The absence of Tanzania and Burundi at a heads of Immigration, Interpol and Tourism Boards of Uganda, Rwanda and Kenya meeting in Kigali has raised worries over the underlying challenges for the East African Community.
The meeting, aimed at studying the possibility of rolling-out a single tourist visa and the use of a single identity card among partner states, was a follow up to the June recommendations by heads of state of Rwanda, Kenya and Uganda to speed up the implementation of an EAC single tourist visa and use of one identity card within the three republics.
The officials downplayed the two countries absence even as fears grew that the use of the single visa and one identity card cannot be effective unless recognised by all states.
Visa fees The African Development Bank (AfDB), in its latest economic review of the continent, said that Africa is one of the regions in the world with the highest visa requirements, blocking trade both among countries within the continent and globally.
While Burundi is expected to join its counterparts, perhaps at a later date, experts have interpreted Dar es Salaams coldness to the matter as potential signal its long wish to break away from the EAC in favour of the Southern African Development Community. (Read: EAC pushes back single visa plan)
Tanzania has, in past, opposed most of the protocols signed by the member states, the latest being the move by partner states to scrap work permit fees to facilitate free movement of labour, goods and services within the region.
While Tanzania and Burundis absence from these debates is being interpreted differently, Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda are also sharply divided on whether the fee imposed on visa should be scrapped completely.
Rwanda proposes the removal of visa fees while Uganda and Kenya want the fees be retained as a source of revenue.
The visa fee is not an issue to tourists and should be maintained by member states, said Jane Waikenda, the Director of Immigration Services in Kenya.
She says Kenya had tried to remove visa fees in the past but the gesture never facilitated tourism as the number of tourists actually went down instead.
We intend to convince Rwanda about the importance of retaining the visa fees, says Ms Waikenda.
SOURCE: Burundi, Tanzania skip Kigali meeting - News - www.theeastafrican.co.ke
The meeting, aimed at studying the possibility of rolling-out a single tourist visa and the use of a single identity card among partner states, was a follow up to the June recommendations by heads of state of Rwanda, Kenya and Uganda to speed up the implementation of an EAC single tourist visa and use of one identity card within the three republics.
The officials downplayed the two countries absence even as fears grew that the use of the single visa and one identity card cannot be effective unless recognised by all states.
Visa fees The African Development Bank (AfDB), in its latest economic review of the continent, said that Africa is one of the regions in the world with the highest visa requirements, blocking trade both among countries within the continent and globally.
While Burundi is expected to join its counterparts, perhaps at a later date, experts have interpreted Dar es Salaams coldness to the matter as potential signal its long wish to break away from the EAC in favour of the Southern African Development Community. (Read: EAC pushes back single visa plan)
Tanzania has, in past, opposed most of the protocols signed by the member states, the latest being the move by partner states to scrap work permit fees to facilitate free movement of labour, goods and services within the region.
While Tanzania and Burundis absence from these debates is being interpreted differently, Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda are also sharply divided on whether the fee imposed on visa should be scrapped completely.
Rwanda proposes the removal of visa fees while Uganda and Kenya want the fees be retained as a source of revenue.
The visa fee is not an issue to tourists and should be maintained by member states, said Jane Waikenda, the Director of Immigration Services in Kenya.
She says Kenya had tried to remove visa fees in the past but the gesture never facilitated tourism as the number of tourists actually went down instead.
We intend to convince Rwanda about the importance of retaining the visa fees, says Ms Waikenda.
SOURCE: Burundi, Tanzania skip Kigali meeting - News - www.theeastafrican.co.ke
