Kenya’s President Ruto Urge Regional Leaders To Remove Free Movement Barriers In Eastern Africa

By Jean Pierre Afadhali

Kenya’s President Dr. William Ruto has called for East African region leaders to facilitate free movement of people in a bid to boost regional integration in East and Horn of Africa.

Speaking during the launch of a new report that is said to be the first on migration in East African Community (EAC) and Intergovernmental Authority (IGAD) last week in Nairobi, Kenya, Dr Ruto stated that it is the responsibility of the member states in the region to eliminate national boundaries that have since become roadblocks and impediments to the movement of people and commodities across the region.

The President of the Republic of Kenya has called on the member-states of the East African Community (EAC) and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) to remove barriers to the free movement of people, goods and services in order to enhance regional integration in Eastern Africa.

The Kenyan President said it is the responsibility of the member states in the region to eliminate national boundaries that have since become roadblocks and impediments to the movement of people and commodities across the region.

A new report titled “The state of Migration in East and Horn of Africa 2022” that documents migration trends in the region that constitutes almost half a billion people, notes that 6 and approximately 8.5 million were recorded as migrants in 2021.

According to EAC, the report is the first comprehensive analysis of the mobility dimensions of regional integration, covering migration and mobility trends, trade and mobility, labour mobility, cross-border health, climate change and human mobility, sustainable reintegration, gender, integrated border management, digitalization, and the Global Compact for Migration.

The analysis covers 12 countries in the East and Horn of Africa region: Burundi, Djibouti, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, United Republic of Tanzania and Uganda.

Commenting on free movement of people, Dr. Ruto described national boundaries as old-fashioned and divisive, and urged the region to work together to build bridges of friendship.

“We must not give the credibility to the artificial boundaries that exist in our region and a product of a Conference held in Berlin, Germany that partitioned our Continent and allocated us boundaries. We must bring down these barriers, convert them to stepping stones and build bridges of friendship’’, said President Ruto.

According to the report authored by experts from EAC, IGAD and International Migration Organisation (IOM), migrant population represents less than two per cent of the entire population in Eastern Arica, but trends suggest that people in the region are increasingly on the move.

The study suggests that some of the factors for mobility include the search for better livelihoods, seasonal needs, political conflict and the adverse effects of climate change. “People also move in search for better educational opportunities, to conduct cross-border trade and to reunite with family members.” Read the report

The EAC Secretary General, Hon. (Dr.) Peter Mathuki said the EAC is working on an improved legal and regulatory environment to provide for labour mobility by creating the necessary infrastructure in the refugee-hosting areas to attract private sector investment and empower the refugees economically in collaboration with UNHCR, IGAD and the African Development Bank (AfDB).

Dr Mathuki revealed the EAC region was currently hosting about 3.3 million migrants in form of refugees of which Uganda hosts the highest number with 1.6 million refugees; Kenya 469,414 refugees; DRC 467,744; South Sudan 308,374; Tanzania 191,042; Rwanda 128,064, and; Burundi 110,000.

Key issues reviewed by the various chapters’ point to the need to address new and changing migration trends, patterns and drivers such as conflict and climate change, as well as displacement.

The authors note that through the collaboration between the EAC, IGAD and IOM, the report seeks to ignite conversations and reflections among policymakers and other strategic actors on how regional integration could better facilitate human mobility in a context where human rights are protected and migrants are empowered to contribute their full potential to the development of the societies they join and those they leave behind.

The migration report notes that in terms of facilitating human mobility, the EAC is more advanced than IGAD.