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New EAC chief vows to save bloc from financial crisis

Xinhua, April 26, 2016 Adjust font size:

The newly appointed Secretary General of the East African Community (EAC) officially took office on Monday, and pledged to take stringent measures aimed at saving the regional bloc from the current financial crisis.

Liberat Mfumukeko, the new EAC chief, said the stringent measures included cost cutting, transparency, accountability and value for money.

"It will not be business as usual as the regional organization has to cope with unprecedented deficits in its budget," said Mfumukeko at a reception party to welcome him at EAC headquarters in Tanzania's northern tourist city of Arusha.

Mfumukeko said the EAC was currently going through challenging financial times, and that forecasts for the month of June this year showed a deficit of more than 11 million U.S. dollars.

The situation has been aggravated by failure of development partners, who account for close to 70 percent of the annual budget, to disburse about 30 percent of the expected funds two months before the end of the 2015/2016 fiscal year on June 30, said the new boss.

The EAC includes six member states, namely, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and South Sudan that joined the bloc last week.

Mfumukeko, a Burundian national, assumed the highest office at the EAC and succeeded Richard Sezibera from Rwanda whose five-year term ended on Monday.

He was appointed the fifth secretary general of the EAC during the 17th Heads of State Summit held on March 2 in Arusha. Enditem