Mwalimu Julius Nyerere once said we cannot solve our problems by pretending they don’t exist. Yet, that is exactly what some of us see as happening in East Africa. Agreed. East Africa has taken plausible action to match rhetoric in its resolve to move ahead as a model socio-economic grouping of a people who confess to be one but were only torn asunder by colonialism. But, the degree of mistrust, especially among member states is equally troublesome compared to other regions that have created modalities for broader cooperation the way East Africa has.
Since its rebirth more than two decades ago, the East African Community (EAC) has grown from the original three-member states of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania to include five other neighbours, which have for years existed largely as tinderboxes of instability and threat to regional peace and security. I believe part of the logic for admitting them into the community was that finally, they too would move from their ever daggers-drawn stance and benefit from the harmony, peace and stability that symbolises East Africa in an often-turbulent continent.
That said, the region’s continued stability, peace and aspirations for shared prosperity put a premium on the conduct and behaviour of the three founder members. They are more than obligated to show exemplary leadership, maturity and genuine commitment to the ideals of the bloc, some of which chisel away national sovereignty and absolute power. Tensions between Burundi and Rwanda for instance, can be tolerated as diplomacy takes its course but the scenario changes drastically when the same applies to Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. Without a doubt, the three founding members bear exceptional responsibility for the existence of the community.
If they mess with that mandate, then it should surprise no one that East Africa could slide back to the sad events of 1977 when the former East African Community broke up acrimoniously for no reasons other than narrow national pride, greed and selfishness of just a few individuals. In 1977, the then East African Community (EAC) was by far more advanced in terms of regional cooperation than the Europe of the day. By 1966, East Africa already had a common currency. The East African Shilling was one of the strongest currencies of the day, exchanging at per with the British Sterling Pound. The Euro, on the other hand, was only launched in 1999, with banknotes and coins released into circulation three years later.
Tragically, the East African Currency Board folded in 1966 in what we now know was one of the early signs of a serious rift within the bloc, fanned by powerful technocrats exploiting the laid-back attitude of some politicians supposed to embrace the ideals of a shared political project. Unfortunately, some of us (for whom those events are living history) are beginning to see echoes of the scenarios that led to 1977.
Okay. In 1966 each member state established its central bank and some ten years later, the then EAC itself became history, burying years of regional cooperation under the East African High Commission (EAHC) and the East African Common Services Organisation (EACSO) that superseded the first EAC. Luckily, the region regained sanity and revived the EAC in 2000 with the ultimate goal for “eventually” political federation, after going through a customs union, common market services and monetary union. The region has already wrapped up the first two stages for regional integration as it ponders chewing the harder final two. Forget about the recent common banknote hoax.
Thus, EA needs to demonstrate maturity and goodwill for the shared values of regional cooperation that the people have by and large accepted as their own, with the politicians merely acting as the privileged shepherds of the process. This time around, rogue technocrats should not be allowed any space to highjack the shared agenda.
