REGULATION OF CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IN THE EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY: LEGISLATIVE DEVELOPMENTS IN KENYA, SOUTH SUDAN AND TANZANIA

Abstract

The practice of companies in the East African Community (EAC)
region to engage in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
programmes by developing their own CSR policies or by adopting
existing CSR instruments developed by national or international
Non-governmental Organisations (NGOs) and Civil Society
Organisations (CSOs) requires an examination of its legal
foundations. Relevance of this article revolves around the role
played by law in promotion of meaningful and credible CSR
agenda in the EAC region. In particular, it examines the laws on
CSR found in the Partner States of Kenya, South Sudan and
Tanzania with a view of establishing the best forms of legal
regulation appropriate to the EAC region at the EAC regional level.
It is concluded that although law can be used to promote
meaningful and credible CSR in the EAC region, the practice of
imposing a legal obligation on companies to adopt CSR policies
raises many legal issues, an aspect, which makes it an
unfavorable option when compared with the practice of imposing a
legal duty on companies to report on CSR in the EAC region.

Key terms (phrases): CSR and the law in the EAC, CSR reporting
practices in the EAC, compulsory CSR in the
EAC, CSR legislations in the EAC.