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| Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta addresses East African Legislative Assembly in Arusha yesterday. |
Chairperson
of the Summit of EAC heads of State, Kenya’s President, Uhuru Kenyatta,
has called on security agencies and wildlife management authorities of
the partner states to increase cooperation to stem poaching activities
that he said are ruining regional tourism.
Kenyatta made the call yesterday in Arusha while addressing the 5th meeting of the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA).
He said the recent upsurge of illicit trade in wildlife products,
especially ivory and rhino horns remains the biggest challenge facing
the East African region today.
“Despite our new anti-poaching measures, the challenge remains,” he
said, noting: “…East Africa has been identified as the major source of
ivories and a favourite transit route of this callous commerce.”
Citing examples, Kenyatta said between January and October, last
year alone, over ten tonnes of ivory were intercepted at the port of
Mombasa.
He said similar examples are true for all the other partner states,
saying Tanzania’s statistics show that more than 10,000 elephants are
killed annually and the latest Interpol report estimated a 68 percent
increase in 2013 over the total tonnage seized in 2012.
“These developments represent a deadly threat not only to the
livelihoods of our communities that benefit directly and indirectly from
wildlife, but also to our tourism industry which in some of our partner
states, contributes more than 10 percent of their Gross Domestic
Product (GDP),” noted Kenyatta.
“Even more worrying is the reasonable concern that, the proceeds of
this illicit trade may be feeding terrorist activities…” he added, and
“…terrorism remains a serious security threat to our communities.”
He however stated that with deepening cooperation in defence and
security, the bloc’s ability to respond to internal as well as external
threats has greatly improved.
Notably, the EAC Heads of State signed two protocols on Cooperation
in Defence and Peace and Security expected to come into force this
year.
“We are also establishing a Panel of Eminent Persons, which,
together with EAC Early Warning Mechanism, will complement our capacity
to respond firmly and quickly to potential conflicts in our region. I
hope these will be finalised before the end of this year,” the EAC
leader noted.
He also asked regional decision making bodies to expedite the
process of approving the bill on Disaster Risk Reduction and Management
to mitigate the frequent loss of lives and property in the event of
natural and man-made disasters that have become a frequent occurrence in
the EAC s elswhere.
“It will be to our advantage if the bill were passed before the end of the year,” Kenyatta said.
He also stressed the need for the trading bloc to build capacity
for its own people to ably produce goods for the regional market.
“We must industrialise to build the wealth that will bring
dignified work to our people, sustain our growth and abolish poverty,”
President Kenyatta said.
“The surest way of addressing people’s challenges in the East
Africa is through regional integration. I am interested to see people
move freely within the partner states,” he said.
He added: “I want to see what we decide become reality on the
ground. I am planning to move around on our border posts to see if what
we agree on is implemented.”
The Kenyan leader also suggested the need for EAC staff to work as
one team if they are to achieve the regional integration agenda.
On EAC’s donor dependence syndrome, the Head of the EAC emphasised
the need for the bloc to develop its own source of funding rather than
seek aid that would take the EAC from its own hands.
He also pushed for new institutional review that will take on board
challenges facing the trading bloc in its effort to realize its desired
dreams.
SOURCE:
THE GUARDIAN
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