Why more states should ratify the Comesa Protocol

Rwanda’s Parliament this week endorsed the bill approving ratification of the protocol on the free movement of persons, labour, services and right of establishment and residence within the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) member countries. Enacting the bill into law will make Rwanda one of the first Comesa countries to do so. The Comesa Protocol, and specifically in its Article 4, calls for the removal of inherent obstacles and establishes a gradual implementation process involving five stages: (1) removal of visa requirements, (2) movement of skilled labour, (3) movement of services, (4) right of establishment, and (5) right of residence. That it was adopted in 2001 it may raise concern that so few countries have so far ratified the protocol. Of the 19 member states, only Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Kenya and Burundi have ratified it. Yet, though we may seek to understand why, one may not be too particular to question the varied reasons peculiar to the individual countries as to why they are slow in ratifying the protocol. After all, the full complement of Comesa member countries is already signed to the Protocol on Gradual Relaxation and Eventual Elimination of Visas (Visa Protocol). The willingness to be part is clearly there; only that they should be urged to do their bit as soon as possible to sign and ratify the Protocol. Note that the Protocol will only enter into force when at least seven member states sign and ratify it. It has both social and economic objectives, inspired by the European Union model to build bridges of trust, while giving all citizens in the countries involved the right to travel, live and work wherever they wish within the expansive region. But while the project is noble, it is also clear there are issues. For instance, the violent bouts of xenophobia in some countries by those opposed to immigration (often on economic grounds). While such individuals are not so many as to upset aspirations of the region, theirs are fears of jobs being taken by migrants to their countries, and the perceived taking up of scarce economic opportunities. It is, nevertheless, a socio-economic phenomenon we have been observing across the world, where blaming the immigrant is a symptom of adverse effects of globalization exploited by anti-EU extreme rightwing parties that are on the rise all over Europe. It is the same with the demagogic specter of the US presidential candidate, Donald Trump, and his racist ranting against migrants in the United States. But it is my belief that whatever issues there are will be sorted out as it is in the interest of the Comesa member countries to reap from the massive market of 400-million people, from Cairo to Cape Town in a Free Trade Area (FTA). The seriousness with which the Comesa project is taken is echoed in other regional initiatives under the East African Community and the larger Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD). The regional initiatives seek to bolster and complement each other. Article 7 of the IGAD Agreement, for instance, expressly aims to harmonise policies with regard to trade, promote the free movement of persons and the establishment of residence, and promote and realise the objectives of the Comesa and the EAC. The bottom line is that the cost and benefit analysis of Comesa is on the right side of its citizens for the benefits they stand to reap at the individual and collective levels. It is for this reason that more member states should ratify and bring into force the protocol on the free movement of persons, labour, services and right of establishment and residence. Ratifying it will work for each and every one of us, and by this free its inherent potential to further strengthen the socio-economic growth being witnessed across the continent.

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Why more states should ratify the Comesa Protocol