By Charles Kazooba
A few months ago, just after a team of experts concluded assessing South Sudan's application to be admitted into the East African Community, a member of the verification team confessed it was no longer possible to pursue a straight path towards fast-tracking political federation for the region.
This official's argument was that expansion of the bloc was too fast and based on political patronage rather than following a proper mechanism acceptable to the majority. He told me that the Summit (made up of Heads of the State) just made a directive rather than a request to pursue the admission of South Sudan.
That is the reason that the result of South Sudan's admission had been pre-determined by the powers that be. This bureaucrat confessed that the precedent had already set a wrong footing for the process of widening the integration.
"I can tell you we shall now have to operate like Comesa; being everywhere and nowhere," he said.
During another occasion, while chatting with Professor Sam Tulya-muhika, a renowned consultant on regional economic communities, he told me Somalia-also being scrutinized as a potential member--should be a case outside consideration, for now, for admission into EAC on grounds that it lacked the requisite infrastructure and government.
The don's submission, however, was a departure from the position of the EAC Summit. Actually, during the recent Summit in Nairobi, President Yoweri Museveni, the EAC chairman, asked the Secretariat to embark on the verification exercise to admit Somalia.
Now, these two revelations--on Somalia and Sudan--expose a growing discomfort towards a rushed expansion of the EAC. We should remember that the Wako (ex-Kenyan Attorney General) committee on which team Pro. Tulya-muhika was a member, was a brainchild of President Museveni.
Initially, there were two schools of thought on the proposed political federation; One school of thought favoured the progressive integration process while the other argued for a fast tracked political federation.
Most East Africans believe that the community is not peoplecentred but a club of politicians who are taking hasty road maps because they want to benefit from it. Renowned scholar, Prof. Mahmood Mamdani contends that having a monetary union before a political federation is responsible for the chaos in the Eurozone-especially in Greece because of what he called “market fundamentalism.”
There are fears that as federation, the member states would cease to have any meaningful powers and would be relegated to mere provinces within the federation.
secondly, there is a concern that the differences in the levels of economic development, entrepreneurial skills and competitiveness in the manufacturing and service industries will disadvantage some partner states.
A probe report by the Wako committee revealed that there were fears in Tanzania about potential loss of investment and employment as a result of fast tracking political federation. There are fears that industries may cluster in Kenya which has more attractive locations for business.
In addition, there are worries over the different political systems in the countries. For instance, in Uganda there is no presidential term limits while Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania have term limits for presidents. Rwanda has a seven-year term compared to the rest that have five-year terms.
Museveni's main argument for a political union though is to end balkanization. But we all wonder whether Ugandans should be pushed into a federation simply because we want Museveni to be the first federal president? If Museveni's performance as Head of State was rated at 10 out of 10 one would have made a compelling case for him becoming the first federal president to extend his skills and national experience to the federal level, according to Prof. Eric Kashambuzi.
But Museveni's government is accused of corruption, sectarianism, cronyism and flawed elections using dictatorial and military muscles. Some people even suggest since masterminded the elimination of term limits in Uganda he won't tolerate them at the federal level.
The picture even worsens when new members come on board without conforming to basic principles but just because some leaders in the region want them to be part of the family.
So, the question remains, is it rational to pursue a blind date?
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