Is the EAC dream on track?

The East African Community (EAC) was born 20 years ago, promising a brighter future for over 300 million citizens—the vision: A unified, prosperous and peaceful region. 

However, today, progress is uneven, and challenges threaten to derail the dream.

Launched on November 30, 1999 and operationalised on July 7, 2000, EAC aims to foster economic growth, social progress and regional co-operation. According to political experts, none of these have been fully achieved.

Alliance for National Transformation (ANT) president Mugisha Muntu says most of the leaders who would have pushed the EAC dream are not honest and cannot uphold the values of a combined community.

He made remarks on October 14, 2024, as one of the keynote speakers at the celebrations of Tanzania's former president Julius Kambarage Nyerere's achievements at Mwitongo, Butiama, Tanzania.

Like the late Nyerere, the founding president of Tanzania, whose aim was to form an EAC to ease service delivery, the dream he left behind is still struggling.

Muntu said Nyerere's rare leadership qualities, including his humility, honesty and incorruptibility, despite holding the highest government levels, make him one of the trusted East African leaders to champion the dream.

“Despite having the powers and the resources to do anything that would have seen him look like a king, Nyerere chose to work for the people to see better economic and social development. No one can easily tell that the house he left behind was of a president of a country like Tanzania,” he said.

Muntu said leaders of today have chosen to work for themselves, forgetting that a country develops with its people. He believes the high rate of embezzlement of public funds and corruption among leaders seem to be a bottleneck to the EAC dream.

“He stood firm. We forget fast as human beings. Rare leaders like the Nyerere’s should be up there as exemplary leadership figures on this continent,” he said.

Muntu added that the gaps between member states are wide and need to be closed if the dream is to come true. The issues of political, Social, and economic independence are still questionable, coupled with the fear from each leader that they may lose once one block is formed.

Economic growth

According to records from the World Bank, the land size in terms of square miles in Belgium is 11,774, Switzerland is 15,940, and the Netherlands is 16,164, while Africa combined in terms of land mass is 2,104,147 square miles.

In terms of population, Belgium is 11,763,650. Switzerland is 8,902,308, and the Netherlands is 18,145,500. The combined population of EAC countries is 343,328,958.

However, when it comes to gross domestic product (GDP), the size now starts shifting.

Belgium is $4,591,000b, Switzerland is $938,458b, the Netherlands is $1,143,000b, and the seven EAC states have a combined $349,774b.

The per capita income of Belgium is $54,291, Switzerland is $105,669, the Netherlands is 63,750 and EAC $1,019.

“The whole of this African economy is divided by our populations. That's the magnitude of the differences. First, in terms of size, landmass, and population, we are so much larger. In terms of economic capacities, when you look at the per capita income, they are so much higher than where we are,” Muntu said.

Due to economic incapacities, the dream of togetherness becomes complicated, leading to delayed progress since each country depends on those that are already developed. He explains this further leads the respective countries to keep depending on other countries that are financially independent.

He stressed that in the past colonialists used to support chiefs and kings with trinkets like mirrors, which made them surrender their powers to their colonial masters.

Muntu said the trinkets of nowadays have turned to be skyscrapers, modern cars and foreign trips that have made leaders forget fighting against neo-colonialism.

He said leaders are entangled in confusion and have lost direction for the people they lead, which is partly delaying the unity of East Africa.

“But fast forward, what is making us lose direction? Because you can see a skyscraper, the latest models of vehicles, and you have all the gold and buildings and think that they have high value. They are trinkets of our time,” he said.

Muntu explained that some leaders own wealth that would be shared among 300 million people in case they were to be genuine.

Accordingly, the moment East Africa builds a proper transparent system and all people can appreciate development, it will take centre stage to benefit all.

He related to countries like Singapore and South Korea that were once struggling but now are among the most developed countries in the world.

The language question

Amb Fred Mwesigye, the high commissioner of the Republic of Uganda to the republics of Tanzania, Zambia, Mozambique, Malawi, Comoros, Mauritius, and Madagascar, said the only thing lagging behind the dream of an East African community is the absence of one language. Currency, and army force to solve security issues in the region.

“If we don’t unite, we shall be eaten up by the imperialists. Our children will not enjoy our hard work,” he said.

Mwesigye understood that if each country could specialise in the production of a given agricultural product, cooperation could improve between countries.

He also stresses that most people in the region are not aware of the integration, and so they find it difficult to take part.

Even the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) moves to one country for meetings; they only meet in hotels other than meeting the locals of that given country to discuss the way forward.

Magode Ikuya, Uganda's East African state affairs minister, said the work the late Nyerere did to unite the East African country is insurmountable, though some of the leaders seem to be slipping off track. He said the contributions of Nyerere are not of the past but of the future.

“Today’s leaders must get organised and serve the people diligently. Become the new embodiment of Africa.

Madaraka Nyerere, son of the late Mwalimu Nyerere, said security operations should be boosted in all regions uniformly. and also the common market union protocols provide opportunities to young people.

Several of the speakers who spoke criticised the youth, saying that they have not done enough to carry on the legacy of their former leaders.

Andrew Mwenda, the founder of the Independent Magazine, said youth can only perform poorly in case their elders do the same. 

According to him, the young people are complacent for not being given opportunities to take over leadership on their own. 

He believed once they are given an opportunity, they will become more practical to grow the dream of the East African community.