EAC secretariat decries slow funding by member states

The East African Community (EAC) secretariat has decreed the slow release of funds from partner states that’s slowing down implementation of projects.

Kenya, alongside its four partners states, collectively owe 4.6 billion shillings to the EAC.

However slow release of funding has seen some of EAC’s functions stall.

The EAC six main organs among them the secretariat, the East African Legislative Assembly, East African Court of Justice, Lake Victoria Basin Commission, East African Kennel Club and the East Africa Science and Technology Agency.

However, a report released last year by the Audit and Risk Committee says the Community’s budget is funded about 40 percent by partner states and 60 percent by donors but the Secretariat had failed to use the money at its disposal.

The report also notes that many of the Community’s projects and programs suffer from under-absorption of their budgetary allocations, and that the Community requires proper budgetary planning, coherence and consistency in the budgeting process.

The Community also suffers from poor financial management, including the fact that transactions on the general ledger were adjusted over a thousand times after submission of financial statements.