As the East African Community (EAC) celebrated its 25th anniversary, the regions’ Heads of State reached a consensus to accelerate the establishment of a political federation, marking a crucial step in the EAC integration process as well as reflecting a renewed commitment to the vision set forth by the community’s founding fathers six decades ago.
The federation, which was initially proposed in 1963 by the EAC’s Founding Fathers – President Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya, Dr. Apollo Milton Obote of Uganda, and Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere of Tanganyika (now Tanzania), is yet to be accomplished as the bureaucrats tasked with seeing through the assignment have fallen short over the years.
During the High-Level Side Event on the EAC’s 25th Anniversary at the Arusha International Conference Grounds in Arusha, Tanzania, it was highlighted that while Tanganyika and Zanzibar proceeded to form the United Republic of Tanzania, the broader vision of a region-wide federation remained unfulfilled.
As a result, the current leadership expressed a strong desire to extend this federation concept to transform the entire region into a unified entity.
The EAC leaders also agreed on the need to fully operationalize the Customs Union and Common Market protocols. These steps are seen as critical in enhancing intra-regional trade, which currently remains at relatively low levels despite the community’s efforts.
According to President William Samoei Ruto, the East African region continues to be fully behind the integration process and supports the establishment of a political federation.
He commended Burundi, Uganda, and Kenya for their progress in national consultations on drafting the constitution for the EAC Political Confederation and acknowledged the commitment of Rwanda, South Sudan, and Tanzania in setting dates for their consultations.
Already the region has positioned itself as the leading regional economic community in Africa, with intra-regional trade standing between 25-28%. In fact, this growth in intra-regional trade has already caused a shift in trade dynamics, with Tanzania overtaking Kenya in terms of intra-regional trade volumes.
In accordance to President Yoweri Museveni, Uganda, the EAC should be celebrating over a millennium of trade interconnectedness within the region.
Prior to the partition of Africa into spheres of influence in 1884 by the European colonial powers, East Africa’s Coastal, Great Lakes, and Lake Victoria Basin regions were a Connected Trade Area (CTA), historically linked by trade routes extending to Mesopotamia.
“The colonial powers succeeded due to the region’s internal weaknesses. We became a DTA – disconnected trade area. Kenyatta, Obote and Museveni took the bold step to form the East African Federation in 1963 in a brave effort to dismantle this DTA.
However, some actors let us down and did not follow up on the three President’s idea of forming a political federation. Tanganyika linked up with Zanzibar to form the United Republic of Tanzania, which played a significant role in liberating southern Africa from the yokes of colonialism,”,” said President Museveni.
The heads of state agree that there is need to promote free trade in region but that is only possible if there is security in the region and investment in stability. It is the collective responsibility of all partner states to ensure this so as intra-regional trade can increase.
The summit demonstrated a renewed vigor among East African leaders to pursue deeper integration, with the ultimate goal of establishing a political federation.
This move is seen as a significant step towards realizing the long-held dream of a united and prosperous East Africa, capable of addressing regional challenges and competing effectively on the global stage.
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