EAC 25th Summit: South Sudan secures $21M waiver as debt is slashed by half

2026-03-10 - 12:57

ARUSHA, Tanzania (Eye Radio) — The 25th Ordinary Summit of the East African Community (EAC) has approved a landmark 50% waiver on membership arrears, providing immediate relief to South Sudan. Kenyan President William Ruto announced the cancellation of $21 million of the country’s debt during the 25th Ordinary Summit of the East African Community (EAC) on Saturday, March 7, 2026. According to the outgoing EAC Chair, the move is designed to alleviate the financial burden on struggling member states. “We made the decision that, going forward, to make contributions to this community fair and equitable, the countries that have bigger economies and benefit more from the community should pay more,” President Ruto stated. “And therefore, we have agreed to change the contribution formula.” The debt relief is part of a fundamental shift in how the eight-member bloc is funded. The Summit discarded the previous equal-contribution model in favor of a 50/50 formula. Under this new structure, half of the budget will be split equally among all members, while the other half will be an “assessed contribution” based on the size of each member state’s economy. The waiver comes with a firm condition: South Sudan and other nations in arrears must clear the remaining 50% of their debt within the next two years. President Ruto emphasized that those with smaller economies will now pay equitably, ensuring that the burden is manageable for all partner states. Recognizing that the bloc has grown from three to eight nations, the Summit moved to reform a governance structure that President Ruto described as “increasingly difficult” to manage under old rules. To prevent bureaucratic gridlock, the EAC has moved away from the requirement of total consensus. Future community decisions can now be passed by a 65% majority. This reform ensures that regional integration is not stalled by a single dissenting vote, allowing for a more efficient, “weighted” decision-making process for regional projects and legislative approvals. In a significant budgetary shift, the EAC will no longer pay the base salaries of members of the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA). Starting with the next parliament, individual member states will be responsible for their representatives’ salaries, while the EAC will only cover business-related allowances. “This will significantly reduce the burden on the East African Community so that we can spend more resources in making sure that we have an effective community,” Ruto noted, pointing out that EALA currently consumes nearly 30% of the total budget. The Summit also addressed internal staff welfare, noting that EAC employee salaries have not been reviewed since 2006. A formal salary review is scheduled to begin in January 2027. President Ruto emphasized that these “consequential decisions” are final and not subject to further debate by lower-level officials. The new contribution formula is set to take effect in July 2026. Furthermore, the Summit established a strict “pay-to-play” rule for senior leadership. Only partner states that have ratified the treaty and are up to date with all financial obligations may nominate candidates for the bloc’s five senior positions, including the Secretary General and the Speaker. “There is a tendency for bureaucracy to go and massage some of the decisions we have made,” Ruto warned. “These are the decisions of the Summit.”