McHANCY REPORTER NewZ

THE Republic of Somalia is in the line-up for becoming the 7th member of the East African Community (EAC). The prospect will be on the agenda for discussions as the regional bloc’s Heads of State assemble in Kampala, Uganda, from tomorrow. The Ugandan Minister of State for EAC Affairs, Mr Julius Wandera Maganda, who currently chairs the Council of Ministers, revealed in a statement here that the six heads of state from Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi, Tanzania and South-Sudan will review progress of the verification exercise for the admission of the Republic of Somalia into the EAC. The inclusion of Mogadishu will make the East African Community to now own ‘The Horn of Africa,’ and boast the longest coastline of the Indian Ocean on the continent. The joint population of Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi, South-Sudan and (if admitted) Somalia, will be close to 190 million in total, which is essentially the same number of people as Nigeria. Apart from discussing the

THE report on illegal fishing has been submitted with shocking findings of massive uses of illegal fishing gears. The report claims that over 70 per cent of all fishermen in the country use illegal gears, some influential public figures in the local governments, legislators and leaders of political parties behind the crime. Revealing the details of the report before the Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa here yesterday, the Minister for Livestock and Fisheries, Mr Luhaga Mpina said the crackdown against illegal fishing had also unveiled shocking statistics of fish and related products being smuggled to neighbouring countries, subjecting the nation to massive economic losses. He said in 2017 alone over four million kilogrammes of fish worth billions of shillings were smuggled to Malawi through certain routes in the southern part of the country while over 100,000 kilogrammes were smuggled weekly to Uganda through Bukoba route. “The operation is going on and will not end unti