EAC political federation may be in the offing sooner rather than later
The propensity for cooperation among East African states predates the era of self-rule in the three founding members of the original East African Community (EAC) in 1967.
First was the 1917 Customs Union for Kenya and Uganda, to which Tanganyika subscribed in 1927. Then came the 1948-1961 East African High Commission, followed by the East African Common Services Organisation in 1961.
The original EAC was founded barely five years after the three states shook off colonial rule. In June 1967, Presidents Jomo Kenyatta, Dr Milton Obote and Julius Nyerere of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, respectively, signed the Treaty for East African Co-operation that then established the EAC. This wa despite the states’ differences in political ideology then.
The foregoing alone is telltale testament to the magnetic inclination that interminably pulls East African states to a common cause informed by foreseeable multiple benefits.
After the 1977 dissolution of the EAC, the Permanent Tripartite Commission for the East African Co-operation was established in1993, ostensibly to breathe life back to the momentarily failed partnership. Seven years later—in 2000—the Treaty for the Establishment of the East African Community (EAC Treaty) came to force and a new journey began.
Partners who have since joined EAC—Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan and DR Congo—to put 300 million people under one regional ambit outnumber the three founders to make the total seven. The odyssey into a bigger and stronger EAC is well afoot.
The founding fathers of the EAC—forged in the likeness of the European Union—envisaged an integrated region whose citizens would be bound by a common destiny for the greater good of all.
Buoyed by the nobility of that dream, Article 7 of the EAC Treaty, whose operational principles were meant to guide the pathway to a people-centred cooperation, was forged. It was meant to ultimately give way to a grand political federation.
The national stakeholders’ consultations on the EAC political confederation have begun. The milestone is meant to take us closer to a federation erected on a firm foundation, based on ideas and propositions of the public. Public participation is an excellent way of securing true ownership of a process involving multiple stakeholders.
Since the revival of the EAC, great strides have been made towards the implementation of various pillars of our regional integration. The Customs Union Protocol, the EAC Common Market Protocol and the Monetary Union Protocol are in place.
Besides, the scaffolding of our political federation is, thankfully, taking shape. There is significant progress in our shared economic and sociocultural cooperation and, recently, enhanced cooperation in defence and interstate security.
What is needed now is a rigorous public awareness drive on the EAC journey and the potential gains for the citizens of the member States and the political federation to secure widespread buy-in across the region. Such awareness will help to allay unhinged fears, suspicion and mistrust among EAC citizens and hasten the onset of the federation.
The EAC has entrusted its stakeholders’ consultative process to a team of eminent constitutional experts under the former Chief Justice of Uganda, Justice (Rtd) Dr Benjamin Odoki, with Kenya’s former long-serving Attorney-General Amos Wako as vice-chair. The process that started yesterday in Kenya has already taken place in Burundi and Uganda.
That team of regional constitutional experts comprises members drawn from all the EAC partner states. It will engage Kenyans from all 47 counties at former provincial headquarters on May 8-27 on what type of constitution EAC should have for a political federation. Thereafter, it will sit in Nairobi.
Kenyans should take full advantage of this opportunity and contribute to shaping the political destiny of a fully integrated EAC. Media has its work cut out for it if the public is to be properly informed about the progress and outcomes of this phenomenal undertaking. BY DAILY NATION
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