Why Burundi has failed to reap benefits of EAC treaty

A woman cries in front of a house burned by protesters during a protest against Burundi President Pierre Nkurunziza and his bid for a third term in Bujumbura, Burundi, May 27, 2015. REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic

When I joined a group of East African journalists for a regional media tour which started at the East African Community (EAC) headquarters in Arusha, I had no idea of the dire situation we would find in Burundi.

We were 10 on the journey that would take us through Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and end in Burundi. Three were from Kenya, another three from Uganda, one each from South Sudan and Rwanda and two from Burundi.

While in Kigali, after touring the other three countries, a Kenyan friend I had gone to school with and who works as an architect there asked me:

“So where are you going after Kigali?”

“Bujumbura (capital of Burundi), which is our final destination,” I answered, looking forward to my first time there.

He looked surprised, and asked: “What are you going to do there?”, in a way that implied the country was not worth visiting.

Alarmed

I brushed off his qualms. But earlier, a few pointers had alarmed me before I even got to Kigali.

While in Kampala, the two Burundian journalists who work for the State broadcaster, got a call from their editors ordering them not to step into Rwanda. Their journey of the region ended in Uganda and they took a flight home.

Later in Kigali, the Rwandese reporter told us that he would not be joining us in Bujumbura, again having received orders from his seniors.

Apparently the two countries are in a state of “cold war” and will not even look at each other, leave alone trade.

But nothing made the animosity clearer than our experience at the one-stop border point, manned by armed soldiers on both ends. No Rwandan vehicle can enter Burundi territory, and vice versa.

Travellers have to disembark from and go through rigorous checks then walk for almost two kilometers to vehicles on the other end, amid tight security. Any suspicious behaviour can invite a bullet, we were told.

Apparently since the attempted coup in Bujumbura in 2015, tension has remained high between the two neighbours. Burundi president Pierre Nkurunzinsa blames his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame for instigating the coup.

The tension is rubbing badly on the other EAC member states.

The 200-kilometre drive from the border to the capital Bujumbura paints a dull picture of a country reeling in servile poverty. Burundi is clearly a country in economic turmoil.

Its lack of basic infrastructure - good roads, power, schools - is glaring even to an outsider who has been there for a few days.

The entire rural population seems to live in agonisingly harsh conditions; mud and thatched houses while deriving a livelihood from fallow land that lack proper agricultural care and has been battered by erosion.

“The war and lack of institutions and proper governance has ravaged us. We hope we can leverage on the EAC integration process and gain from it,” said Denis Nshimirimana, secretary general of the Burundi Federal Chamber of Commerce during the tour.

Burundi is the only country in the EAC that has failed to ratify important treaties, called Mutual Recognition Agreements (MRAs) that provide for professionals to move freely and work in the region without permits.

This is because it has no regulatory bodies to oversee the practice of these professions, and has no legal framework to create them.

Being part of the EAC, Burundi is supposed to be reaping the benefits of the Single Customs Union (SCT), but it is not.

Its revenue authority has little capacity to work with others in the region in ensuring goods come from the ports to Bujumbura in the easiest way possible, and having paid the necessary taxes. As a result, it is heavily reliant on Tanzania, using the latter’s cargo and taxation systems to get access to goods.

More than 90 per cent of Burundi’s imports come through the Dar-es-Salaam port, according to Mr Nshimirimana.

“The cold war with Rwanda is making it even worse since no goods come through Kigali, and we are therefore enjoying little of the benefits of the SCT,” he said.

One of the biggest pharmaceutical companies in Burundi, Siphar, is constantly struggling to import raw materials because the country’s foreign reserves are already woefully depleted.

Little reserves

“We want to import but how can we when the central bank has so little reserves? They give the few manufacturers around here a little quota of whatever reserves they have, which is not enough even for basic imports,” Siphar chairman Salim Somji said.

Boaz Nimpe, the executive secretary of Burundi Bankers Association, decries the sad situation the country has found itself in and hopes membership to the EAC will open Burundi leaders’ eyes.

“I know you wanted to talk to accountants about Burundi’s position in the EAC MRA. But we have no certified accountants’ body here, that is why we can’t sign the MRA. I am a banker who is supposed to stand in for accountants, which is not right,” he said. “The truth also is that our importers will keep suffering. There are no foreign reserves to speak of here.”

While other EAC countries are striving to progress with the union until the final integration stage of a political federation, Burundi remains the dark horse that is bolting in a direction it has no clue about.  

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