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A broad spectrum of stakeholders and experts from the Automotive Industry, Finance, Customs and Trade sectors as well as vehicle manufacturing company representatives from the EAC Partner States embarked on a three-day meeting at the Sarova Panafric Hotel in Nairobi, Kenya.
The main objective of the meeting, which is organized by the EAC and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), is to review and validate the progress report of the Comprehensive Study on Automotive Industry and provide inputs towards finalization of the same and also inform the EAC and potential private sector investors (both foreign and domestic) on policy options and modalities to promote and develop the motor vehicle industry in the region.
The EAC Heads of State Summit have on various occasions reiterated the need to promote motor vehicle assembling in the region, given the huge potential that can be realized from a thriving iron ore extraction and beneficiation industry that can in turn, lay the foundations for a globally competitive steel production industry on a scale to support the establishment of an automotive industry in East Africa.
Cognizant of this, the 16th Ordinary Summit of the East African Community Heads of State of 20th February 2015 “directed the EAC Council of Ministers to study the modalities for promotion of motor vehicle assembly in the region, and to reduce the importation of used motor vehicles from outside the community, and to report progress to the 17th Summit.”
The Director for Productive and Social Sectors at the EAC Secretariat, Mr. Jean Baptiste Havugimana, for the EAC Secretary General, said that road transport was the most predominant mode of transport across the EAC region due to its affordability and flexibility.
“The automotive industry is a major industrial and economic force worldwide. It makes 60 million cars and trucks a year, and is responsible for almost half the world's consumption of oil. In addition, the industry employs 4 million people directly, and many more indirectly," Mr. Havugimana said.
Mr. Havugimana said that the EAC had made a strategic decision to invest in the motor vehicle industry as a way of diversifying the regional manufacturing base which at the moment relies heavily on raw agriculture commodities.
It is anticipated that the development of an automotive industry will create more jobs and reduce transportation costs. The industry also has the potential to contribute to foreign exchange reserves, if some of the vehicle parts currently imported are competitively produced within the EAC Region.
To reap the full benefits from the industry, it will be vital to nurture it. To do so, the EAC Secretariat has been tasked to speed up work on a comprehensive study on the bloc’s automotive industry to help decision makers plan better and put in place modalities that will support similar initiatives and promote the automotive industry.
In his remarks, Mr. Julius Kirima, the Acting Deputy Director of Industries in Kenya’s Ministry of Industry, Trade and Cooperatives acknowledged the generous support extended by the Japanese government through JICA to facilitate the study on the automotive industry in East Africa.
Mr. Kirima noted that the study gives ample opportunity to chat the way forward towards promotion of intellectual development, production of quality automotive products and increased employment opportunities within the region.
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In light of the growing challenges faced in ascertaining food security in the region, EALA is calling on Partner States to prioritize harmonisation of national laws, policies and strategies on Agriculture and Food Security in order to ease the urgent implementation of the Malabo commitments. The Malabo Declaration calls on States in the Continent to scale up their budgetary allocations to the agriculture sector to at least 10% of total budgets.
EALA passed a Resolution urging the EAC Partner States, Thursday last week to fast-track the implementation of the Malabo Declaration and the attendant commitments in the Partner States. The Resolution moved by Hon Mike Sebalu received affirmation from a number of legislators.
The Assembly once again reiterated its plea to Partner States to allocate budgets to agriculture that reach the Malabo Declaration target of at least 10% annually or to strive to progressively get there. At the moment, only the Republic of Rwanda, according to the Resolution, comes close to attaining the Malabo declaration, having surpassed the 6% mark, with regards to its budget allocated to agriculture.
The Assembly says budgets should also focus on financing smallholder centered programmes like extension services, research, input support, improving access to finance and market and on efficient utilization of the allocations.
The domestication of the Malabo Declaration 2014 -2025, the Assembly ascertains, is possible by putting in place regional legally binding protocols and financial instruments, which are responsive to the needs of smallholder farmers, youth and women to ensure regional realisation of goals.
Of importance, the Resolution states, is the need to institutionalize an annual dialogue framework that brings together farmers, non-State actors and the Partner States. Other participants should include the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) Results framework Focal Persons, Agriculture Parliamentary Committee Chairpersons and the EALA Committee on Agriculture, Tourism and Natural Resources (ATNR) Committee. Accordingly, such a conference, the Assembly states, should promote dialogue on the implementation of the Malabo commitments so as to enhance mutual accountability within the agriculture sector in the region, as well as fronting new ideas.
According to analysts, many government policy makers and even Parliamentarians may not be aware of the Malabo Declaration. The implementation of the Declaration would reduce the gap between the rich and the poor in the Community. Emphasis should therefore should be given to value addition to agricultural produce to improve income for the small scale EAC farmers and agricultural produce.
Those who rose in support of the Resolution were Hon Isabelle Ndahayo, Hon Susan Nakawuki, and Hon. Fredric Ngezebuhoro.
The passage of the Resolution comes hot on the heels of the adoption of the Assembly of a Report on the Agriculture Summit 2016 last week.
Essentially, domesticating the regional framework to transform agriculture sector is vital while recognizing the rights and roles of majority smallholder crop growers, fisher folks and livestock keepers, as well as medium and larger scale farmers.
The East African Community has a number of regional agriculture instruments under its belt including the EAC Agriculture and Rural Development Policy and Strategy, the EAC Food and Nutrition Policy, Livestock Policy and the regional Fisheries instruments.
The region is also paying attention to the CAADP Compact, the EAC Food Security Action Plan alongside the Action plan to enhance the Resilience capacity of livestock keepers in the Arid and Semi-Arid (ASAL) lands of East Africa.