Who owns the EAC?

Pragmatic economic realities will spur EAC integration advises British expert
BY GEORGE KAGAME Arusha A leading British expert politician on regional economic integration has called on EAC leaders to adopt a more pragmatic approach to achieving economic benefits for the region not necessarily tied to politics.

The British Peer, David Edward Lea, Lord Lea of Crondall who was this week paying courtesy call to Juma Mwapachu the secretary general of the East African Community in Arusha observed that in spite of its structure of strong political authority and emphasis on sovereignty of the Partner States, the EAC was not short of things that could be done outside the purely political considerations.

He said the EAC could identify and focus on the practical issues, among them immigration, the free movement of persons , environment, infrastructure, health , education and social security , without getting distracted or bogged down with lengthy conceptualization and indulgence in metaphysics over intricate political and sovereignty issues. He also added that African regional economic communities needed to go for “opt outs” on some of the sticking issues, and concentrate on the areas of “intermediate comfort” where movement would be demonstrated without compromising the unity of the regional economic blocs.

Lea added that there was need for resolute action to get things done and demonstrate concrete benefits and achievements of integration while using the success stories to get the people more interested and deeper involved in the regional integration process.
President Paul Kagame has on several occasions called on EAC members to reform business procedures such that there's increased speed in the delivery of basic services especially along commercial terminal routes in the region.
Kagame has stated that with faster service delivery along boarder points in the region, there would be faster development in the economies of the region. Lea's remarks come only days after a lobby group of small scale farmers in East African were at the EAC secretariat in Arusha appealing to the secretary general that they were being kept out of the EAC integration process, they also lamented that the EAC currently belonged to political leaders with no practical feature with which the citizens of the EAC could identify with. The farmers noted that currently Tanzanians traveling to Burundi are required to pay Visa fees at the boarder posts. Burundi as a member of the EAC has committed to the end of such limits to citizens of EAC member countries.
He advised that EAC needed to learn from the evolution and development of the EU which was political but its engine was propelled by a pragmatic focus on the economic necessity.
The EU, he said, was launched more with economic expression than with political fanfare. It was a trade-off between political abstraction and the push to get things done, particularly on the economic front. While responding to Lea's remarks, Mwapachu said the current EAC was learning from the mistakes its predecessors who having been started in 1967, the EAC collapsed in 1977 after disagreements between EAC leaders at that time. Tanzania's Julius Nyerere was on bitter terms with Idd Amin of Uganda, while Kenya did not agree with her two neighbours’ economical and political policies. Mwapachu said the EAC proceeding this time "with caution, on the step by step basis, with consensus established at every stage of the integration."
Mwapachu noted that the National Consultative Process of Fast Tracking the East African Federation carried out in 2007 was found to be acceptable to the people of the EAC countries.
He said the EAC was currently committed to re-engaging the East African people about the whole question of political federation through deeper sensitization of the people on the benefits of integration. The EAC budget presented to the East African Legislative assembly reserved over 600,000 US dollars to go in its re-branding campaign throughout the region.
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