What the budget speeches say about EAC integration

Thursday was a big day as the people who have a significant influence on how we live our lives were reading out the budgets for four of the East African countries. The initial information I had was that all Finance Ministers in the five East African countries were to read out their budgets on the same day and almost at the same time. I immediately smiled at the thought of that gesture. In my mind I was thinking, wow finally here is something that East Africans can do together as a sign of the progress achieved in the direction of integration. My mind immediately went into thinking about what else we can do together as East Africans. The EAC is made up of five countries and we often love to harp on about the things that make us one people yet the fact is that the differences are glaring. If you think Swahili is a unifying language then do not blame me when you draw blank stares in Uganda or Rwanda. In terms of size it is only Rwanda and Burundi that seem to be of about the same size. A look at Tanzania will quickly reveal a nation bigger than the four other EAC countries united. Kenya is the same when you focus on the economy. The budget reading was therefore supposed to be a big gesture in convincing us that we are one. But a closer look revealed a huge difference. First of all, Burundi did not read its budget because they are still using January as the beginning of their financial year. And although the other four countries had their budgets read out on Thursday we could still see some glaring differences. And I am not talking about the sizes of the economies but the fact that while in Uganda and Kenya the budgets were being read out in English, in Tanzania it was Swahilu sanifu while Rwanda settled for Kinyarwanda. Someone also pointed out to me that while Uganda’s Finance Minister was reading from paper, Kenya’s Minister was using an iPad. More so, while most budget readings took place in the parliament building, in Uganda the function was taken to a top hotel. So until we can have this function held on the same day for the five countries and probably in the same language we can say that full integration is still miles away. It is commendable that Rwanda took the step to adjust its financial year to sync it with the other three EAC countries. Burundi should also follow suit because our economies are interlinked. Talking about similarities another story from Kenya caught my eye. Over 200 commuter taxis in Nairobi will provide free wifi services by September. This initiative dubbed “Vuma Online” was launched by Safaricom together with the Matatu Owners Association will see passengers accessing free internet. In short the Kenyans are taking the game to another level. In Kigali the innovative folks of the cosmopolitan suburb of Nyamirambo have over the years done a lot to keep pace with the Kenyan matatus but we shall wait to see if they too will copy the wifi trick in the cars. Rwanda is a tech savvy nation and I think it is possible to pull this off here as well. There is a lot to learn from the Kenyan transport sector in terms of technology. I was very impressed by their Beba card system that simply requires one to have a Gmail account and a Beba card, allowing you to pay your transport fare without carrying cash. The conductors deduct the fair by placing the card on the back of their Android powered phones. I will end this article with some football news that may appear good and sad at the same time. The sensational Burundian-born Gael Bigirmana has been called to the England Under-20 squad and he has accepted. This means he has chosen the Three Lions over playing for Burundi his country of birth or Rwanda, the country of his mother’s birth. Bigirimana who plays for Newcastle United hopes to impress his coach so he can be considered for the senior English team in future. So Burundi/Rwanda’s loss maybe a gain for England but you know we shall always be proud to see one of our own playing at the top level. This also means that East Africa as a region should invest more in sports to retain our best talents. But did you hear the word sports during the budget speeches? Blog: ssenyonga.wordpress.comTwitter: @ssojo81