NAIROBI, April 29 (Xinhua) -- The East African Community (EAC) member states each plan to hold national referenda to decide whether to have a political confederation or not, officials said on Monday.
Alice Yalla, acting integration secretary at Kenya's Ministry of East African Community and Regional Development told Xinhua in Nairobi that a committee of experts, three from each of the six partner states is currently developing a draft constitution for governing the political confederation.
"According to the agreed framework, the EAC countries should have agreed on a constitution that will be voted by nationals of the regional bloc by 2025 and thereafter commence the process of implementing the political confederation," Yalla said.
EAC member states include Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan.
Yalla added that partner states have decided to have a political confederation instead of the envisaged political federation where the member states will agree on the selected areas to coordinate centrally.
The Kenyan official noted that the areas of common coordination will include trade and foreign policy while other areas will be conducted by respective national governments.
Yalla noted that a referendum will be conducted to ensure that the nationals of the regional bloc own the political union.
