MPs want to just chill in Arusha but if they won’t fix EAC, scrap it!

By JOACHIM BUWEMBO

The pace at which East Africa is reshaping has never been faster. Its geographical size is growing, internal alliances are shifting as yesterday’s brothers become today’s adversaries and tomorrow’s strangers. Our regional legislators that are already campaigning to go to Arusha next year as members of the East African Legislative Assembly may need to ponder eight points below:

1. The other week, Uganda’s army entered DR Congo to fight Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebels who have been launching terror attacks for some three decades in Uganda. Then last Monday, Uganda’s Cabinet agreed to retaliate Kenya’s trade offensive of banning Uganda’s agricultural products. The Agriculture minister was tasked to compile and release a list of restricted Kenyan products that should not enter Uganda.

2. For 49 of its 59 years of independence, a chunk of Kenya’s currency circulates in Uganda (in the mid to late 1980s it was estimated that 15 percent of Kenya’s legal tender was circulating in Uganda but, in their twisted sense of injustice in the ‘70s and ‘80s, Kenyan police kept terrorising Ugandan traders carrying Kenyan goods to Uganda!

3. Uganda spearheaded the revival of the East African Community 30 years ago and nearly stopped the process when Kenya appeared hesitant on proposed rules of origin that would permit tax-free movement of goods within the Community and require uniform restriction on goods from outside the free trade area. But now, with the EAC firmly established, it is Kenya Revenue Authority, which occasionally lands on tonnes of loot from overseas in Ugandan-branded packaging arriving from sea at Mombasa, with obvious intention of dumping goods from far-away continents in the Kenyan market by powerful Ugandans.

4. Uganda’s oldest political party, the nice, peaceful God-fearing Democratic Party, which keeps turning the other cheek when go-getters slap it around, is headed for a big split over, guess what! Last week they held primaries to select their candidate for the elections to the East African Legislative Assembly. The two candidates who want to go and chill in Arusha for five years were — don’t laugh — the party secretary-general and the party treasurer! The loser accused a tribal block in the electoral college of betrayal and is now being accused of started a campaign for members to desert the party.

5. After deploying its army into DR Congo territory, Uganda immediately deployed road construction teams and equipment to go start building roads in the Congo to facilitate trade between the two countries. With the Congo and South Sudan markets, Kampala will be ready to tell Nairobi to go to hell. But is that what we wanted the EAC for?

6. DR Congo is a bountiful, beautiful, blissful mess. And it is now our beautiful mess, as it gets admitted into the EAC. Since we have six other messes that aren’t even rich, then why not embrace messy DR Congo which is super rich? At this crucial phase in the EAC’s journey, DR Congo can offer accommodation to our stressed would-be representatives to Arusha, since even the ruling parties in the member countries are likely intending to send their local election losers to Arusha, give each a square mile of mahogany forest and build them some sort of think tank/club in Kinshasa. We need to make/keep Arusha pure and efficient, not to dump angry, bitter fellows to legislate for the future of the union spanning from the Indian Ocean to the Atlantic, for (soon to be) 300 million people.

7. There are several integration steps that have failed to take off or even take shape. These include the single air space, leaving the aviation industry stunted and collapsing. Trade is shrinking as non-tariff barriers which include military hostilities between some members are rising.

8. There are several pending milestones the EAC is supposed to accomplish, ending with the idealistic political union. However, one milestone that has delayed and needs to be prioritised over the next five years is the monetary authority (EA Central Bank) with the single EAC currency.

East Africa now has a flag and an anthem, thank you, but what do they do in our lives? Therefore, bold steps to be legislated in Arusha and sent to the six or seven capitals for adoption/domestication cannot be taken by a regional assembly of tired, frustrated losers or those sent as a form of Siberia from the individual countries.

The terms of reference for EALA MPs should be reviewed to require expertise and non-partisanship. Otherwise, if the EAC thing cannot be fixed, then let it be scrapped.

Joachim Buwembo is a Kampala-based journalist. E-mail:[email protected]