I was invited to present a paper on the Prospects and progress of the East African Political Federation on 11th, April, 2008 at Makerere University senate building level 4 in a public debate organised by Makerere University Convocation and Konrad Adenaur Stiftung. Below is the paper I presented.
The East African Political Federation: Progress and Prospects for Regional Economic and political development.
Introduction
The Treaty establishing the East African Community (EAC), which was ratified in November 1999 and came into force in July 2000, was a tri-partite initiative to revive cooperation between Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania that was disbanded in 1977. The Treaty is a culmination of regional efforts to resurrect cooperation in the planning and implementation of regional programmes for integrated development.
In accordance with the provisions of the EAC Treaty (Article 5, Paragraph 1), the partner States undertook to establish among themselves a Customs Union, a Common Market, a Monetary Union and, ultimately, a Political Federation. The purpose of this unique arrangement is to strengthen and regulate the industrial, commercial, infra-structural, cultural, social, political and other relations of the partner states so that there is accelerated, harmonious and balanced development with sustained expansion of economic activities that will be shared equitably.
It is thus the key goal of the whole process of integration in East Africa that economic and political development will result. All that is done is aimed at achieving political and economic development thus to determine the progress of the whole arrangement is to assess the development it has brought or the prospects for the same.
Background
The idea of the East African Federation is not an idea of yesterday but had been tried from the colonial days, to the early days of getting independence until it collapsed in 1977. Since that time attempts to resurrect the idea have been undertaken until March 14, 1996 when full East African Cooperation efforts began with the launching of the Permanent Tripartite Commission at the East African Community headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania. Considering the need to consolidate regional cooperation, the East African Heads of States’ second summit in Arusha on 29th, April 1997, directed the Permanent Tripartite Commission to start the process of upgrading the agreement establishing the Permanent Tripartite Commission for the cooperation into a treaty.
Thus, during a one day summit in Arusha, Tanzania on 22nd, January, 1999, the heads of states of Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda resolved to sign the Treaty re-establishing the East African Community at the end of July 1999. The community was to take over from the Permanent tripartite Commission for the East African cooperation.
East African Political Federation
Whereas Article 5 of the EAC Treaty clearly provides for the establishment of a political federation there is no subsequent article that elaborates on the provisions for the establishment of a political federation. Therefore, there are no answers to several key questions related to the establishment, operation and growth of an East African Political Federation. What is a political federation? What does it entail in the East African context? What are key pre-requisites for establishing a political federation? What mechanisms are essential for forging a political federation?
What is a Federation?
Federalism is closely related to a Political federation thus to understand what a political federation I will first define federalism. Federalism is the political philosophy that underlies a system of government in which sovereignty is constitutionally divided between a central governing authority and constituent political units such as states creating what is called a federation. Federation entails the surrender of some powers by federating units to the center and vice versa. Where a federation is constructed of states that are already sovereign (as is the case for Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, Burundi, Rwanda) it requires them to surrender some of their sovereignty. Federalism is a political system under which every citizen is subordinated to at least two state organisations (institutions) and is in immediate connection with each of them. The larger organisation is the federation and the small organisation is the member state of the federation. I will not go into the characteristics of the units that federate as I consider that to be clear, that in East Africa, we have a semblance of a hegemonic state though we may not exactly be on similar economic, social, cultural and political levels.
Political Federation for East Africa; Which model?
What type or what political federation model are we opting for? Is it a locally crafted/indigenous model? What are the lessons, if any, are we drawing from our past attempts at federating right from the 1950’s? Are there lessons to learn from our failed attempts? But more importantly, how are we planning to address the problems we faced in the earlier attempts at federating? Have we had thorough consultations, debates, dialogues, memoranda submitted, views collected and synthesized to have a more broad-based all- inclusive consultative process - a process that will enable us achieve consensus on a plausible model?
Let us remember that there is a recommendation that January 2010 is the time when the Federation of East Africa will be launched and the Federal President and his/her Cabinet, Members of the Federal Parliament and the Chief Justice and Judges of the Federal Supreme Court sworn into office. The period between 2010 and 2012 will then be the Consolidation Phase of the Federation of East Africa. During this period the Presidency will rotate between the sitting Presidents of the partner states. An enlarged Federal Parliament be elected along the lines of the method used in electing the current East African Legislative Assembly or as may be recommended by the Constitutional Commission.
From 2010 to 2012 the Electoral Commission and other institutions provided for under the Federal Constitution should be put in place. Federal Constituencies should also be delineated and between January and March 2013, elections for the President and the Federal Parliament should be held. Hon. Amos Wako who was the Chair of the Fast Track Committee stated that the road map is indicative and emphasized that with adequate political will and resources the time frame provided for in the road map could be compressed to enable the East African Federation to be realized much earlier.
To start with, how many East Africans were consulted? Of course the Wako committee, which was chaired by Mr. Stephen Akabway in Uganda, has figures of those that were consulted but I am certain Makerere University students were not. Now how, do you leave out the youth in such a process? For honesty requires us to state that the cream of Uganda’s youth that is educated is at this premier institution. If these future leaders were not consulted, aren’t we braced for a surprise when their generation gets into power and wants to correct some issues thereby throwing the federation aside as they did not understand the whole process or disagreed with it?
When the Presidents of the five states are speaking especially their counterpart in Uganda, no mention of consulting the people is made. This leads me into asking, “Where are the people in this whole set up?” Where are the peasants? We are aware that in Uganda, more than 80% of the population lead a peasant life, and if they are not consulted, who then is making the decisions? Aren’t we then disenfranchising these same people we will expect to participate in the political activities of the federation? Don’t we k now about the African Charter for Popular Participation in Development and Transformation?
For the political federation is to be successful, it requires the participation and genuine ownership by the people. We are aware of how to involve the people. Far from the formal ways of communication as notice boards, or the newspapers and televisions which are urban based and reach only a small percentage of the population, let us go straight to them through their informal institutions. The church, the mosque are just examples. Those that have cultural institutions can be put on board through their cultural leaders. For the youth, concentration be put on institutions of learning. From that, we can then start to federate informally. The same informal institutions then are influenced to federate before we rush the constitutional processes for laws that cannot be implemented nor respected are not worth the ink in which they are written. The different churches in East Africa can have a way of integrating and schools can also charge a uniform tariff for East African students.
We have heard of the proposed models of federation on which the small sample of the population used in the consultations was asked about. That one of starting with an economic federation and a political federation later. Then, the question of whether to fast track or not as fronted. But key to this process is that even the few that were consulted were not all comfortable with fast tracking the process. Where as no one is against the idea of federation, many are against the idea of fast tracking. Reason? Every individual knows their reasons and I believe before we go anywhere further, we should first get to know these reasons.
Indeed some sections of the population are beginning to question some people’s intentions with the fast tracking of the process. For starters, among the five heads of states in East Africa, two are older than the rest and their countries were very much in favor of fast tracking. Do you smell something? Is someone chasing the record of becoming the first ever President of East Africa. I pray we are not being driven by personal ambitions for the process will again crumble if we fail to realize them or if we pass away.
Where we came from.
As I hinted in the introduction and background, the idea of the East African Federation has been toyed with for some time even before independence was attained in any East African country. There were challenges then that led to the failure of federating before independence. However after independence in 1964, an Accord was signed in Kampala and a federation of sorts was formed. The East African Court of Appeal that existed at the time had jurisdiction in the whole East Africa, there was a uniform Railway network and road network managed regionally, an East African Development Bank, East African Post and Telecommunications network and many other institutions of that nature. However, all this vanished with the advent of Gen. Idi Amin Dada on the scene as there were irreconcilable differences between him and Mr. Nyerere who was the president of Tanzania at the time. Since then the federation died until some efforts started in the 1980’s, only yielding some fruits in the late 1990’s and the present efforts. There are lessons however we should learn form the failed attempts such that we do not fall into the same.
First things first.
For starters, the above history creates three phases for federation if we are to move systematically thereby building a strong and lasting federation with a dependable foundation.
1. Rebuilding what was destroyed after 1977.
2. Establishing institutions that can steer the federation.
3. Take off. The reaping of fruits and harvest stage.
My proposal is to the effect that we first analyze what went wrong in 1977, the 1950’s such that once we start on the rebuilding of institutions that existed at 1977, we are sure of their longevity and continuity. And the youths should be central to this process. Those in the generations of the 50s and 60s should know and concede the fact the federation cannot come into place overnight such that they reap from it. They should understand how long such a process is if it is to truly yield fruits. Thus the youth should be involved in the rebuilding of the defunct institutions. The grassroots should also be involved as much as possible. I am sure this can be done effectively. If the NRM after their bush war could even go to churches for the sake of telling people about Resistance councils in the late 1980s and government in the late 1990s used the same approach of using the informal institutions in the country to fight HIV/AIDS, to the extent of using cultural leaders, why not do the same when it concerns the political and economic future of East Africans? Is there any justification not to use the methods we are sure having worked before and can work?
To use the Tanzanian example, when the government was spreading information abut Ujamaa, what did they do? How come everyone was aware about Ujamaa however complex it was yet it is taking ages for the East Africans to appreciate the concept of federation if at all they are being told?
The first thing therefore, if we are to build a federation that will last forever, is to create enough awareness in the population about the federation, to let the population help with the determining of which model to follow and to put emphasis on the youth. Informal institutions like the church, social institutions like kingdoms, leisure activities and the rest also are incorporated in the mix. After this, when the peasant population is at par with the educated population, then we can move onto putting laws and regulations in place. For nothing can put us back as everyone will be on board. Short of that, we are bound to face difficulties and delays as we have to update the sections of society we are leaving behind. And the burden of letting them catch up with us may be too heavy that the federation may not manage to survive with such a burden. To be slow, but sure and to start from the beginning truly pays dividends and we should do that exactly.
Conclusion
The East African Political Federation is in the process and should be here to stay. I can not say that the stages for implementing integration should be rolled back. Let us as East Africans be ready for what is coming and let our leaders incorporate activities and programmes that will involve the citizenry. The critical issue that needs the attention of all East Africans and needs to be underscored repeatedly is that the political federation has to be people- led with policies designed collectively with civic actors and with the involvement of all segments of society including the marginalized. This requires the commitment of civic actors, democratic institutions and the political will of the Heads of Summit who have to abide by the will of the people. The most important thing about the political federation is that it has to be people centered or it faces the potential risk of collapsing like its predecessor. The political federation has to be owned by the people. The people have to determine through consensus the type or model of political federation they desire and which they think will work best for them. Participatory consultations that are all-inclusive have to be set in motion immediately and all modes of reaching the waninchi through the use of the popular but informal institutions should be expansively utilized. The process should not be top-down or seen to be led by a few but bottom to top.
I hope that my paper raises issues for further contemplation, debate and dialogue as we move towards a political federation.
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