The EAC: The fast guide

FEDERATION: The first East African Community didn’t work. But the new one has to develop into an East African super state if the politicians get their way

By Tina Loevbom Petersen

10. April 2005

The East African Community (EAC) is the regional intergovernmental organisation of the republics of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. The treaty of the EAC was signed in 1999 by the three regional presidents Moi, Museveni and Mkapa and entered into force in July 2000. At the official ceremony Tanzania’s president Mkapa said that ‘the important goals of the EAC are to improve our economies, quality of life and relations between the three countries’.

The three East African countries have a population of more than 82 million people who to a certain extent share a common history, language, culture and infrastructure which provides the overall framework for regional cooperation and integration.

The main purpose of establishing the EAC is to strengthen and organise the economic cooperation and development between Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania with a strong focus on the social dimension. Some of the areas of cooperation include trade, investments and industrial development, monetary affairs, infrastructure, human resources, science and technology, agriculture and food security, health, environment and natural resources management, tourism and wildlife management and social and cultural activities. The EAC also cooperates in political matters including defence, security, foreign affairs and legal and judicial matters.

The history of EAC

In the past Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania have a long history of co-operation and different regional integration arrangements, but also a history of division with disappointments, mistakes and failed attempts to unite within East Africa .

One of the historical cooperation organs was the Customs Union between Kenya and Uganda in 1917, which Tanganyika joined in 1927. Others were The East African High Commission (1948-1961), the East African Common Services Organisation (1961-1967), the East African Community (1967-1977) and the East African Co-operation (1993-2000).

While establishing the second EAC in 1999 some technocrats who have been working towards the cooperation have termed it ‘a new chapter’ in which ‘none of the old mistakes will be repeated’. The old mistakes refer to the problems leading to the final collapse of the EAC in 1977. East Africa had become ideologically split; Kenya was advocating for capitalism and social interventions, while Tanzania pursued socialism under Nyerere. On top of that there was a lot of mistrust among the state leaders after the former dictator Idi Amin took power by force in Uganda.

When the former EAC was dissolved in 1977 the member states negotiated a mediation agreement and agreed to explore areas of future cooperation. In November 1993 the three heads of state signed an agreement establishing the Permanent Tripartite Commission for East African Cooperation. This was the first step leading to the formation of the present EAC.

The future of EAC

On 26th November 2004 the presidents of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania endorsed the programme to launch the East African Federation by January 2010. A federal super state where the three big East African countries will keep their own identities with national parliaments, presidents and flags, but share a federal parliament and cabinet, a chief justice and supreme court and a super state president appointed by rotation in the member states.

The three presidents will hold an extraordinary summit in March 2005 to discuss the way forward and to agree on how to launch a campaign to sell the idea of political federation to the people of East Africa. Some of the steps towards the federation are already decided:

By January 2005 holders of East African passports should be exempted from immigration requirements within East Africa. Identification documents should be published and made available.
By January 2005 fishing in Lake Victoria should take place without undue restrictions.
By July 2005 entry permits and work permits for EAC citizens should be standardised.
By August 2005 East Africa should be one single air space.
By December 2006 there should be East African identity cards for all citizens.
A new federal constitution should be ready by December 2007.
In January 2010 the East African Federation will be launched.
Between January and March 2013 the first elections for a new federal president and federal parliament should take place.

Finally it was also agreed on the last summit that the two smaller East African countries Rwanda and Burundi were assured that their long desired admission to the EAC was just a matter of time. The delay to register them as members of EAC was due to wars and instability in the two countries and the Great Lake region as a whole.

Tina Loevbom Petersen is information worker at MS-Tanzania

Structure of EAC

The headquarters of the EAC is located in Arusha, Tanzania. The main organs of the EAC are the Summit of Heads of State or governments which meet at least once a year and the Council of Ministers which consists of the ministers responsible for regional cooperation in each of the three member states. The Council meets twice a year with the purpose of making policy decisions, initiate and submit bills, consider the budget and make regulations, directives and recommendations.

The EAC also has a Coordination Committee, a number of Sectoral Committees, an Assembly and a Secretariat. Finally one of the important organs of the Community is the East African Court of Justice. The Court’s main responsibility is to ensure that the laws of the member countries are in compliance with the Treaty and to determine any disputes on the interpretation and application of the Treaty. The Court is constituted of six judges, two from each member state.