EAC: What does South Sudan’s full integration into the bloc mean

Although South Sudan joined East African Community in April 2016, it is yet to undergo full integration into the regional bloc.

Since its partial reception, the country has been engaging in EAC affairs including the legislative as well as the secretariat.

However, its full integration has raised concerns as evidenced by a recent row when the Minister for East African Community Affairs Deng Alor Kuol was criticized for consistently failing to attend sittings.

According to the EAC projection; an estimation result of 2020, the community has the potential to increase trade among partner states by 122% more than expected from the normal trade level as far as its past Monetary Policy process is concerned.

But South Sudan has never had robust forecast sensitization though it now battles with the integration-related challenges.

However, many citizens are questioning whether South Sudan’s full integration into the EAC would mean economic prosperity or a nightmare. 

Dr. Abraham Maliet Mamer, a Senior Economic Advisor to the South Sudan Economic cluster said though the entire country has not fully understood what EAC integration processes mean to them, joining a bloc is beneficial from the economic perspective.  

“From the economic view of point, one needs a market block. You need to have a community, league, or a club that you belong to,” he said.

In an exclusive interview with The City Review, Dr. Abraham said, “we are a potential country and if we are potential country for a lot of things, then we need to be a member of a community where we can channel our concerns if there are; where we can sell our goods if there is, and where we can promote opportunities of trading and investment.”

He reiterated that such partnerships were of economic prosperity as far as the monetary policies were concerned.

However, since the country joined the regional bloc, several citizens have continued to express mixed reactions.

 “What I have understood is that the integration is very slow, simply because the meaning of integration has not been understood probably by the whole sector of South Sudan. We didn’t get it right,” Dr. Abraham said

“This is owing to lack of information about that is EAC for us. South Sudan seems to be two communities, within one; this community still believes in Sudan, those do not subscribe to the EAC and there are those who were part and parcel of the movement, some grew up in East Africa. They understand the meaning of the EAC; so within us here in South Sudan, we have not understood holistically the meaning of EAC,” he explained.

The senior economist called on the EAC secretariat to educate the South Sudanese to make them feel they are part of the community.

“When I was still the Secretary-General of South Sudan Investment Authority, I encouraged the technocrats from East Africa Community to come and preach what is the meaning of the membership. In terms of assimilation or integration, it should be a process,” Dr. Abraham said.

He said it was impolite for the East African Legislative Assembly members of parliament who recently criticized  South Sudan’s Minister for East African Affairs for failing to attend one of its sittings.

According to the economist, they could have used diplomatic channels to inquire about his absentia.

“I watched that video and to me, it was a bit very disrespectful. They were supposed to use diplomatic channels instead of raising it in such a very high volume; they could just choose diplomatic channels so that they can reach the minister,” he said.  

Dr. Abraham advised the leadership in the country to sit down and strategize on what the integration would look like.

“We need to try to embark on rollout integration. These include what the country should do first and what happens next,” he stressed.

Johnson David, a South Sudanese businessman claimed that several times he had been prevented from setting up a small business in neighboring East African Countries without proper reasons.

“This is a reality, if you go to Kenya or Uganda; and you want to open a business they don’t tell you no, but they will not make it happen,” he said.

“You will be running around to meet all the requirements and you don’t get it at the end. Maybe, they have not made it part of their rules,” David disclosed.

David wondered why such an obstacle still exists even when the member countries are doing business in the country in the country.

“They are already milking our country here. They sell water, bread and work at tea points; coffee and chapati. But you cannot sell your chapati in Kampala, no one will buy it. However, on top of it, you won’t be allowed to do it. What all these,” he asked.

David wanted the country to study the motive behind integration, before acting.

Patrick Godi, a Juba-based legal practitioner who is also a policy researcher said the EAC membership policies are attractive in the real sense but he doubted whether the integration will soon be translated into a better trade partnership.

“I think it is important that we look at it positively but also internally as a country, we need to do a lot of our homework about it, so that we don’t stand to be exploited,” he said.

According to Mr. Godi, South Sudan has to look at the EAC’s existing policies and see how it can explore unique opportunities that bring about development.

“Well, I have checked into some of the protocols of the EAC community and I do think that there is great potential especially when you are at the policies,” he said.

He advised the government to be critical when choosing avenues of trading so that the country did not endanger its trading opportunities.

“For immediate feedback, the integration might not work unless the government is committed to doing a lot of homework in terms of focusing on the development of small- and large-scale industries as well as local capacity building, for example, our local’s livestock institutions and even the fisheries sectors,” the policy researcher urged.

“Things like agriculture I don’t think whether it is relevant now because we haven’t been into that investment, but you give an example like in Yambio, there are plenty of food items; that could be exported throughout given that most of our agricultural products are organic,” Mr. Godi stated.  

EAC market is believed to be home to a population of over 200, 000 million people.

The East African Community (EAC) Common Market Protocol was adopted in 2010 as the integration of the Customs Union aimed at creating a robust market that fulfills the trading aspiration of the East African people in the region.