Africa’s leaders are partly for the continent’s hard luck

Sep 09, 2007

LAST month, East Africa’s heads of state gathered in Arusha, Tanzania for the 6th extraordinary summit to discuss regional integration as a basis for development. In his paper, President Yoweri Museveni traces Africa’s problems to the balkanisation of her political units and highlights East Afri

By Yoweri Museveni

LAST month, East Africa’s heads of state gathered in Arusha, Tanzania for the 6th extraordinary summit to discuss regional integration as a basis for development. In his paper, President Yoweri Museveni traces Africa’s problems to the balkanisation of her political units and highlights East Africa’s 120 million consumers and producers as strategic resources for the region.

Africa is the cradle of mankind. All human beings lived only in Africa until about 100,000 years ago. That is when small groups of Homo sapiens started leaving Africa and settling in Europe, Asia, the Americas and Australasia. Otherwise, for much of the five million years or more, when the human species were evolving, they only lived in Africa.

Africa is also the cradle of civilisation. It is the Black civilisation of Egypt that was the first in the World. Jacob and his sons fled to Egypt in the year 1876 BC when they faced famine. Jesus, as an infant, was taken to Egypt by Joseph and Mary to hide him when Herod was looking for him to kill him. The followers of Islam fled to Ethiopia for protection when they were being persecuted in Arabia. This was in 640 AD.

Yet, this Africa, especially in the last 500 years, has bled, been humiliated and lagged behind other continents. While it is in order to blame other peoples for our misfortunes, it has been, primarily, the mistakes of ourselves and our ancestors that have accounted for this. In my dialect, we say: “owayiita tachurirwa” (people do not mourn the one that has committed suicide). African leaders, past and present (chiefs, politicians, etc.), are responsible, primarily, for the misfortunes of Africa.

When the Europeans were taking slaves, it was possible for the Africans, under their chiefs to unite and defeat them. They did not. When the Europeans were colonising Africa, it was possible to unite and defeat the invaders at various points if only the chiefs had the wisdom to unite and act together. Except for Ethiopia, our ancestors did not unite. Those who resisted, did so in isolation and were defeated.

The whole of Africa was colonised. Fortunately, but also as a consequence of our strong culture, we survived. We did not perish like the Red Indians, the Aztecs or the Aborigine of Australia. Yet, after independence, our leaders failed to move strategically in order to immunise Africa, to insure Africa, against future re-colonisation, marginalisation or even extermination of her peoples. We insure individuals, companies and buildings, but do not insure the collective future of the African peoples.

Except for the late Mwalimu Nyerere and Sheikh Amani Abeid Karume, who united Zanzibar and Tanganyika to create Tanzania, in the rest of Africa, leaders were content to go on managing Africa in the political units defined by colonial borders.

Unfortunately, these balkanised political units, for reasons we identified in the Nairobi Summit of August 2004, have not been able to give the African the development and strategic security she needs and deserves. Fifty years after independence, all African countries, except for South Africa, are still Third World countries regardless of whether they have had a violent history, have been democratic, have been peaceful, have been dictatorial or not. South Africa was able to transition, in part, because the colonialists (British and Dutch) united four colonies: Cape colony, Natal, Transvaal and the Orange Free State. South Africa is almost a sub-continent, with both a hinterland and coasts of two oceans.

However, even South Africa cannot compete with the USA, Russia, China, Brazil, India, Indonesia, Canada or Australia. South Africa’s total area is only 1,219,912 square km, with a population of 44 million people.

Your Excellencies, as East Africa was approaching independence, the late Mwalimu Nyerere proposed that the East African colonies unite soon after independence. This effort was frustrated by some quarters in East Africa. Ever since my youth, I have been a supporter of the formation of the federation of East Africa. That is why I became a strong follower of Mwalimu Nyerere. When the National Resistance Movement (NRM) was formed, we adopted the integration of East Africa as one of our “Ten-Points Programme”.

When we had a chance to head the Government of Uganda, we, immediately, contacted the other leaders of East Africa on this point. We also contacted other leaders beyond East Africa. It is, therefore, not correct to say that this is a new effort.
I salute President Mwai Kibaki and retired President Benjamin Mkapa because, when we met in our retreat of 2004, in Nairobi, we agreed to fast-track the process of integration. I salute President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete because he agreed to continue the activities of fast-tracking the process of integration when he succeeded President Mkapa.

I also salute retired presidents Hassan Mwinyi and Daniel arap Moi for working with us to revive the EAC and, in particular, for agreeing to Article 5(2)(i) that deals with the various stages of integration: Common Market, Customs Union, Monetary Union and, ultimately, Political Federation. It was the attainment of the ultimate stage of the political federation enshrined in that Article, that we decided to fast-track in 2004. As the primary element in the process, we decided to consult the East Africans. The process was completed recently in the three original Partner States (Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya) that constituted the EAC before Rwanda and Burundi joined it.

The reports show overwhelming support for the East African Federation in all the three countries mentioned above. The figures for the level of support are there in the reports. In the case of Kenya and Uganda there is also overwhelming support for fast-tracking as per the time-table of the Wako Committee. There was less support for that fast-tracking in Tanzania.

There were also some questions regarding land, employment security, natural resources such as petroleum, etc. In Uganda, some of those opposing East African integration, cited the fact that Uganda, recently, discovered oil and gas. They say: “We are now going to be rich. We should not welcome the others to share in our riches!” This is wrong reasoning.

The most important point about integration is not natural resources; but the human resource. That is evident if you compare the performance of oil-rich Saudi Arabia with Japan that is without oil, any minerals or even any significant agricultural land. The table below shows the current comparative figures of Japan and Saudi Arabia. The 125 million people of Japan are much wealthier than the Saudis in terms of productivity and material satisfaction. The growing power of China is on account of the size of their population. A developed human resource means two things: greater consumption and greater productivity. These two are the primary stimuli for wealth creation. There are, of course, other secondary factors crucial for growth such as infrastructure to lower the costs of doing business, policy framework, etc. Therefore, it is easy to explain to the Ugandans that their petroleum, important as it may be in terms of quick cash, is not as important as the 120 million consumers, producers that are the strategic resource of East Africa. The natural resources, especially, minerals, are finite. The human resource, when developed, is infinite. It is also the active agent of development. The natural resources are dormant without the human resource.
These questions are, in fact, easy to answer and, if closely examined, cannot form an obstacle at all.

I, therefore, take this opportunity to salute the people of East Africa on this historic achievement. We have, finally, begun to do what our ancestors should have done many centuries ago, the omission of which led to all the catastrophes in Africa: slave trade, colonialism, neo-colonialism and marginalisation. We are continuing from where the late Mwalimu Nyerere and Karume left the process in 1964, when they formed the Union of Tanzania.

They have given the leaders a solid basis on which to proceed and implement the long-held wish of the people of East Africa and Africa to transcend the colonial borders. The mandate the East Africans have just given to their leaders, is historic. It reminds me of what happened with the American colonies of Britain in 1775/1776 and soon after.

From available records, you read the following: “Those who advocated for the union Constitution took the name Federalists and quickly gained supporters throughout the nation. The most well-known Federalists include Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay. These were the main contributors to the Federalist Papers, a series of 85 essays published in New York newspapers which served in many ways as seminal documents for the new United States that was to come. These were written, however, after the Constitutional Convention and were a part of the ratification debates in the state of New York.

“Opponents of the plan for stronger government took the name anti-federalists. They feared that a government with the power to tax would soon become as despotic and corrupt as Great Britain had been only decades earlier. The most notable anti-federalists were Patrick Henry and George Mason. They were also quite concerned with the absence of a Bill of Rights in the Constitution. Collectively, their writings are referred to as the Anti-Federalist Papers.

“Thomas Jefferson, who was serving as Ambassador to France at the time, was neither a Federalist nor an Anti-federalist but decided to remain neutral and accept either outcome. However, in letters from France, he did express his reservations about the finished document to his friend and eventual ally James Madison. The Federalists gained a great deal of prestige and advantage from the approval of George Washington, who had chaired the Constitutional Convention.”

Even for the thirteen original colonies to agree to form the nucleus of the USA, it was not easy as indicated in the table of the process of ratifying the Union Constitution.

Earlier, on September 17, 1787, the Constitution had been completed “in Philadelphia at the Federal Convention, followed by a speech given by Benjamin Franklin who urged unanimity, although they decided they only needed nine states to ratify the Constitution for it to go into effect”.

Your Excellencies, You all now can see the wisdom of those who worked for the unity of those colonies. We are now all worshipping the USA instead of worshipping God. The Latin American Spanish colonies, which after independence, acted differently, are now far behind the USA in all aspects of human endeavours. Europe, which was the epitome of fragmentation, war, bigotry, etc., is also waking up. They are, actually, working towards a United States of Europe.

The former Prime Minister of Belgium, Guy Verhofstadt, in January 2006, in Washington, had this to say: “My personal view is that none of these options are the right way to go. Instead, I’m advocating a fifth avenue. I’m convinced that Europe can learn a great deal from the United States and from your country’s response to key economic developments. The United States saw that closer co-operation was the only viable option to face huge economic challenges such as the stock market crash of 1929. That is why I too am convinced that the challenges of today, at this pivotal moment, leave Europe with just one real option: the option of a United States of Europe. Economic growth in China, India and Japan, in total two-and-a-half billion people, will change the world as we know it. This is the natural run of things.

“Various European countries – including Belgium – have already understood this and are busy implementing appropriate reforms. Only a few months ago we decided to embark on a fundamental reform of our labour market. By adopting a whole package of measures we intend to get more people to work and also allow them to work longer.

“To this end, we have once again lowered the tax paid on labour. At the same time we are also investing more in R&D. We’ve slashed red tape and lowered corporate tax. This is why I’m here in the USA: to promote the new incentives we have adopted in a bid to make investing in Belgium highly attractive.”

Imagine, Belgium, whose GDP of $342.8 billion (ppp), is about 2.4 times that of East Africa ($143.4 billion by ppp), is craving for a United States of Europe in order to survive. The young country of USA, formed by the European colonialists in America, not only has she gone far ahead of the Spanish colonies in Latin America that did not see the wisdom of integration, but the ancient countries of the World, the pioneers of civilisation, are now almost dependencies of the USA. These are: Egypt, Israel, Greece, Italy (Rome), etc. Only the huge countries of Russia and China, built by Emperors in the past, as well as India and Brazil, built by different colonial powers, will have the capacity to contend with the USA. Other countries with such potential are Indonesia and even Congo-Kinshasa if she was well organised.

Even in Africa there is awakening. Some leaders are talking of a United States of Africa (USA). Do not under-estimate this view. Eventually, the small countries of West Africa have found out, from the experience of the last 50 years of independence with stagnation, that, without unity, they cannot survive. President Wade of Senegal affirmed this view while in Uganda the other day. It is a good movement; it needs to be harnessed carefully. East Africa should understand the implications of this.

Consequently, today’s Summit has made the following decisions: National Consultations on Fast Tracking the process towards the establishment of a Political Federation
  • Recalling its decision during the 5th Extraordinary Summit meeting held in Kampala on June 18, 2007 that an Extraordinary Summit meeting be convened in August 2007 to consider the reports of the national consultations on fast tracking the process towards the East African Political Federation;

  • Appreciated the excellent work done by the National Consultative Committees of the United Republic of Tanzania, the Republic of Uganda and the Republic of Kenya in producing the Reports containing the views of nationals on the process.


  • Having Considered the Reports of the National Consultative Committees:
  • Noted with appreciation the overwhelming support of East Africans in the Partner States of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda for the establishment of a Political Federation;

  • Further noted the need to mobilise and deepen sensitisation on political integration, stimulate greater political will to promote deeper economic integration and to lock-in gains achieved from economic cooperation;

  • Noted that the Republic of Rwanda and the Republic of Burundi shall commence, at the earliest, a consultation process on the establishment of a Political Federation;

  • Noted further that the Republic of Rwanda and the Republic of Burundi shall speed up the process of integrating fully in the EAC Customs Union;

  • Decided that there is need to move expeditiously towards establishing a Common Market and a Monetary Union by 2012 as the EAC moves on to the Political Federation;

  • Further directed that the Secretariat first explores the possibility of achieving the threshold of the Customs Union sooner; and second, develops a strategic framework to fast track the establishment of the Common Market and the Monetary Union for the consideration by the Council and the next Summit;

  • Called upon the Secretariat to urgently formulate an East African Community Industrial and Investment Strategy supported by an effective institutional decision-making framework with a view to promoting equitable industrial development in East Africa.


  • The process is now launched. We need to ensure that it is irreversible. I am most excited. All the options are leading to progress and not to stagnation that has characterised the last 50 years of Africa’s independence. Given the results of the consultations, several options have come up in the private consultations before today’s Summit. One option suggested was to appoint a Constitutional Commission so as to design a draft that would show how East Africa should be governed under a political union and also answer, by providing appropriate mechanisms, for questions raised by the East Africans; the other option is to provide a double-track process by encouraging those who are ready to go ahead with the political integration while we continue with other elements of economic integration; however, after lengthy consultations, we resolved to go with what has been stated above.

    This is, mainly, for two reasons. First of all, in the three states where consultations were carried out (Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya) there was overwhelming support for the Federation. The only deviation on the part of Tanzania was on the speed, mainly, because of their unique situation which President Jakaya Kikwete explained to us. There are also the new member states of Rwanda and Burundi.

    They have not done the consultations. It is unavoidable that they do so. However, as you can see, the results of the consultations have created an unprecedented opportunity that never existed before. Even in 1963, when our leaders were talking about the East African Federation, they did not go this far. It is most gratifying to have come this far. Let us keep it up.

    I thank you.

    (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});