EAC fails familiarity test among citizens

East Africa’s regional integration remains a government-driven elite project that is largely unknown to ordinary citizens, a new report says warning of a possible failure to deliver the fruits of free trade even with last week’s launch of the common market.

In an indictment of the exclusive manner in which the project has been executed since its inception 10 years ago, the report says that the majority of East Africa’s 126 million people – though supportive of integration – only equate it to unfettered movement not enhanced trade that is the main driver of its proponents.

The study, conducted by a team of scholars, says failure to actively involve citizens has prevented member states from turning popular support for the project into actions that can enable them reap the benefits of an enlarged market.

“The project has a lot of goodwill from ordinary citizens but lack of active involvement has left it standing solely on the political pillar without the critical social and economic relevance that would make it a reality in people’s lives,” Prof Regina Karega, one of the scholars who conducted the study.

The report effectively unravels EAC member states’ persistent claim that theirs is a more people-driven process that is shielded from the personality clashes of the mid 1970s that led to the collapse of the project in 1977.

The scholars say failure by governments to actively involve citizens has left the mass media as the only source of the information on the integration project – leaving a large proportion of the population who are not media savvy in the dark.

Kenyan officials say they plan to use the Ministry of East African Community’s first ever development vote for the current financial year to educate the citizens on the goals of the project and opportunities that are expected to arise with the launch of the common market next year.

Negotiations and ratification of legislation and principles of the integration project has remained a boardroom affair that only breaks to the public domain when important decisions have been made and the heads of state gather to ratify them.

Since its revival in 1999, the proponents of the EAC integration have stuck to the mantra of easing intra regional trade as its main focus but continued restriction of ordinary people’s movement and the resulting inability to move goods and services across the national borders has emptied it of relevance in ordinary people’s lives leaving it a purely political project.

The scholars found that the majority of Kenyans and Ugandans expect free movement across the national borders to be the clearest sign that the integration project is becoming a reality.

Minimum identification

In Kenya, 80 per cent of the respondents see the integration process as a licence to travel anywhere in the region with minimal identification requirements.

The expectation is as high in Uganda where 72.5 per cent expect to move and lowest in Tanzania where only 40.5 per cent attached some degree of importance to free movement.

So far only 54 per cent of Kenyans, 56 per cent of Ugandans and 43 per cent of Tanzanians feel the integration project has eased movement in the region.

But while the majority of citizens see the EAC project in terms of ability to work and own land in any of the partner states, a growing number of citizens with little faith in the national institutions to drive the effort believe intermarriage could offer the necessary bridge.

According to the survey 28 per cent of Tanzanians, 21 per cent of Kenyans and 8 per cent of Ugandans see intermarriage as they only sure way to own land and find employment in neighbouring states.

“We have, for instance, established that Kenyans who marry and live in Tanzania are able to very quickly access high level jobs than those who go through the formal process,” said Dr Karega.

In theory, a common market refers to a stage of the economic integration that not only allows citizens to enjoy uniform economic and trade policies but also allows free movement of all the factors of production (capital and labour and of enterprise).

The EAC’s common market protocol however retains clauses that allow national government to apply national laws in matters of immigration, right of business establishment and access to land, meaning the citizens face the tedious screening that those from outside the trading bloc undergo.

The study found that 20 per cent of the Kenyan respondents see employment creation as an immediate benefit of the integration project, compared to 8 per cent of the Ugandans and 5 per cent of the Tanzanians.

Similarly, majority of Kenyans, Tanzanians and Ugandans do not have an idea that Rwanda and Burundi are members of the revived trading bloc.

The two countries that joined the EAC custom union in 2007 have been rebuilding their economies after years of political turbulence, opening up opportunities for entrepreneurs and professionals in the region.

In Kenya, only 57.4 per cent and 53 per cent respectively identified Rwanda and Burundi as EAC partner states.

In Uganda only 50.6 per cent and 44 per cent identified Rwanda and Burundi as partners while in Tanzania, a slightly higher number of 71 per cent and 68 per cent named Rwanda and Burundi as partners.

“This variation has probably to do with the fact that the EAC headquarters is in Arusha Tanzania and ordinary citizens are likely to capture news on the additional states because EAC meetings usually takes place there.” said Prof Karega

It is not only the ordinary citizens who feel alienated in the regional integration process however.

In a memorandum to EAC Heads of State after last week’s signing of the common market protocol, East African Business Council chairman Faustin Mbundu decried the arbitrariness of decisions taken by the council of ministers especially with regard to common external tariffs.