President John Pombe Magufuli’s suggestions during the recent East Africa Community Heads of State Summit, if embraced, can make East Africa make big developmental strides. The President urged his fellow statesmen to observe prudence when using taxpayer resources. He said that the body should not be a cash cow that drains the region but rather a forum that lays concrete strategies for the region’s socio-economic development.  He urged the leaders to focus on uplifting the living standards of the people in the region instead of focusing on a few elites. He also said it is time the region started exporting finished products to create job opportunities and increase the cash flow in the region.

The East African heads of state will do well to read from the same script, head in the same direction and put the interests of the region’s citizenry at heart.  Short term thinking will jeopardize the noble ideals of the union.