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Shirikisho La Africa Ya Mashariki .....

By: Jerry Okungu

[ Posted On: 2006-09-06 ]

...Where shall we find great men & women of East Africa to lead us to the promised land?

Hon. Koigi Wa Wamwere of Kenya is lamenting the death of the East Africa spirit. He is asking aloud where those voices of reason, those great composers of patriotic songs in praise of our unity in the 1960s disappeared to. And Koigi is not alone. Many more people are searching their souls for the same answers. Did our great artists die with Nyerere, Kenyatta and Obote? Did they perish with Mboya, Jaramogi, Kambona, Sokoine, Oriema and Kiwanuka?

Mwai Kibaki is wondering aloud why we have not integrated as they agreed two years ago.

At least according a senior EAC official, that was his stand three weeks ago.

Yoweri Museveni has adopted the East African federation as his single most important assignment in his last term as Uganda's president. In his recent utterances, he has repeatedly said that the future of economic development of the region belongs in a common market and a common political arrangement.

Jakaya Kikwete is rather silent these days on matters of the East African federation since romping home to victory after garnering nine million votes in Tanzania's general elections last year. This, despite the fact that he served on the Council of Ministers of the East African Community as Tanzania's Foreign Minister under Benjamin Mkapa for ten consecutive years. When he handed over the chairs of both the Council and the Summit to President Kibaki and John Koech of Kenya, he had very positive remarks to make about the EAC.

What happened since then to deserve that kind of loud silence from Ndugu Kikwete?

Full implementation of the East African Customs Union has been slow but largely it took off on schedule more than a year ago and is working.

Lake Victoria Development Commission has finally found its home in Kisumu while its CEO, a Ugandan, has been appointed and has reported on duty.

Recently, East African Community Ministers met and resolved a minor dispute regarding arbitrary $100 work permits Tanzanian immigration officials were levying on temporary workers and businesspersons from Kenya and Uganda entering Tanzania.

Creating a political federation in any region of the world is always a painful undertaking. Nobody said it would easy and smooth sailing. Such an undertaking will always be trying and frustrating at times. It will require patience, determination, a thick skin and a heart of gold to endure all manner of possible frustrations and setbacks.

Where states try to come together after existing as independent entities for decades, the undertaking requires passionate believers, risk takers and charismatic champions of the cause. It is not an undertaking that can be entrusted into the hands of the faint-hearted and doubting Thomases. That is why in the early days of Uhuru in East Africa, the passion was propelled by such charismatic characters as Julius Nyerere, Milton Obote, Tom Mboya, Jomo Kenyatta and Jaramogi Oginga Odinga. These visionaries saw beyond their tiny little kingdoms.

However, when they gunned down Kenya's Tom Mboya two years after the formation of the EAC, threw Jaramogi Oginda Odinga out of Kenyatta's government and toppled Milton Obote two years later, and with Kenyatta approaching his 80s, the new power barons like Charles Njonjo and Idi Amin could not share in Nyerere's vision of an East African federation.

It may be remembered that by the time the EAC was winding up in 1977, Jomo Kenyatta was 88 years old and had only a year to live. For all practical purposes, he was senile and had handed over the running of state to Moi under the supervision of Njonjo, Mbiyu Koinange and other Kiambu power barons of the day. At this point in time, the younger Julius Nyerere, the only surviving founding president in the Community had ruled Tanzania for 16 years with disastrous consequences for Tanzania's economy. In three years' time, Nyerere would consider quitting the presidency altogether after acknowledging the failure of his Ujamaa economic policies in Tanzania. He was definitely not in a state of mind to pursue such grand dreams of an East African federation. He and his generation had failed to realize their collective dream.

As I said earlier, forging a federal state out of units that had enjoyed individual sovereignty as long as the East African states have done can be a daunting task. A brief look at the hurdles the first thirteen American states went through to form the United States of America is a pointer to how difficult the job can be. Closer in Europe, it took the European Union nearly 60 years to form an Economic Union. For the EU membership, a political federation is still a pipe dream. However, it took Russia a shorter period of time to annex most of Eastern Europe after the Second World War through military coercion or invasion. However, 45 years later, the Soviet Union fell apart.

In 1964, Tanganyika managed to form a political union with Zanzibar Island soon after Zanzibar tasted its first armed revolution. However, it should be remembered that both states were still very young as nation-states. Whereas Tanzania had been independent three years earlier, Zanzibar was just a few months old. However, the driving force for such a union with an island just off the coast of Tanganyika was the realization that both countries were vulnerable to possible external attacks in the future, now that they had tasted the first military coup in East Africa.

What then are our options in forging ahead with the East African federation? Do East Africans really need it or is it just a pep talk club for our political leaders with no tangible economic benefits for the people of East Africa? What compelling reasons do the proponents and opponents have for taking their positions on the issue? Why are our proponents for the idea and what do they see as collective benefits for the region? What are the real fears of the opponents and what real threats do they see if the region came together politically?

To avoid the mistakes that our founding fathers made between 1967 and 1977, East Africans cannot afford to leave the thinking and planning about the EAC to their political heads of state. Our leaders are here for a season. Their policies and visions unless shared by us will go with them when they leave office or die. If we share in their vision, planning and thinking, the outcome will stand the test of time.

The more reason why this time round, the debate whether to have or not to have the East African Federation must be taken to the villages and back streets of Arua, Arusha, Bagamoyo, Dodoma, Gulu, Iringa, Isiolo, Jinja, Kagera, Kisumu, Kisauni, Lira, Majengo, Mbarara, Mbea, Mombasa, Moyale, Mwanza, Musoma, Nanyuki, Namanga, North Horr, Nyeri, Rongo, Rusinga, Shinyanga, Soroti and Wajir.

In forging an economic union or a political federation, there should be no short cuts or easy options. Least of all, it should not be rushed and imposed on the masses without giving them an opportunity to discuss it. We have to follow the paths other successful federalists have done before. Benefits and disadvantages of such a venture must be laid bare to the people of East Africa before they are asked to vote on them. If at the end of massive public education, the majority of East Africans vote with their feet up, political leadership must respect that decision. If at the end of the day, the people of East Africa give approval that they want it then our governors must give us the political union even if their narrow parochial interests would be at stake.

This is the democratic process that the European Union, Germany, South Africa, Nigeria and the United States have travelled on their way to a political or economic union.

The task ahead is daunting. The new CEO in Arusha cannot afford to take a back seat.

He cannot lead from the rear. He has to be at the forefront. He cannot be allowed to play the blame game that nobody in Arusha knows about the EAC. If the people of Arusha have no idea, what the EAC is about then what is the Secretary General doing about it?

The East African Legislative Assembly should put its act together. They have to justify their role and existence. It is not enough for them to traverse the region from time to time without concrete results. They have to transform themselves into results-oriented committees that can be felt across the region. They have to be visible and recognizable like their predecessors did. In those days gone by, to be an EAC legislator in Arusha, you automatically became a household name in East Africa.

Hon Beatrice Kiroso has been appointed the Deputy Secretary General for Political Federation. She cannot fast track the integration single- handedly. She will need the support of every able-bodied East African to do so. More importantly, she will need the elusive political goodwill to carry out public awareness campaign across the region before a referendum is carried out. In this regard, she will need the all-important support of the media across the region. If the media enthusiastically gets behind her, she will go very far in the shortest time possible.

Article Source: http://www.afroarticles.com/article-dashboard

Jerry Okungu is a freelance political analyst based in Nairobi, Kenya. Jerry also serves as a Board Director at The Kenya Broadcasting Corporation. Jerry has written extensively on issues affecting Kenya and the rest of Africa over the years. Other articles written by Jerry Okungu are available at this location

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