Monday, 17 February 2014

EAC set to launch common market protocol scorecard....Read more.............

A scorecard, which will evaluate implementation of the East African Community (EAC) Common Market Protocol, will be launched in Arusha today.
The scorecard has been developed by the EAC Secretariat with the support of the World Bank Group, according to the principal planning and research officer with the regional body, Mr David Sajjabi.
“We are pleased to announce that development of this scorecard is now complete and will be launched on February 18, at Mt Meru Hotel in Arusha,” he said in a statement circulated to the media.
He added: “The aim of this seminar is to deepen understanding of the media on different issues under the Common Market Protocol and also enable the media to do extensive coverage on identified projects and programmes.”
Article 50 of the EAC Common Market Protocol requires the development of a framework for monitoring and evaluating the implementation of the protocol. The Protocol was signed by the regional leaders on November 21, 2009 and came into force on July 1, 2010.
The EAC Common Market Scorecard 2014 has been developed over the last two years led by an EAC Common Market Scoreboard Reference Group with the participation of the EAC partner states, EAC Secretariat, East African Business Council (EABC), World Bank Group and a number of regional research institutions.
Scorecard is a strategy performance management tool used by managers to keep track of the execution of activities by the staff within their control and to monitor the consequences arising from the activities.
It is also a strategic planning and management system that is used extensively in business and industry as well as government and nonprofit organisations worldwide to align business activities to the vision and strategy of the organisation.
What Mr Sajjabi could not say is that the introduction of the scorecard was aimed to speed up the implementation of the EAC Common Market Protocol which has been criticised for having failed to take off as anticipated when it was agreed upon by members of the bloc four years ago.
Requisite implementation of the protocol and the consequent slow pace of economic integration has also been blamed on lack of commitment by a section of leaders in East Africa and failure by member states to harmonize a raft of laws and regulations.
When he spoke in Arusha late last year, the chairman of the East African Trade Union Confederation (EATUC), Mr Francil Atwoli, said ‘borderless’ EA was only possible if the regional leaders implemented what they have been preaching all along.
He added that although Article 7 and 10 of the Common Market Protocol was explicit on the movement of workers and persons in the region, the five partner states have not harmonised their labour laws, regulations and social security systems in tandem with the arrangement.

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