EAC holds consultations on proposed political confederation in Rumbek

A team of experts from the East African Community has held a one-day national consultation in Rumbek on the proposed EAC Political Confederation.

The consultation on Thursday brought together stakeholders from Lakes State, including government officials, women’s groups, civil society organizations, people living with disabilities, academics, youth and church representatives.

The consultations are aimed at gathering public views to help shape the constitution of the proposed political confederation.

Participants discussed governance, decision-making, cooperation, authority, funding, security, infrastructure, education and health, among other issues.

Andrea Aguer Ariik, Deputy Secretary General of the East African Community in charge of infrastructure, economic, social and political sectors, said the delegation came to South Sudan to gather views on how the proposed confederation should be structured.

He said the views collected from citizens and stakeholders will be presented to the bloc’s heads of state summit for consideration in drafting the constitution.

“We have come to the Republic of South Sudan to get views through a consultation on how a political confederation constitution should be drafted,” Ariik explained.

“A decision was made by the Summit of Heads of State of East Africa Community for a community to be integrated politically and the political integration is through a confederation and a confederation is where member states are independent but there are some areas of cooperation where they will agree to leave the responsibility to a union government while states remain independent and continue to run their government as they used to be before joining a confederation,” he said.

“A confederation is a union where a country is willing to join and willing to leave depending on their interest in a confederation,” he added.

The EAC official said South Sudan is the fifth country to undergo the consultation process, following Burundi, Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda.

Once consultations in all member states are completed, the findings will be submitted to the EAC Summit of Heads of State for consideration.

Meanwhile, women’s representatives called for equal representation and non-discrimination under the proposed confederation.

Akol James Malala, who spoke on behalf of the women’s representatives, said:

“We have mentioned also one of the principles of the Confederation should equal and non-discrimination. All people have to be equal, whether you are from South Sudan, you are from Kenya, you are from Tanzania,” Ms Malala said.

CEPO Coordinator in Lakes State, Daniel Laat Kon, said civil society wants peace and security to be prioritized under the proposed confederation, particularly conflict prevention along the borders.

The East African Community is pursuing deeper regional integration, with political integration proposed through a confederation.

Under the model explained by the EAC delegation, member states would retain their sovereignty and national governments while agreeing to transfer responsibility for specific areas of cooperation to a union-level government.

The consultation process is intended to give citizens and stakeholders an opportunity to contribute their views before the proposed confederation constitution is finalized.

The EAC currently has eight partner states, including South Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, Somalia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.