Quick intervention needed to rescue EAC from collapse

The past few months haven’t been rosy for the East African Community scheme. It has been laid bare that indeed the regional bloc applauded for aiming at a political federation, is on the rocks. There has been simmering multi-dimensional tensions. Publicly, three partner states are not in good terms. The environment is not conducive for progress. Fear is rife that if nothing is done as early as now, soon things may get out of hand and East Africans will be disappointed.

A confession by the EAC Secretariat this week that quick intervention is necessary confirms speculations that the bloc is on shaky ground. The EAC Secretariat is the horse whose mouth we have to believe. The tensions between Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda may drive the last nail into the EAC establishment.

Last year saw an escalation of the tension between Rwanda and Burundi in which the latter accused Kigali of plotting to destabilise Burundi government, claims that Rwanda’s strongman Paul Kagame denied. It is not lost that the squabble led to postponement of the 20th EAC Ordinary Summit after Burundi ‘boycotted’ the scheduled meeting. Burundi demanded that the bloc holds a special Summit to address the issue but this never happened. However, the Summit happened in February but this didn’t mean that the two states resolved their issues. They are still a thorn in the flesh of EAC.

Cordial relations

Of more concern is the current scenario whereby Rwanda and Uganda are at loggerheads and it looks like both are going for each other’s neck. The two countries have ‘cut’ cordial relations between them and the fact that their citizens cannot freely move across their borders is worrying. The EAC has made enviable progress in bringing the region together and with the Customs Union, we have partially enjoyed fruits of trade. The major provisions of the Customs Union is unhindered movement of factors of production across the borders but now this is under threat. In fact Uganda has accused Rwanda of ‘imposing’ a trade embargo.

The EAC integration scheme has been bitten once when it collapsed in 1977 and although the dynamics are now different, it is evident that our leaders are forgetting what precipitated the collapse. Ideological differences between the then leaders was the straw that broke the camel’s back. There came a time when Idi Amin and Julius Nyerere could not see each other eye to eye. Imperatively, Summits could not be held hence no substantive progress could be made. Sadly, this same scenario is replaying. Do our current leaders appreciate the fact that this is a sure way of killing the scheme?

The recent spat between Rwandan President and his Ugandan counterpart is indicative of trouble in the region. Well, the two sides have been having issues since the ‘Kisangani Clashes’ when the two countries clashed in the Democratic Republic of Congo but then the regional entity was not in place yet. The situation is so dire that some analysts now predict confrontation between the two nations. This will be really unfortunate given that any form hostility between partner states will inevitably destabilize the entire establishment. It will widen the already existing fissures and deal a death blow to the bloc. The bloc should endeavour to restore tranquility among all member states. There are underlying issues among nearly all the six member states and this call for deliberate open discussions to quell the ever rising antagonism. We cannot afford to lose such an invaluable scheme on the basis of squabbles and ideological differences between our leaders. This informs the call for making the EAC integration a citizen-led process. Entrenching the scheme among the citizenry will prevent the region being taken hostage by a clique of elites yet the initial objectives were to bring the region together.

We should not be taken through the disintegration path. As President Museveni reiterated recently, regional integration is key for Africa’s economic growth. This aspiration should be translated into action so that any barriers that stand on the way to such are removed. The region’s leaders know this too well and if they leave the EAC slip into abyss, it will be construed as deliberate malice. Bottom line, we cannot afford to let emotions and ideologies design the fate of our region, leave alone castigate the African dream.

- The writer teaches International Relations & Diplomacy at Riara University. [email protected]