Faridah N Kulumba
Africa-Press – Uganda. On 16th May this year, the president of the Republic of Uganda H.E Yoweri Kaguta Museveni reignited the debate on the unification of East African states into a federation. According to Museveni the ultimate goal of the East African Community (EAC) is to create a single government for East Africa that is more than just economic integration. The East African Federation was supposed to be established in 1963 but it failed suggesting that decades of progress have been forfeited as a consequence. Citing instances such as the reign of Idi Amin Dada in Uganda and the genocide in Rwanda.
Unification agenda
According to Article 5 of the Treaty, the East African Community was revived because it has an agenda that goes beyond mere economic integration. One of the agendas was to create a political federation and the ultimate goal for the EAC is one government for East Africa as it was revealed by President Museveni while meeting Kenyan President William Ruto.
Why the EAC federation has not borne fruits as expected?
The East African Federation (Swahili: Shirikisho la Afrika Mashariki) is a proposed political union of the eight sovereign states of the East African Community in the African Great Lakes region including Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, Somalia and Uganda as a single federated sovereign state. Since the proposal of the EAC federation was brought up, it has not yet come to fruition due to some circumstances.The EAC was founded in the 1960s and collapsed in 1977. Uganda and Kenya are founding members of the original EAC, which collapsed due to ideological differences and territorial disputes within itself, but in 2000, the two countries together with Tanzania reestablished the EAC to improve trade and bilateral ties between Uganda and Kenya. In September 2018, a committee was formed to begin the process of drafting a regional constitution, [ and a draft constitution for the confederation was set to be written by the end of 2021 with its implementation by 2023. However, the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted plans to draft and implement a constitution. On 20 March 2023, the EAC announced that the drafting process would resume in May of that year in Kenya.The East African Federation has not yet been established, but many steps have been taken to advance this eventual goal. Institutions and governing bodies already exist for the eventual union of these nations, with representatives from all of the related nations working together towards this common goal.
Why Museveni advocates for one EAC government?
President Museveni insists that the formation of an EAC government is necessary for strategic security in an increasingly volatile geopolitical landscape. Museveni explained that while EAC can handle economic prosperity with mere economic integration, it will be better if all EA countries are under one government. Adding that in strategic security, cannot be handled by just being in an economic community, but the only it can be done is through political integration.
Do other EAC leaders support Museveni’s?
Kenyan President Ruto believes that the East African region would have been different by now if the EAC had not collapsed. President Ruto agrees with his Ugandan counterpart Museveni’s of forming one EAC government saying that what they are trying to forge now, was missed by a whisker in 1963, if the East African Community had not collapsed then EA would have a different region by now. Also on 9th October 2022, President Ruto requested the hid friend Museveni to use his experience and age to ensure that the East African Community (EAC) achieves the much-desired political federation. Out of seven leaders who are under EAC President Museveni is the oldest. President Ruto believes that Museveni should take on the responsibility to lead the charge because age and experience come with responsibility. Besides that, the region has a lot of respect for Museveni, which he should leverage to push for a united East Africa later Africa according to Ruto. The President of South Sudan Salva Kiir Mayardit also supported Ruto’s proposal of the East Africans coming together as the only way that the continent will be transformed economically, by saying that Africa must take charge of its destiny.The president of Burundi Evariste Ndayishimye also support Museveni’s plan. In 2022 he said that Mu seveni’s contribution towards the stabilization of the East African region cannot be underestimated. He gave an example of Uganda conducting a military operation in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as a testimony that insecurity in one part of East Africa needs to be confronted through collective efforts.
Need for federation
Kenya says it is now the right time for East Africa to transform its borders into bridges that would improve the lives of more than 300 million people. It is the role of the leaders as the citizens of the East African region to work together so that they can transform all the seven countries’ borders which today stand out as barriers and convert them into bridges so that goods services and people can move across East Africa without any implements.
Different views
Scepticism persists regarding the feasibility and motivations behind the federation, with concerns raised over President Museveni’s perceived ambition to assume leadership post-retirement. Some political analysts viewed the call to collapse the East African states as a pet project of Museveni.
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