Is the East African Community that attractive?

Beauty they say lies in the eyes of the beholder. However that has never stopped debates on what is beautiful or not. As some people swear that they have seen the most beautiful girl or most handsome man, others think otherwise and insist they are right too. Despite efforts through the mass media to create a notion of universal beauty, especially through events like beauty pageants, people’s aesthetic preferences will always vary from one person to another. It is against that background that I found myself musing about the attractiveness of this entity called the East African Community. What is it about the EAC that is making it an attractive project for many outsiders? The original that had ‘died’ in the 70s was soon found to have just been in a coma when Yoweri Museveni, Daniel Arap Moi and Ali Hassan Mwinyi the leaders of Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania in the early 1990s agreed to resurrect it. No sooner had the community come back to life than applications from Rwanda and Burundi were submitted and approved! Before people could warm up to the new community of three, it had grown to five and Rwanda was quickly making changes to fit in such as the switch from French to English in schools. When South Sudan finally got its independence, their brothers in the north did not wait for the party mood to die before submitting an application to join the EAC. Many observers were shocked by Khartoum’s move to apply even before South Sudan who many consider to be the more “natural” East Africans. The application by Sudan was rejected on several grounds, one of which was the fact that geographically the country is quite far from the rest of East Africa. Considering the trade links that Uganda and Kenya already have with South Sudan it is considered by many that their application to join the EAC will simply be a formality. However, before Arusha can look at and Juba’s application news just came in that the Republic of Somalia has placed an official request to be admitted to the EAC. The request was made in a letter to Kenya’s President Mwai Kibaki who is the current EAC chairman. The letter was delivered to Kenya’s Foreign Minister Moses Wetangula by Mr. Abdi Hakim Ali Yasin, the Special Envoy of Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government President Sheikh Sharrif. Somalia is currently enjoying a relative peace thanks to the efforts of the Uganda, Kenya and Burundian armies. This new found comfort could be the motivation for them to join the community as a more peaceful entity. As the news of Somalia’s application trickled in, a small debate appeared on Twitter on whether it would be welcomed into the regional bloc. This is how Pres. Kagame responded to a tweet from veteran Ugandan journalist Charles Onyango-Obbo on Somalia’s chances, “They and we are better off having them in EAC - (Somali)!”The president later on added that East African countries are already deeply involved with Somalia anyway. So again Somalia’s chances are almost as clear cut as those of South Sudan. Already Kenya has a large population of both Kenyan Somalis and Somalis. Yes there is a difference between the two. A difference that is easier for the immigration fellows to see than we mere mortals. There however remains a big question as to whether the semi-autonomous regions of Puntland and Somaliland will also be part of this development or not. I can bet that soon, the Democratic Republic of Congo will also be seeking to join the EAC. So what beauty spots are the outsiders seeing in us as EAC? Well there is a huge market for the manufacturers and traders and the peace and security that the five countries enjoy. And you all know how good Somalis are when it comes to trade. Since beauty indeed lies in the eyes of the beholder, then I guess our Sudanese and Somali brothers and sisters have the answers to my question. Personally I wish them the best. In other news, Bujumbura has officially been picked to host this year’s Federation of East Africa Secondary Schools Sports Associations (FEASSSA) games. I must admit that is a mouthful of a name for an association. The games will be held in September and will also include schools from South Sudan. I have argued before that schools have been a great tool for integration and this is another opportunity for them to boost relations among different East Africans. Blog: www.ssenyonga.wordpress.comTwitter: @ssojo81