The East African Legislative Assembly has approved the EAC Budget Estimates for the Financial Year 2020/21, amounting to USD 104,063,020 via virtual conference. In the same vein, the House passed the EAC Appropriation Bill, 2020, with the said amendments, over the budget estimates of USD 97,669,708, presented last week by the Chair, Council of Ministers, Hon Nshuti Manasseh.
Under the vote, the EAC Secretariat is to receive USD 48,418,301, while the East African Legislative Assembly gets USD 23,067,137. The East African Court of Justice is expected to benefit from the kitty, earning USD 4,198,406, while USD 8,380,057 is earmarked for the Lake Victoria Basin Commission. The Assembly further approved USD 1,536,751 for the activities of the East African Science and Technology Commission, and USD 1,399,318 for the activities of the East African Kiswahili Commission.
On its part, the East African Health Research Commission is to benefit from USD 1,879,600, East African Competition Authority USD 1,128,240, the Inter-University Council for East Africa, USD 10,977,276 and Lake Victoria Fisheries Organization (LVFO) USD 3,077,934.
Of the total approved budget, the Assembly reallocated USD 518,050 to other activities considered pertinent to the integration agenda, given the available resources.
The 2020/21 Budget was presented last week to the House by the Chairperson of the EAC Council of Ministers and State Minister for EAC, Republic of Rwanda, Hon Prof Nshuti Manasseh. The EAC Budget Speech is themed: “Stimulating the economy to safeguard livelihoods, jobs, businesses and industrial recovery.” According to the Chair of Council of Ministers, the Budget estimates (of USD 97,669, 708) were presented at a time when EAC region as well as the globe, is still reeling from the effects (and after-effects) of the Covid 19 pandemic, leading to lockdowns and a slowdown in economic activities. In his speech, the Chair of Council of Ministers reiterated the EAC Budget would complement the efforts of Partner States and Development Partners to spur economic recovery arising from the Covid19 disruptions.
