Ideas & Debate

Give EAC a chance to function and thrive

eac

Guests at a dinner hosted by the EAC ministry in Nairobi last week during the launch of the common market. The foundation of a strong EAC will be mature and positive politics. Photo/PHOEBE OKALL

One day in 1977, I was waiting for my flight at Mombasa Airport to return to Nairobi on a Dar-Mombasa-Nairobi East African Airways (EAA) flight.

After several hours of waiting it was announced that the flight was cancelled, and we had to hire a taxi to drive us to Nairobi.

After hours of waiting, it emerged that the EAA DC 9 aircraft had been detained at Dar Airport because the EAC had been dissolved.

The day also marked the beginning of a scramble for EAC assets among the three partner states.

Consequently, the border between Kenya and Tanzania was closed by Dar, and I had to indirectly fly to Addis to access Dar for business.

The border was not opened until one day in 1985, when I recall I was on the first Kenya Airways flight to Dar.

That day I had a meeting with the minister for energy of that country to discuss how diesel exports to Musoma could be urgently resumed from Kisumu to feed an electricity generator at the Tanzanian port which had not functioned for months.

After the meeting with the minister I was taken to the State House to re-assure President Mwalimu Nyerere that in fact Esso Oil Company could deliver diesel to Musoma the following week.

Musoma, I learned was the home town of Mwalimu.

The following week we hurriedly rehabilitated the export facilities at Kisumu and we loaded the MV Nyangumi for the first time since 1977, and there was light once again in Musoma.

The minister called to thank me, but unfortunately the payment LC took a long time to negotiate due to forex problems and controls that many African countries experienced during those years.

For those who lived through the old EAC days and finally witnessed its demise, our advice is that the new union should be guarded jealously and given a chance to function and thrive, for indeed common benefits to all member states will be phenomenal.

The foundation of a strong EAC will be mature and positive politics and that is why it is imperative for each member state to ensure strong democratic principles in governance in their individual states.

The five states should have a common platform on good and open governance based on respect and trust.

It is politicians who create unions and it is the same politicians who dismantle unions.

By the time we go for political integration, we should have achieved political maturity across the board, and this should be a serious target for the politicos.

To nurture respect and trust, we should start as political equals and with time work ourselves to economic equality with equal economic opportunities.

No country should rush to capitalise on another country’s disadvantages and economic disparities.

Some aspects like land are sensitive, and will probably remain sensitive for a long time to come, and this sensitivity should be respected and well managed.

As a proof of seriousness in the management of EAC affairs we should ensure that in the future the EAC assembly attracts experienced persons who combine both professional and political acumen.

The EAC assembly should not be the seat for political rejects in the partner states.

A lot of work awaits legal drafters and parliamentarians to pass laws to actualise the promised benefits, and for our parliament it will be a basketful of work, as the new constitution will also demand their time to actualise.

This will also be coming at a time when a number of EAC countries will be busy focused on forthcoming elections.

My dream of EAC is that we harmonise our education systems and create benchmarks that will standardise education at all levels.

If labour mobility is to attain any meaning then we should be hiring persons with comparable education standards.

We shall need to start by harmonising the A-Level and 8-4-4 systems of education so that cross-border University admission can be streamlined.

University accreditation standards should also be introduced.

We want to produce graduates of both universities and tertiary institutions who will compete equally and fairly in the EAC job markets.

Centres of excellence in various academic disciplines should be allowed to develop and mature so that research resources can be directed to such universities.

Well co-ordinated regional road and rail infrastructure planning and development will definitely attract attention for funding , as this will ensure regional connectivity so vital for inter-state commerce.

There are other economic drivers like energy and tourism that will of necessity need to cut across borders and these will deserve more cooperation than competition between EAC states.

Other services that will also call for interstate co-operation because of their regional commonalities include civil aviation control, weather forecasting and disease control.

The EAC work that has already commenced to harmonise standards and codes of practice in all aspects of commerce should be fast tracked so that commerce operates from the same equal platform.

Cross border road traffic is one area that urgently needs harmonisation of practices especially in respect of road safety compliance and enforcement, so that we all read from the same text.

The areas that can offer benefits from EAC integration are numerous and as it was stated by the minister for EAC, it will take time to actualise all the benefits.

The important thing is that the journey has started.

If the EAC succeeds in its objectives, it will be easy to attract other neighbouring countries, like a future sovereign Southern Sudan, to join the bloc, and this will enhance the economic opportunities for all.

The current EAC is conceptualised to be the only union of its kind on the continent and as a result, we should form a good example to be cut and pasted by other aspiring unions across the continent.

Mr Wachira works with Petroleum Focus Consultants. [email protected]