Rwanda government approves draft import tax law to raise money for AU

One of the biggest challenges facing the African Union (AU), is funding. The continental body depends heavily on the West to finance its activities – a situation critics believe makes the organization subservient to the interests of the West.

More than 60 per cent of the AU’s financing is borne by Western countries and organisations, and while member countries are slow in paying their dues, the West doesn’t always fulfill its pledges to the AU.

 The government of Rwanda seems to have gone ahead of other governments in Africa and is passing a law to tax imports to generate revenue to finance the AU.

According to a report by The East African newspaper, President Paul Kagame has passed the new law that places a 0.2 per cent levy on imported goods.

African governments at the 27th African Union Summit held in Kigali in July 2016, unanimously adopted a formula known as the ‘Kigali Declaration’ proposed by a review team led by a former president of the African Development Bank, Dr Donald Kaberuka, to make AU member states to finance the organization.

The report indicates that if the law is passed by the Rwanda Parliament, it will take effect in July 2017.

Citing Rwandan Minister of Finance and Economic Planning Claver Gatete, it said that Kenya, Chad, Ethiopia and the Congo Republic were at various stages of formulating laws to implement the ‘Kigali Declaration’.

By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi

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