Kenya’s Ruto calls for a borderless East Africa
Ruto noted that the EAC region can share opportunities and prosperity instead of hunger and poverty.
The President of Kenya William Ruto has called his Ugandan counterpart President Yoweri Museveni in his capacity as their elder to lead the erasing of the borders that continue to divide East Africa as a people.
“Your Excellency, as our elder, President Museveni, you have the challenge to lead on ensuring that we bring down the boundaries, borders and barriers so that we can have a borderless East African Community,” Ruto said.
Ruto, who recently became the Kenyan fifth president, made the remarks in Kampala where he is attending Uganda’s 60th Independence Day celebrations at Kololo Independence Celebration Grounds.
“It is our place as leaders and citizens of the East African Region to work together so that we can transform our borders which today stand as barriers and convert them into bridges so that goods and services can move across this East Africa without impediments,” he added.
He noted that the EAC region can share opportunities and prosperity instead of hunger and poverty.
“I have a word for our business people. The business people in our community are lagging behind because of our policymakers. I want to ask investors in our region to take advantage of the infrastructure provided by the EAC and ACFTA to transform our region,” he advised.
He added: “There is no way we can’t have food in our region. If it is in Uganda, it should find its way to Kenya. If Kenya, Ugandans should be able to access these opportunities,”
The EAC member countries are Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, DR Congo and South Sudan. These countries together offer a market of about 400 million people. This number can spur trade.
