Shaking up cabinet and the EAC

As the week begun, top news was the mini reshuffle in cabinet that saw the appointment and assuming office of Doctor Richard Sezibera as Minister of Health. He comes to the ministry with a new Permanent secretary, Doctor Agnes Binagwaho. Sezibera has had a charmed public service life since the days of the RPF liberation war, where he worked as a frontline doctor. He was a Member of Parliament and later ambassador to the United States. Until recently he was the presidents’ special envoy to the Great Lakes region, a position he played with distinction. In that position he proved invaluable to journalists as he was always ready at hand to offer the government position on the issues of the great lakes region. In the president’s office, Sezibera was replaced by Joseph Mutaboba who prior to his new assignment was permanent secretary in the Ministry of Internal Security. At MINISANTE Sezibera replaced Jean Damascene Ntawukuriryayo who has assumed the position of second Deputy Speaker of parliament. The mini reshuffle also saw Caroline Kayonga hitherto the PS in the Ministry of Health joining the Ministry of Natural Resources, while Doctor Anita Asiimwe, formerly at TRAC, joins CNLS replacing Doctor Binagwaho. Tripartite summit The first COMESA, EAC and SADC tripartite summit conference of heads of state opened in Kampala Uganda this week with president Kagame calling upon the regional leaders to “do more and faster” in order to enhance and benefit from the process of integration. The summit which was hosted by President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, and attended by Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania, Paul Kagame of Rwanda, Mwai Kibaki of Kenya, Kgalema Montlathe of South Africa, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe and the Burundi Vice president Gabriel Ntisezerana. The tripartite summit underlines new resolve on part of the regional leaders to fast track regional and ultimately continental integration. As was reported, it is hoped that there will be a free trade zone from Cairo to Cape Town and DRC to Kenya. Thus at the end of the summit Wednesday, the leaders of the 26 African countries that make up SADC, EAC and COMESA resolved to create a single market. This according to analysts will be the largest free trade area in Africa with a population of more than half a billion and a total GDP of $624 billion. This week also saw the seventh Extraordinary EAC summit presided over by President Paul Kagame who is the chairman of the EAC summit. All EAC leaders were in attendance save for Burundi’s Pierre Nkurunziza. The summit announced the appointment of two new judges to the East African court of Justice (EACJ). Rwanda’s Johnstone Busingye was also appointed principal Judge of the First Instance Division. The efforts to increase the visibility of the new entrants into the community, (Rwanda and Burundi), is central to the roadmap adopted by the council of ministers. This is a testament of how the member countries are committed to facilitating an equal representation of all members in the running of the affairs of the community. Further a field It was announced this week that a special team has been put in place to monitor the possible effects of the world financial crisis on the Rwandan economy. The team that will comprise of representatives from different public and private sector bodies was charged with the responsibility of monitoring financial trends on the international scene. The international financial crisis that originated from the United States has been variously described as the end of an era that was championed by western capitalism. This bold move to stem the possible effects of the world financial crisis on the world market speaks volumes about the direction our economic managers would like to take. In simple terms, they seem not to be caught unawares in case the financial meltdown starts having a serious effect on our economy. The committee will be meeting monthly to asses the impact of the crisis on the Rwandan economy. On the international scene early polling begun in the United States, with predictions that the majority of voters will have cast their votes before November 4. As early voters went to the ballot, opinion polls continued to reveal a Barack Obama lead against his Republican rival John McCain. All eyes are on the United States as the whole world waits for America to make history. Indeed, whoever wins, America is set to make history with either the first black president of or the first female vice president. Ends