'New' Kisumu port will boost EA economy, deepen connections

The renovation of Kenya’s third biggest port is as good as done and the country is just awaiting the synchronisation of regional presidential diaries for the official launching ceremony.

Indications are that all the six presidents in the larger East African region will grace the occasion. John Magufuli of Tanzania, Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, Paul Kagame of Rwanda, Pierre Nkurunziza of Burundi, Salva Kiir of South Sudan and Felix Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of Congo are all expected at the Kenyan city of Kisumu for the launch of the all-important revamped port.

The port has been refurbished at the cost of Sh3 billion though there are plans to modernise it further in a project funded by the World Bank to a tune of Sh22.5 billion.

President Uhuru Kenyatta and African Union High Representative for Infrastructure Development Raila Odinga will host the event that will be historic because the economic benefits that citizens in the region will draw from the port are many.

But it is not just the port, it is the connections it will help cement.

The resources, natural and human, that abound in the region are beyond measure and if they are to be amalgamated into a single unit, with uniform rules of trade and a universal monetary regime, are sure to form a formidable global powerhouse.

It is estimated that if the Domestic Product (GDP) of the individual states in the region were to be combined, it would be greater than most countries in the developed world. The geographical location of the region is also strategic in more aspects than one.

More importantly, though, will be the political and social message the event will be sending to the world:  That the region, with a massive 150 million people, is speaking in one voice and inching closer to a marriage of souls. The potential market value of this union cannot be gainsaid, no wonder the interest by the World Bank.

But what will accrue from the intended, and hopefully eventual, integration is bigger than just economic!

The region is likely to achieve advanced social and political cohesion once a real East Africa federation with political and economic integration is set in place. This will, in turn, help in ironing out the various internal squabbles of ethnic and regional nature that colour the individual countries as we know them now.

It will also discard the inter-country rivalries to the dustbin as focus is trained on the greater common good. The burning of Kenyan chicks by Tanzanian authorities on flimsy grounds will, for instance, be a thing of the past just like we will hear no more threats by imbalanced Kenyan MPs to forcefully evict Tanzanian traders from Nairobi.

Rwanda and Uganda will cease their mutual suspicions and concentrate on making their people more comfortable while Nkuruzinza will be at peace with all his neighbours. The region will help Tshisekedi organise DRC’s massive minerals and get him better deals for his people.

In Kenya, President Uhuru has been working to achieve national unity for a long time. A cohesive East Africa federation will have the automatic effect of erasing these tribal tensions as everyone focuses on the big picture.

In Uganda, the North vs South rivalries have never really ended since the days of Idd Amin, while in Tanzania, mainland and Zanzibar have issues. All these can be dealt with satisfactorily by the federation.