East Africa Community: The Intrigues
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One of the notable pre-independent East African activities done by the colonialists in East Africa towards integrating East African countries of Kenya, Tanganyika and Uganda was that of the Royal Commission on Land and Population in East Africa which was formed to review land tenure systems in East Africa and recommend suitable form of tenure which would engineer “prosperity” of the three countries.
The implementation of the recommendations of the commission in the three countries was difficult due to the fact that the status of the three countries was different. The three countries of EAC, Kenya, Tanzania were and are still geographically located in East Africa but have completely different political, economic and even social orientation. It is only their geography that puts them together. Tanzania, for example, is more inclined to the South.
While leaders such as Kwame Nkrumah wanted the immediate unification of Africa, Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere of Tanganyika proposed that it be done gradually. Different African countries started to create regional blocs such as ECOWAS, SADCC (later SADC) and COMESA, just to mention a few.
In order for Nyerere to show the world that it was the best idea to start with regional unification, he thought of unifying the East African countries of Kenya, Tanganyika, Uganda and the Zanzibar Isles. When Kenya and Uganda dragged their feet to form one state, Nyerere decided to make the union of the Republic of Tanganyika and the Isles of Zanzibar. In 1971, the world witnessed the creation of the former EAC which collapsed in late years of 1970s, when the political stands of the then leaders differed. The same political scenario in the region is the same with new members of Rwanda and Burundi joining the organisation with their distinct political cultures and history.
At the time when the current East African Community was formed the heads of the states were His Excellency Daniel Arap Moi of Kenya, His Excellency Benjamin William Mkapa of Tanzania and His Excellency Yoweri Kaguta Museveni who is still the President of Uganda and the dreamer to become the President of the Political Federation of East African Community. Among the three founding presidents of the New EAC, only Museveni is in power.
While the revived EAC has been touted as sustainable and people centred, it is emerging that the outfit is still respective presidents-centred. East Africans have little knowledge about it. That is why when the referendum was held in Tanzania on whether we are ready to engage into the political federation, Tanzanians in large numbers protested. The main reasons advanced by Tanzanians were first on the political cultures of the now five member states i.e. Burundi, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Uganda, while the second concern was the land and other natural resources issue.
In the EAC, only Tanzania’s politics has been predictable although there are some minor complications within the country’s politics. It is only Tanzania that has been politically stable for more than 50 years since her independence. In Tanzania there has been a smooth transfer of power democratically from the first regime under Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere to the current administration of His Excellency Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete. Since independence, Tanzania had never experienced a political party in power other than Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM). The ruling party in Tanzania fears to lose its throne to another party, and I believe that fear extends beyond the borders that means CCM is never willing to see another political party which has no roots in Tanzania being the ruler of the political federation of EAC.
While the political situation of Tanzania is centred on smooth transfer of power, the Ugandan political culture is influenced by the barrel of the gun. There has never been the transfer of power in Uganda through the ballot box. Obote was removed from the office through coup d’état by Idi Amin Dada, and the same situation faced Idi Amin where Obote returned into power and thereafter was removed from the office by the current Ugandan administration through the barrel of the gun. There is no hope that the current regime of Uganda will be removed from power through the ballot box as Museveni says that simple papers will never take him out of office. His old comrade David Sejusa a.k.a Tinyefunza has fled the country after questioning Museveni’s grooming of his son to be his successor.
In Kenya, politics is centred on numbers and tribalism. I remember one day I was joking with one of my American friends. He said: “While in Kenya, it is impossible to be ruled by the Luo, this is possible in the USA.” He was implying that for someone to succeed in political office in Kenya, the tribe matters a lot. He who can play well his cards on the numbers of tribes will surely win the position he/ she wants. That is why Kenya’s political landscape is very fragile. In other words unlike Tanzania where political party matters for an individual to win political position, in Kenya it is the tribe of the contestants and the tribes that support the candidates.
Burundi is trying to compromise her past through the power sharing project between the Hutu and Tutsi tribes. The politics of Rwanda revolve around the 1994 genocide in which the Tutsis have always been labelled as victims and Hutus as the criminals.
I once visited Rwanda and in just two days I had already missed my lively country where people are free to talk openly about their political feelings. Kigali, the capital city of Rwanda, is not as lively as the City of Dar Es Salaam. When I tried to speak to the citizens of the city, they thought that I was a government secret agent because of my physical appearance. It is only when I completely disclosed my identity as a Tanzanian that they started to open up. That has been the political culture of Rwanda since the takeover of the RPF in Rwanda in 1994. Many opponents have fled the country and whoever tries to oppose the RPF regime is always labelled as the perpetrator of the 1994 genocide even if he/ she had fought alongside the RPF soldiers in the jungles.
The collapse of the 1971-1977 EAC was mainly influenced by the fact that the then leaders could not boil in the same pot and were self-centred. The same is likely to be in the current EAC where leaders have different orientations. We have recently witnessed how the relationship between Presidents Paul Kagame of Rwanda and Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania is deteriorating as a result of the latter’s advice that Kagame puts his house in order as far as rebels In DR Congo are concerned.
In order to have a sustainable regional integration, there must be political uniformity which all the member states adhere to. Consider the European Union where the United Kingdom is a Monarchy state, yet it adheres to the pillars and principles of democracy. That makes the countries forming the Union to work cordially. Yet, when one looks at the EAC, it is only Tanzania that has political stability for more than a half a century and better records on human rights as compared to her neighbours.
Apart from the region’s geographical location, what makes or what necessitates the formation of the EAC? In fact, Tanzania has nothing common to share with these member states in the organisation. The tense situation in the EAC today has been precipitated by Tanzania’s act of to sending her troops to fight the M23 rebels in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Tanzania sent her troops in agreement with the SADC and late Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere’s philosophy that “we will not be free if at all our neighbours are not free.”
Tanzania’s membership in SADC does not make other EAC members happy. They have always urged Tanzania to withdraw from SADC, yet something very interesting they have been sometimes saying Tanzania should withdraw from SADC and join COMESA where these member states of EAC have interests.
If Tanzania withdraws her membership from EAC, to me and of course those who respect our national sovereignty will not feel bad at all. We were members of COMESA and when national interests were not met, we quit. If today Tanzania decides to quit EAC, she has nothing to lose in terms of her economic prosperity and generally social development.
The three countries that have decided to form their coalition and isolate Tanzania basing on unknown reasons have so much to lose if Tanzania withdraws from the organisation. Of course Tanzania’s geographical location puts her at an advantageous position in the region. Tanzania can make bigger economic deals with South and Central Africa than what she is trying to do now in the EAC. It is time that members of EAC sat down and compromised their ideological differences with a view of taking the Community to the citizens rather than the club of the bureaucrats who only meet to gossip.
By Stanislaus Kigosi.
The author [email protected] is a teacher at Nyumbu Secondary School in Tanzania, holding a B.A. Ed (Hons) UDSM, PGD Economic Diplomacy (CFR) and currently pursuing the LLB degree at the Open University of Tanzania.