When We Become East Africans

After a simple altercation with the lady at a Kigali video library over unfair levying of fines, she made a sweeping statement. “You East Africans disturb us too much.” Clearly some people still live in the times when east Africa was across Katuna or Kagitumba borders. I was initially elated that someone bothered to call me an East African. As newfangled as it may appear, it would be nice to have people roaming about for business and pleasure all over the five countries of the region, without wondering about how you are going to be treated in the next country. It got me thinking about East Africanness. As opposed to COMESA, the whimsical United States of Africa among other things, the East Africa community has begun to feel like a community. Not that we have any choice. The geographical barriers mean that Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi depend on the seaports in Mombasa and Dar es Salaam. At the same time, the three countries are the closest neighbors and markets for Kenya and Tanzania in the hinterland, including the Kivu region which is closer to East Africa that it’s national capital Kinshasa. So we are stuck in this together. The notion of East Africanness may not be well defined beyond the East African passport and the favorable taxable regimes and work export conditions thriving for business to prosper. The region however has begun to naturally gel. You can now travel from Bujumbura to Nairobi by Kampala coach or from Kampala to Tanzania. Soon, word from the grapevine is that a coastal bus company called is set to launch a Kigali route which would hopefully offer a direct Kigali-Mombasa route. The regional stronghold of profitable routes by Kenya airways is being severely tested by new carriers like Air Uganda and Fly 540 which will send the air fares tumbling. Clearly we can travel around without a big hassle. Swahili is set to strangulate Uganda into its reach because it is the only one among the five that has not put much emphasis on it, but with English, the struggle is now for Burundi to come on board, as Rwanda is already making strides. Naturally French, though much admired in the three original east African countries as a classy exotic language, will remain just that. Its global decline in influence will mean that in another century, it may go the way of Latin. Our currencies may not so much as impede our economic gelling, but an East African shilling (or franc) would be a nice idea. In negotiating our east africanness, the preservation of divergent cultures and customs can be rich source of joint tourism marketing as a single regional destination for example. From the volcanic wonders of the Virunga to the seasonal wildebeest migrations in the Maasai Mara in Kenya, tourists can experience a holiday of a lifetime. In there lies the huge potential of domestic tourism, where you can have Kenyans visit Rwanda and vice versa if the right incentives exist other than go to holiday in South Africa. We might not like to have a regional dish. But clearly Ugali is making its way from Kenya westwards while Matooke is going the other way round. It is surprising to know that in Rwanda, cassava leaves are a delicacy. Many famine hit Kenyans and Ugandans who depend on cassava tubers as a staple food would be pleased to know what a good dish, sombe would be. What about fried grasshoppers and white ants in Uganda, githeri (steamed mixture of maize and beans) among the Kikuyu of Kenya or muthokoi (pounded and steamed fresh maize) among the Kamba of Kenya? The potential for communities in the region to learn from each other is infinite. The process of economic integration means we will interact, intermarry, and relate with each other more often. The news that Rwanda and some of the other countries have put down the barriers to movement of labor in the region point to this trend more than anything else. Naturally, we will all become East Africans in the real sense. Contact: kelviod@yahoo.com