Challenges to Fast Tracking the East African Federation (ePub)

The justification for dedicating attention to the issue of fast-tracking regional integration in East Africa is not difficult to discern. A united East Africa is important for development as markets would become larger, resources easier to mobilize and the security of member states enhanced through complementary efforts. Labour would move freely across borders, thus alleviating the scourge of youth unemployment in the region, Uganda in particular.

In August 2004, the summit of the heads of state of the East African Community (EAC) appointed a committee of six experts, two from each partner state, to stud the possibilities of fast-tracking EAPF. The summit invoked Article 123, paragraph 6, which empowers the heads of state "to initiate the process towards the establishment of a political federation … by directing the Council to undertake the process." After conducting a three-month study, the committee submitted its report in November 2004.

The study concluded that the support for the EAC political federation project by Ugandans has provided the Museveni presidency with an opportunity to push the integration of the region within the framework of the summit. However, the 27 December 2007 Kenyan electoral debacle and the support President Museveni gave Mwai Kibaki during the crisis had negatively impacted on the project, particularly Museveni's intentions in the region. Uganda was the only EAC member state that immediately recognized the outcome of the elections in Kenya.

This particular study we have undertaken eleven years after the first one posts almost the same findings - that Fast Tracking East African Political Federation, is not an attractive proposal to the majority East Africans.