What a great time to be an East African

As I sat down to write this piece, I really had no idea of what it was to be about. This is often referred to as writer’s block in my world. I was however saved from a definite reminder from my editor when I decided to tune in to Citizen TV, just as I waited for my old Dell machine to come to life. On Citizen TV, I was happy to find a live feed of the East African Legislative Assembly symposium from Arusha. The event was graced by two founding fathers of the revived East African Community. Tanzania’s ex-leader Ali Hassan Mwinyi and Kenya’s Daniel Toroitich Arap Moi were both in attendance while Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni was represented by his new Prime Minister Hon. Amama Mbabazi. The symposium was also graced by all the previous secretaries general of the EAC from Kenya’s Francis Muthaura, Uganda’s Amanya Mushega and Tanzania’s Juma Mwapachu were joined by the newly appointed Dr. Richard Sezibera. The whole idea of the symposium was to mark the 10 years of the legislature’s existence and its service towards a political federation. Listening to the different speakers at the symposium got me energised about the whole East African project. I was particularly moved by the speech of Mzee Arap Moi especially when he emphasised the merits of unity as something that begets strength and not just power. He used an interesting analogy of animals as shown on National Geographic TV documentaries. He argued that animals that live, work or hunt in numbers enjoy a better standard of living than those that do so in isolation. Moi went on to stress the fact that Somalia and Southern Sudan belong in East Africa and he would love to see them joining the community as soon as possible. According to him, “Southern Sudan has more to share with us than with anyone else.” He ended his humorous speech by urging leaders not to limit the future East Africans from exploring their abilities through tribal or geographical limits. He said he would cherish the day a graduate from the University of Bujumbura (Burundi) would see a job advertised in the Daily News (Tanzania), apply for it and then appear in person for an interview in Nairobi before finally going on to do the job in Juba (Southern Sudan). In other words, things like the common market that hinge on the free movement of labour ought to be supported. And by the way the first anniversary of the EAC common market was on July 1st. And to further push the point on South Sudan, the country is slated to become the 54th African nation on July 9th. Even before I settled to focus on this symposium for this piece, I was already in hyper EAC mood especially after seeing Rwandan youngsters representing at the U-17 FIFA World Cup in Mexico. Although they did not win any game, it was still very refreshing to see an East African country participating at a global sports event other than the Cricket World Cup or the Olympic games. And many of you may not have noticed that a certain Burundian brother made history recently as well. A 16 year old boy from Burundi made history at the recent Wimbledon Tennis tournament by becoming the first East African to participate in the world-famous tennis championship. Hassan Ndayishimiye was said to be in tears on court after making his Wimbledon debut overcome with the joy of his achievement. Ndayishimiye was born in Bujumbura and is a son of a tennis coach. He started playing tennis at the age of five. “He’s one of the most promising juniors from Africa, especially that part of Africa,” said Isabelle Gemmel, administrator of the International tennis Federation (ITF) juniors department. With such young sports talent in abundance, the future is indeed bright for the region. We may produce the next Roger Federer and the Junior Wasps may go on to rescue the region from football oblivion. As Rwanda celebrates its liberation from the regimes that held back its progress by focusing on a hate and the genocide agenda instead of development, we should also work towards the liberation of East Africa. When I see my brothers in Kenya forming political alliances like ‘G7’ or KKK I see that very little was learnt from the post election violence of 2007. East Africa needs to be liberated from the tribal mindset that keeps our politicians in this trap instead of looking at the wider picture. ssenyonga@gmail.com