Parliament recalled to ratify trade deal with the EU

Members of Parliament will on Tuesday cut short their recess for a special sitting meant to ratify the economic partnership agreement with the European Union.

This comes after Kenya and Rwanda signed the trade deal at the EU headquarters in Brussels last month ahead of the October deadline.

According to the September 20 order paper, the Departmental Committee on Finance, Planning and Trade will table the EPA for adoption.

“In furtherance to the provisions of Article 2(6) of the Constitution and in accordance with the provisions of section 8 of the Treaty Making and Ratification Act, 2012, approves the ratification of the Economic Partnership Agreement entered between the Republic of Kenya, as a Partner State of the EAC on the one hand, and the European Union and its Member States on the other hand,” reads the order paper.

The move by parliament comes just two weeks after the East African Community (EAC) heads of state extended the negotiation of the trade deal until January 2015.

This is expected to give regional trade bloc more time to iron out what some term as contentious clauses in the agreement.

This has raised concern that the country may adopt the EPA deal with the EU before it’s fully agreed on by other member states.

The EAC had until October 1 to have the EPA deal ratified by individual member states.

With regional leaders unable to agree on the best cause of action, Kenya and Rwanda jointly signed the trade deal with the European Union.

For Kenya it’s been a race against time to beat the deadline as it’s the only country in the bloc classified as a developed country, as such subject to multiple taxes and tariffs for goods headed to Europe.

The European Union Parliament however threw Kenya a lifeline when it extended the deadline by four months to give the EAC bloc time to negotiate the deal.