Commodities that meet rules of origin should be allowed across markets in East Africa – Museveni

President Yoweri Museveni has said that any commodity that meets the rules of origin criterion should be sold freely in East Africa. He made the comments On Monday in a meeting with the East African Community Secretary General, Peter Mathuki, at State House Entebbe. “…The rules of origin must be observed. As long as the commodity is made in East Africa, it should be allowed to access the market freely.”

President Museveni, a devout advocate for the unification of Africa was optimistic that in future East Africa will have a very strong economy which imports less from outside the region. He observed that once the economies are healthy there will be no need to import.

The meeting between the two leaders came a day after Uganda celebrated its 60^th Independence Day. Mr Mathuki was a guest during the celebrations that President Museveni used to renew his call for unity of Africa. Mr Museveni has on several occasions argued that it is prudent that countries in the region embrace the common market protocol. He argues that the common market will create a bigger market for goods from individual countries.

In his argument which he repeated on Sunday, Museveni states that fragmentation of Africa will only lead to poverty. He alludes to the example of America that is divided into Latin America with its small countries characterised by poverty and North America which is only divided into the United States of America, Canada and Mexico.

Mr Museveni stated on Sunday: “After 500 years, there is great prosperity in North America and misery and poverty, in Latin America.  Yet, in terms of natural resources (water, forests, agricultural land, minerals, etc.), Latin America, may be richer than North America.  What, then, accounts for the difference?  The difference, partly, emerged from the political-economic-organization of the two continents.   Latin America is excessively fragmented, politically and economically, comprised of 12 countries and, if you include the Caribbean, the total number of countries rises to 25.  The North American continent, on the other hand, is comprised of only 3 countries: Mexico, the USA and Canada.  The USA is a 3 million sq. miles unit, with a population of 332.4 million people.  It is that big market, that stimulated the growth of the USA economy.  It is not easy to be a successful business person in Honduras (population 10,432,860), El Salvador (population  6,336,392), Panama (population 4,408,581), etc., etc., on account of the small populations.  In Latin America, they never even attempted to form a common market, like the one of Europe.  A common market, however, would not be free of problems of discordance.  You have seen Britain walking out of that body and you have seen the tensions with Hungary, Serbia, etc.

Hence, the best formula, if possible, so as to create a framework for guaranteeing the prosperity of people, is the USA formula – which entails both political and economic integration.  Here, in Africa, it points to the creation of political federations, like the one of East Africa.  Such a Federation, would guarantee, not only the prosperity of the people through a big market that would guarantee off-take for the producers of goods and services, but it would also ensure strategic security of People.  Nobody would dare to threaten their security. They would ensure their four dimensional strategic security – on land, in the air, at sea and in space.  It would also deal with the problem of the suppressed fraternity of the African Peoples.” 

In his speech, Mr. Mathuki saluted the President for the continued energy he has invested in the community. He said the East African Community Secretariat is in the process of removing all trade barriers in the region.

Mr Mathuki proposed that the Community establishes a committee that will resolve all the trade disputes among the member countries. He also explained to President Museveni the way forward for the East African Monetary Union and the progress attained so far. The Secretary General further briefed the President on the peace process in the Democratic Republic of Congo, saying, there was a need to establish a fund to facilitate the peace process in the East African nation. On the other hand, Gen. Museveni pledged that Uganda would contribute towards the fund.