When and where is our EAC conference?

Last year marked a whole ten years since the revival of the East African Community. With Rwanda and Burundi joining the original three, the community is now an attractive bloc of more than 130 million people with a GDP of close to US$ 73 billion. Such statistics have proven to be real music to the ears of the business sector in the region. The market opportunities presented by this reality, are hard to ignore and so investors are struggling to increase production and expand their reach in the region in order to be a part of this profit bonanza. In order to fully benefit from this whole new arrangement, several business summits have been held in the different capitals of the member states accompanied with constant media coverage. Almost at a monthly rate, we are informed about a ‘very important’ EAC business summit being held somewhere in Kigali, Kampala or Bujumbura. Business tycoons, CEOs, company representatives and of course the officials from the line ministries with their crisp suits and identification tags will spend some days deliberating on the potentials embedded in the community. All the while, media practitioners will be armed and busy with voice recorders, expensive cameras and notebooks trying to keep pace with the major developments like their lives depended on it. At the end of each session, the journalists will swarm a few prominent delegates for the last minute comments that spice up their stories before they can report to their editors. On many occasions, the head of state will also be around to commend the delegates for their efforts to drive the community ahead. These conferences are almost always incomplete without a photo opportunity with the head of state and impressive headlines the following day about how things are set to improve in the community. At the end of it all, the delegates leave feeling more like East African business people than just Ugandan or Kenyan investors. Meanwhile the ordinary person is reduced to a mere commodity or target market. During the week, The New Times in a story titled, “95% in Rwanda believe in EAC – survey” (May 21, 2010) reported that close to 95 percent of Rwandans know something about the East African Community and believe that the country will gain from the community. The above figures were derived from a recent survey, conducted by the Washington based Gallup surveys based on face-to-face interviews involving 1000 adults from each EAC country. It is difficult to expect that a survey involving only 5000 respondents out of a population of 130 million East Africans can sufficiently capture the attitudes people have about the community. There is just about a month left before the much-touted Common Market takes off, providing free movement of services, capital and labour. The need for information about the community is now greater than before. The focus should not be restricted on the business conferences and the tax resolutions. It is time to cut the wanainchi some slack. They are the ones that make up the community yet most of the time the camera lights and action are a preserve of the business people. The business people almost certainly know what the EAC has to offer them. In the meantime, the ordinary person is not so sure whether his identification card will be recognised and accepted by the different immigration bodies in the region. He is not sure whether his academic qualifications, will be recognised by employers and universities in the region. Eventually he/she loses interest in this huge project called East Africa. The apparent lack of enthusiasm about the July 1 date is clear testimony that there is a huge information deficiency among the ordinary people. Apart from a few surveys and consultations, there are hardly any moments when the common East African is engaged in the debate about the progress of the community. At the school level, very little information is being passed on to the proverbial leaders of tomorrow about the dynamics and implications of this community. For example, how many Kenyan students are aware that Rwanda and Burundi are in different time zones? How many Rwandan University students know who Hon. Kalonzo Musyoka is, in Kenya? Is it not time we had an East African Conference for the common person? The conference should bring together local leaders, representatives of student bodies from different universities, representatives of any other significant interest group in the region. With the venue set at a spacious stadium, ordinary citizens will have a chance to exchange views on the community and its impact on their lives. The EAC is a family of East African people not businesses only. They too deserve a chance to sit and talk even if it is just for the sake of talking. ssenyonga@gmail.com