Picture: President Magufuli Addresses Reporters at Ngurdoto Lodge On the Right, Ugandan President Museni Looks on
As Tanzania passes over the chairmanship of the East African Community at the Heads of State Summit, nobody is sure who will be next, as Burundi President
It is the first East African Community Heads of State Summit to be attended by President John Magufuli since he assumed power after winning the general election last October.
Already, the Pan African Lawyers Union (PALU) has written to the summit asking the heads of state not to allow Burundi to be given any leading task in the community until the chaos in Bujumbura is cleared.
However, observers here are also not sure if Mr Nkurunziza will agree to chair the summit for the next 12 months amid controversies in his country.
Top on the agenda is the consideration of reports by the EAC Council of Ministers on: the negotiations on the admission of the Republic of South Sudan into the Community; sustainable financing mechanisms for the EAC; and the EAC Institutional Review.
The 17th summit will also consider Council reports on: the Model, Structure and Action Plan of the EAC Political Federation; and Implementation of the Framework for Harmonised EAC Roaming Charges.
Until Tuesday night, Nkurunziza had not yet appeared for the Arusha Summit, though reports had it that he may arrive today.
Fresh from his highly contested presidential election victory, Ugandan Head of State Yoweri Museveni jetted into Kilimanjaro International Airport yesterday evening ready for today’s Heads of Summit at the scenic Ngurdoto Mountain Lodge. Only two leaders jetted into Arusha yesterday.
The other leader was Zanzibar President Ali Mohammed Shein, who is also due for a repeated presidential election on March 20. He arrived in the evening.
Their host, President John Magufuli, arrived in Arusha last Sunday and will be the last to leave here for Ngurdoto because he has the task of inaugurating the Sakina-Tengeru section of ongoing road construction which will spearhead the proposed Arusha-Holili carriage way.
He is expected to flag-off the project alongside Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta. Burundi President Pierre Nkurunziza, his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame and President Kenyatta are expected to arrive in Arusha today.
Tanzania is passing on the EAC Chairmanship to the next president but it is still not known who will take over as the most likely candidate, President Nkurunziza, is already facing post-election conflict and political controversy in his country.
He may, thus, not be ready for the new task at the helm of the five-state regional summit. Arusha
Credit: The Daily News
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