2016 was “annus horribilis” for the East African Community (EAC) to borrow a Latin phrase made famous by Queen Elizabeth II, the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom and Great Britain. The highs of 2015 appear to be distant memories today; the easier movement of citizens using IDs, the single tourist visa, the single customs territory, and the common market protocol were all exciting milestones along the way. The momentum then was such that any obstacle was overcome with pragmatism. When then Tanzanian president JM Kikwete seemed flat footed, the three heads of state from Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda conjured up what the media later called the “Coalition of the Willing” in a bid to further expedite projects which they viewed as helpful to the EAC integration cause. As if by divine intervention, at the end of 2015 Tanzania got a new president in the name of JP Magufuli. Almost immediately he seemed to gel with the other EAC leaders. He made quick reforms at home and simultaneously reached out with open arms to neighbouring countries in an obvious effort to mend any broken fences. Then 2016 happened. First was the summit in March that rather than bring good news, saw a conflict riddled South Sudan approved as the sixth member of the EAC. The heads of state then went on to lament the financial burden of the EAC Secretariat. Particularly, President Magufuli vowed to clean it up by reviewing its expenditure. These same sentiments were echoed by President Kagame at a later news conference. Not known for backtracking, he followed this up towards the end of the year by merging Rwanda’s EAC ministry with that of Trade and Industry. At the EAC Secretariat, a peculiar transition happened. Dr Richard Sezibera’s tenure as Secretary General came to an end in April and it was the turn of Burundi to take over. What was odd is that the Burundian head of state had not attended the EAC Summit in March owing to civil strife back at home. Liberat Mfumukeko’s tenure began with a certain air of illegitimacy about it and his actions did not help matters. Within months, there were already allegations of financial impropriety and a deliberate witch hunt against employees including a fellow Burundian with divergent political inclinations. The circus at the EAC Secretariat has only helped to perpetuate its image as an ineffective bureaucracy. The hopes of driving the EAC agenda now squarely rest on the shoulders of the individual EAC heads of state. The erstwhile exciting emergency of a ‘willing’ Magufuli in Tanzania seems to have perversely affected the ‘coalition of the willing.’ It appears that the glue that was holding the coalition together was the joint failure to work with then regional oddball Kikwete. By opening up, Magufuli seems to have created an alternative incentive to all parties to pursue bilateral deals with Tanzania rather than pursue EAC centric projects, the overall net loser being Kenya. Uganda has decided to build their proposed oil pipeline from the Albertine Graben deposits towards the Tanzanian coast rather than the Kenyan one as initially planned. Rwanda is actively pursuing improvement of the central corridor as a priority trade route as opposed to the longer northern corridor which originates at the Kenyan coast and leads to Rwanda via Uganda. Also, talk of a rail link to the port of Dar-es-Salaam seems to be getting more mileage lately than the link through Uganda to Mombasa because the former is seen as more cost-effective. All these developments are at the governmental level but where does that leave the man on the street in Kigali, Kampala, Nairobi, Dar-es-Salaam not to forget Bujumbura and Juba? Perhaps the current state of limbo is the much needed break in which strategic re-alignment can occur. The EAC agenda has for so long been driven by bureaucrats at the secretariat in cahoots with the member country government technocrats. I believe the time is ripe for this to change. For integration to become meaningful, the citizenry of the EAC needs to be at the forefront of it. There has been a lot of talk about an EAC passport, its adoption and usage would be a tangible start for the EAC being a part of everyday life for the citizens of all member nations. Trade is one of the oldest avenues of human interaction that cuts across cultures. The trade promotion agencies of all six EAC member countries could organise an annual joint trade fair which could move from one capital to another on a revolving basis across the region. This would boost awareness of the regional bloc as a single market for business people within the EAC and their potential partners from around the world. Cultural festivals are also effective in exposing individuals to the beauty of human diversity. An EAC cultural festival would be a marvel for the world to behold. One tenet of integration is a genuine appreciation of other people’s norms and traditions. Everyone need not agree on which is the better culture, they just have to respect the uniqueness of the different cultures. Regular interaction can only lead to a better understanding of cultures beyond our own. The region boasts cultural riches with influences from Arabia, Europe and Asia neatly meshed with indigenous African traditions. This cultural feast would seriously rival the carnivals in Brazil and Jamaica or Mardi Gras in New Orleans. Whatever the powers that be decide is the best way forward, it will do the EAC a lot of good if these plans feature the average EAC citizen in the front seat for the upcoming action in 2017 and beyond The writer is a consultant and trainer specializing in Finance & Strategy.
