for external transactions for the free movement of goods, free labour, and establish the free movement of persons, services and adopt common policies before political integration.
Other objectives of the EAC are to safeguard the common values, the fundamental interests, strengthen the security of the community, maintain peace and promote cooperation, and develop and strengthen democracy, rule of law, and respect for human rights.
Mr Aidan Eyakuse from “Serengeti Advisers,” was the overall facilitator of the meeting which aimed to provide space for the participants to learn and share knowledge intended to enhance the understanding of the EAC Integration agenda and in turn position to engage more actively in the process. He said ZNCCIA has the duty to follow up on issues being handled by EAC at the business community level and the private sector at large.
He said there was need to establish and maintain relationships with policy makers, opinion leaders, relevant institutions, business membership organizations, regional and international missions and other relevant partners in promoting the EAC integration agenda at the national level.
“We also have a duty to informing the business community on the policies and programmes being developed or implemented at the regional level to foster the interests of the private sector in the integration process,” he said.
It was established that Zanzibar’s private sector hasn’t been actively engaged with the EAC regional integration processes and issues, and that TMEA Tanzania “is keen to support Zanzibar’s private sector, through ZNCCIA definitely to enhance our participation and ensure that we can benefit through the available opportunities (committees at national and regional level)” TMEA is already supporting Tanzania in a programme managed by the Tanzania Private Sector Foundation (TPSF) as well as TCCIA.
Mr Abdallah Abbasi, the newly- elected ZNCCIA president thanked TradeMark East Africa and supporting partners for hosting the forum that raised awareness and understanding for the Zanzibar business community to engage more strategically in the East Africa Community Regional Integration process.
Abbasi admitted that there is limited awareness and inadequate participation on the part of the private sector in Zanzibar on key areas of East African cooperation. He said that the meeting was timely within the framework of East Africa current and future set up towards regional integration.
“As we look across both the government and the private sector in Zanzibar, you will all agree that Zanzibar needs to be more proactive and positive to become a significant partner to promote the business agenda in the integration process,” he said. He said there have been a number of constraints like trade barriers, common market protocols and others.
The chamber president informed the gathering at Grand Palace Hotel in the Stone Town that the main mission of ZNCCIA is to facilitate conducive business environment for sustained livelihood among the business community.
He also revealed that TradeMArk East Africa plans to further intervene with ZNCCIA in research and policy advocacy as part of capacity building to strengthen the institution and enhance its capacity to engage women traders and entrepreneurs to seek and benefit from the opportunities offered under AC integration process.
The expected support from Trade Mark East Africa in the areas of technical support on policy research and women empowerment will compliment what has been achieved through BEST-AC programme in ZNCCIA He underlined the importance and the need for the symposium and areas of support required to ensure the regional integration is adequately reflected in the ZNCCIA agenda to address the trade impediments facing the integration process.
Ms Pauline Elango- Country director, TradeMark East Africa (Tanzania) said in her brief remark at the meeting that dialogue on EAC would increase efficiency in the regional context. “People need to know and understand how they will benefit from EAC,” she said.
Presenting a paper on “Trade Facilitation Agencies in Zanzibar and the Challenges of Meeting Standards,” Mr Khatib Khatib, Director General of ZBS explained about the importance of Trade facilitation (simplification and harmonization of international trade procedures to assist the movement of goods) in the growing EAC integration.
Health authorities; Zanzibar Food and Drugs Board (ZFDB) and Chief Government Chemist; Standards bodies; Zanzibar Bureau of Standards (ZBS), Tax authorities which are: Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) and Zanzibar Revenue Board (ZRB); Port authorities which are Zanzibar Port Corporation (ZPC) and Zanzibar Airport Authority (ZAA) and Banks are Trade facilitation agencies in Zanzibar.
He said Zanzibar has the opportunity to benefit from EAC because the functions of ZBS are related to Trade Facilitations which include to: Undertake measures to promote standardization in industry and trade; Provide for inspection, sampling and testing for locally produced and imported commodities to verify conformity with the standards.
According to Khatib, some of the existing and potential challenges in trade facilitation in Zanzibar include: Already there are many agencies involved in clearance procedures (TRA, ZRB, ZFBD, ZPC, ZAA); similarly fees and charges payment already seem to be costly; and effectiveness and efficiency of computerization is not well covered in most of all steps.
The import and export procedures and regulations among those agencies not harmonized to ease the process, e.g. Procedures for exporting sea products, livestock and livestock products, spices and fruits are not harmonized. Many agencies, each is operating independently and in isolation, each requiring specific document to fill and submit.
Other challenges related to Standards and Trade Facilitation are Substandard and counterfeit goods exist that jeopardize health, safety and environment of Zanzibar community; and lack of awareness on standardization and its roles in trade facilitation.
Khatib said, No clear and effective cooperation among trade facilitation agencies including ZBS; and entrepreneurs in Zanzibar spend considerable time finding out which agencies are responsible for what documents, “e.g. there are cases already reported for entrepreneur fail to distinguish between ZBS and ZFDB, some of them are even confused with ZFDB and ZBS.”
By ISSA YUSSUF, Tanzania Daily News
