EAC must study the past to benefit from the union

Oct 29, 2001

It was Kenya which dictated the demise of most institutions

By Paul Waibale Senior Within a matter of days, Uganda’s Parliament will elect the country’s nine representatives in the East African Legislative Assembly. The august regional body has a jurisdiction that covers Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. It is pertinent to observe at the outset, that the “new” assembly is actually not new. It is a reincarnation of a similar body by the same name which vanished when the now resurrected East African Community collapsed unceremoniously some three decades ago. This was in the wake of Dictator Idi Amin’s diabolical regime which hit Uganda’s political scene like a bolt from the blue. The significance of that electoral exercise can hardly be exaggerated. It signifies the renaissance of the atmosphere of the good old days when the ultra-successful East African Common Services Organisation (EACSO), even before it graduated into the East African Community, was a cooperation show piece in the world, then unmatched by the now powerful European Union. A casual glimpse at the list of 35 candidates nominated for the race exposes two interesting factors, one an essential and welcome development and the other an inevitable and unfortunate eventuality. The essential development is that the list is, by and large, an impressive assortment of Ugandan intellectuals whose academic and technical know-how satisfy the minimum qualities for the assignment. The unfortunate eventuality is that virtually the entire lot of those aspiring to represent us in the East African Assembly will have the benefit of historical hindsight to guide them in piloting the affairs of the Community in what is predictably a journey across stormy seas. Be that as it may, I am not unmindful of the fact that the list includes people like Ateker Ejalu, the New Vision Corporation’s board chairman, who must have grasped the host of the Community’s trials and tribulations from close quarters when he was its Director of Information. I recognise, however, that he is a reed in the wilderness, but whether that attracts any votes for him anybody’s guess is as good as mine. Interestingly, there are not many Ugandans who served in the East African Legislative Assembly or in top EAC posts who are still around. I am not talking about the hundreds, (or is it thousands?) who engaged in the battle for retirement benefits, nor about myself, despite my three years’ service as Chief Information Officer in the Secretary General’s Office at the EACSO headquarters. My mind recalls people of the calibre of Former Chief Justice Samuel Wako Wambuzi, who was President of the East African Court of Appeal, Paul Ssebalu, who was the Community’s Legal Secretary, Kampala Mayor John Ssebaana Kizito and Nkumba University Vice Chancellor Prof. Senteza Kajubi who were members of the East African Legislative Assembly. My earnest prayer is that if Parliament will, in the exercise of their duty to elect Uganda’s representatives, return men and women whose attributes compare favourably with those of the prominent Ugandans I have mentioned, they will have made a major contribution to the establishment of a firm foundation for the Community. Setting in place the various organs of the Community is not a guarantee that the new Community will succeed where the old one failed. All the hurdles, frustrations, constraints which militated against the success of the Community in the 60s and early 70s still exist today. The integration of East Africa into one political unit has always had its strong opponents in Uganda. The British colonialist had envisaged the development of the East African Common Services Organistaion into an East African Federation. Indeed, an announcement to that effect was made by the British Foreign Secretary, precipitating angry dissent from Uganda. Ugandans could not see how the Uganda Protectorate could be federated with the Kenya colony where the Africans were at the mercy of white settlers. Sir Edward Mutesa’s overt opposition to the federation cost him his throne —for a while at least, when Governor Sir Andrew Cohen deposed him and dispatched him to exile in London. But the idea was shelved. Tanzania’s astute statesman, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, none the less, kept the federation idea alive and made great efforts to sell his convictions to his colleagues in Kenya and Uganda. He was so obsessed with the idea that he offered to delay Tanzania’s independence till Uganda and Kenya got theirs so that the three British colonies would be granted independence simultaneously as a federation. Despite being the efficient salesman that Nyerere was, his “commodity” was never bought. Interestingly, Nyerere is himself considered to have hammered the last nail in the coffin of the East African Community when he refused to sit with Idi Amin on the Community’s three-man “East African Authority” thereby rendering the administration of the Community’s affairs impossible. However, the real distebilising factor in the Community had all along been Kenya. It was Kenya that broke away from the East African Currency Board and established its own currency. Uganda and Tanzania had to follow suit. It was Kenya that dictated the demise of the East African Income Tax Department, by setting up its separate system for collecting income tax. It was Kenya that set up Kenya Airways pushing the east african airways to the rubbish heap of history. it follows therefore that the east african community was moving steadfastly on the road to disintegration, amin or no amin. The people of East Africa must now face the problems that precipitated that state of affairs, diagnose the causes and prescribe enduring remedies .

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