East African Community Political and Security Outlook: Edging Closer to

the Tipping Point?

Kahara Kubai
(BA, Political Studies and Sociology, and MA, Diplomacy and International
Studies)
kahar.kubai@gmail.com

2014

Introduction
The East African Community has made tremendous progress since it was revived slightly more
than a decade ago. This has led to progressive steps towards the envisaged political federation as
the ultimate objective. Recently, state members signed a common market protocol allowing for
the free movements of factors of production (capital, labor, goods and services) and a protocol
for the adoption of a monetary union. The protocol on Monetary Union is set for ratification
come July this year.1
There is no doubt that the commitment to enter into a monetary union is reflective of the deep
commitment members have towards EAC since it will mean ceding of substantial control of their
fiscal and monetary policy to the EAC. Significantly, it indicates an acceptance that in a highly
competitive and globalized world, the most effective strategy for maximizing on the benefits of
globalization is through regional economic integration. This is because as a region, they have a
large and hence attractive market; they can reap from the benefits of economies of scale, attract
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), and have more bargaining power on the international stage.
Nevertheless, this progress must constantly face the reality of the challenges which any regional
integration efforts do encounter. The challenges are an outcome of the gaps between stated
intentions as contained in constitutive instruments (principles, treaties and policies) and what has
been actualized. To address the gaps, there is a need for an evidence based analysis of the state
of affairs and objective projections into the future. This presentation does exactly that through
identifying the current state of affairs, challenges, opportunities and proffering some solutions.
The task is limited to political and security analysis and projections.
To achieve these goals, it is divided into three broad sections. Section one, briefly delineates the
key achievements of the EAC region, identifies and operationalizes the variables for measuring
regional political and security state of affairs and making projections. Section two uses these
variables for analyzing security and political state of affairs in EAC. Section three drawing from
the analysis identifies the opportunities present going forward and key challenges.

The State of East African Community Region

The Vision of EAC is a prosperous, competitive, secure, stable and politically united East Africa.
Its mission is to widen and deepen economic, political, social and cultural integration in order to
improve the quality of life of the people of East Africa through increased competitiveness, value
added production, trade and investments.2 Towards achieving these goals key milestones have
been achieved. These are:
Peace and stability: The EAC region has increasingly enjoyed sustained peace and stability.
Prolonged large scale violent conflicts have such as the ones which have been witnessed in
Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda have been terminated. Though there are still some remaining
armed opposition groups such as the Lord resistance Army in Uganda, Hutu genocidaires
1
2

See East African Community Website www.eac.int

See Treaty Establishing the East African Community, 1999 available at www.eac.int

targeting Rwanda and Burundi operating from the lawless regions of Eastern Democratic
Republic of Congo, clan militias in Kenya especially in Northern Eastern province, the specter of
large scale violence has receded.
Additionally, the region has been active in dealing with extra-regional instabilities in their
neighborhoods. There has been increased engagement of member states in peace and stability
operations in the wider Horn of Africa and Great Lakes Regions .e.g. in Sudan, Somalia, South
Sudan, and Democratic Republic of Congo.
Elaborate integration architecture: Since its inception the community has progressively
developed the needed architecture for effective implementation of the EAC treaty and
subsequent protocols. Indeed, among regional organizations globally with exception of the
European Union, EAC has the most advanced institutional framework with executive, legislative
and judicial power and increasingly these organs are acquiring supranational competencies.3
Significantly, the operation of these organs is backed by the necessary structures addressing
various sectoral needs ranging from infrastructure, natural resources, climate change, peace and
security.4
Progressive integration: The EAC has achieved progressive integration evidenced by the
ratification of the Customs Union protocol and signing of the Monetary Union protocol.
Significantly, there is an explicit aim of eventually becoming a political federation. Importantly,
national policies and standards are increasingly been aligned to regional requirements.5
Subsequently, EAC region is becoming the key engine of growth in Africa
Sustained economic growth: A remarkable achievement has been the sustained economic
growth in the region averaging 6 percent. Between 2000 and 2010, the size of EAC economy
grew in real terms from 32 to 79 billion dollars.6 Significantly, intra-regional trade expanded
from 2.2 to 4.1 billion US dollars by 2010. Further, an examination of projected national growth
indicates that in absence of major macro-economic shocks all member states are on sustained
growth trajectory: Real GDP growth is projected at 4.9% in Burundi, 5.2% in Kenya, 7.3% in
Rwanda, 7% in Tanzania and 5.5% in Uganda.7 Finally through prudent macro-economic
stabilization strategies, inflation has fallen to a single digit.
Increased FDI: Correlated to this growth has been steadily increasing flow of Foreign Direct
Investment in the region. In 2012, total FDI in the region was 3.9 billion dollars compared to 2

S. Johann Plenk and L. Maxmilian, The Uniting of East Africa and the Uniting of Europe?, JIOS, Vol 4, Issue 2,
2013
4
Protocols and policies are available at EAC website.
5
For instance see East African Community Standardization, Quality Assurance, Metrology and Testing ACT, 2008,
Accessed at sidint.net/soear/intergration-tracker/legal-status-of-laws
6
Society for International Development, The State of East Africa, 2012: Deepening Integration, Intensifying
Challenges. Nairobi: Society for International Development, 2012, p.6
7
Data accessed at East Africa Economic Review and Assessment, September, 2012, www.stratlinkglobal.com,
Africa economic outlook, 2013, www.africaneconomicoutlok.org and International Monetary Fund, Regional
Economic Outlook, 2013, www. Imf.org

billion dollars in 2009. However, it should be noted that much of the investment has targeted oil
and gas sectors with Uganda and Tanzania receiving 3.4 billion dollars.8
Figure 1: Foreign Direct Investment, 2009-2012

Believe in a shared destiny: Despite the failed integration efforts after independence in 1960s
and 70s, the revival of the EAC has been accompanied by a shared vision of a region united by
history, culture and destiny. The progressive ratification and implementing of treaties and
policies on various social, political and economic sectors, peace and security, increased
cooperation on security and holding of joint military exercises are pointers of this vision.
Importantly, there exists mutual trust evidenced by decline in securitized foreign policies among
member states. The decline means that members are moving towards becoming a security
community whereby use of force will no longer be an instrument of pursuing interests in the
region.9
Robust involvement of non-state actors: A key challenge of regional organization has been
absence of the involvement of non-state actors in the integration process. Though integration in
the EAC has remained largely an inter-governmental process, there has been private sectors
involvement. The formation of regional professional body such as East Africa Business
Association, Association of Professional Societies of East Africa attests to this involvement.
Also expanded cross border venture by multinationals and local firms such as Nakumatt, BIDCO

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, World Investment Report, 2013, Accessed at
http://unctad.org/en/publicationslibrary/wir2013_en.pdf
9
On security community see E. Adler and M. Barnett (eds)., Security Communities .Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1998

and Equity Bank as well as high levels of informal cross border exchanges shows that businesses
and citizens are actively engaged in the integration process.
The above milestones are not exhaustive but do suffice to show that EAC ranks among the most
progressive sub-regional organization globally.
Having done so, the following section develops some variables which can be used as proxies for
measuring and projecting the political and security situation in EAC region.
Variables for Measuring Political and Security Situation
For the purposes of this presentation, I have developed variables which are pointers to the
political and security situation in the region. Regarding political situation it is observable that
member states have democratic political systems though the levels of democratization vary. To
capture the variations two proxies for measuring the levels of democratization have been used.
These are: How participatory the democratic process is and; how transparent and accountable the
system is. These variables have been operationalized by Society for International Development
and are measurable through: the integrity of the electoral process, functioning of the
government, extent of political participation, the type of political culture and the degree which
citizens enjoys civil liberties.10
Using these variables, based on the values of 1-10, where 10 represent an ideal democratic
political system the SID Index has ranked the states as follow:

Country Rank Overall I.

II.
Score Electoral Functioning
Process of
and
Government
Pluralism
Tanzania 81
5.88
7.42
4.64
Uganda 94
5.16
5.67
3.57
Kenya 104 4.71
3.92
4.29
Burundi 125 3.60
3.00
2.57
Rwanda 132 3.36
0.83
4.64
Source: SID, State of Democracy Report 2013

III.
IV.
V.
Classification
Political
Political Civil
Participation Culture Liberties

6.11
4.44
4.44
3.89
2.22

5.63
6.25
5.63
5.00
5.00

5.59
5.88
5.29
3.53
4.12

Hybrid
Hybrid
Hybrid
Authoritarian
Authoritarian

In addition, how democratic the political systems in the region are can be measured using the
degree of transparency as a proxy of how responsive they are to the needs of the citizens. This is
because fundamental to any democratic system is transparent management of the public affairs
and one of the main hindrances to this is the extent of corruption. Corruption undermines the rule
of law and public institutions, nurtures rent- seeking activities and state capture by politically
connected elite, creates gross inequalities and erodes state legitimacy and capacity to provide
10

SID, The State of Democracy In East Africa, 2013, Accessed at accessed at

http://inequalities.sidint.net/soear/data/picture-of-now/east-africa-social-context/the-state-of-democracy-in-eastafrica

public goods.11 Essentially, it leads to state failure. Based on the variable of corruption, we can
use data from SID to show how democratic the states are. As shown in the figure below, all the
states in the region with exception of Rwanda-which in terms of other democratic indicators is
ranked as authoritarian making it an outlier when it comes to transparency-, are highly corrupt.

Source: SID, Corruption Perception Index, 2009-2012

This shows that none of the member state is fully democratic. Indeed, in all states even managing
a free and fair electoral process has remained a challenge. Consequently electioneering period
remains the most destabilizing process often accompanied by political violence, intimidation of
opposition groups and allegations of electoral rigging. Similarly major corruption scandals are
regularly reported in all states.
When it comes to security, the concept is wide and what it encompasses remains essentially
contested.12 Broadly it refers to absence of threats to state and the people within its jurisdiction.
In this presentation, the analysis is based on human security since the EAC has been founded on
principles whose main objective is the security of people in the region.13 Importantly sustainable
state and regional security is founded on secure people.
To measure the extent of how people are secure, several variables have been used. However,
they are not exhaustive since the concept of human security is analytically expansive.
Regardless, there are some fundamental human needs which are critical for any meaningful
existence; needs which constitutes fundamental human rights. Among them are: physical
security, food security, sustainable environment, education, health and meaningful livelihood.
In terms of physical security several threats are identifiable in the region. They include violent
conflicts whether political such as electoral-related violence, inter-communal, resource based and
terrorism. Additionally, threats from organized criminal groups abound. Though the extent of the

11

The deleterious effects of corruption have been discussed by Uslaner. E. M. Uslaner. Corruption, Inequality, and
the Rule of Law: The Bulging Pocket Makes the Easy Life. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010.
12
M. Sheehan, International Security: An Analytical Survey. London: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2005
13
Detailed explanation of human security is available at United Nations Development Programme, Human
Development Report. New York: UN Publication, 1994

threats is varied across states, most of them have regional implication due to their increasingly
transnational nature and spillover effects.
In addition to physical threats, the region has experienced cycles of food insecurity. This is more
so in Kenya where almost two thirds of its territory is either arid or semi-arid. Currently an
estimated 1.7 million people are affected by famine.
The regional food situation has been worsened by the effects of global climate change which has
manifested itself through increased cycles of flooding and droughts coupled with environmental
degradation. Also, unsustainable and traditional agricultural practices, poor transport
infrastructure, food prices distortions have led to high numbers of people who are food insecure.
The other measure of human security is access to education. Education is critical to human
security since it is a key determinant of achieving a meaningful and decent of livelihood.
Research indicates that globally 177 million people could be lifted out of poverty in low income
countries if they left school with basic reading skills. Also, in sub-Saharan Africa an estimated
1.8 million children could have been saved in 2008 if their mothers had at least secondary
education-this translates to 41 percent reduction in child mortality. Importantly, every extra of
schooling has the potential of increasing income earning capacity by 10 percent, and raising
national GDP by 0.3 percent.14
States in the region have made tremendous progress in provision of universal primary school
education. Through the provision of free primary education, they have achieved 100 percent
Gross Enrolment Rates. However, the transition rate to secondary education has remained
depressingly low with Kenya having the highest rate of 49 percent. This means that the education
systems in the region have denied millions of learners from accessing education and hence a
chance to have a meaningful existence. The graph below captures the transition rates compared
to other regions. It shows that East Africa has 39 percent transition rate, slightly above the
conflict plagued Central Africa region. Additionally, the table shows that there are huge
gendered disparities in access to secondary education.

14

UNESCO, Education for All Global Monitoring Report, 2011, accessed at www.efareport.unesco.org

100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%

92%88%
68%70%
40%
25%

Middle
Africa

39%
32%

37%
27%

East Africa West Africa North Africa Southern

Africa

Girls

Boys

Source: Africa Institute for Development and Policy, 2013, Accessed at http://www.afidep.org/

A related challenge is the quality and relevance of education offered. Research has consistently
shown the poor quality of education in the region. In Kenya, Service Delivery Indicators (SDI)
data of 2013 showed that in public primary schools, children are on average taught for only 2
hours and forty minutes a day, yet officially they should be taught for five hours and forty
minutes. Also only 35 percent of teachers showed mastery of subjects they taught.15
Additionally, the curriculum content is outdated meaning that it does not factor in knowledge
needs for the region such as sustainable development, adoption of science, technology and
innovations and the key goals of any education such as problem solving , civic responsibilities,
creative and critical thinking and learning to learn are not addressed.16
When it comes to health, the region has made strides in improving the health of the citizens.
There have been concerted efforts in preventive health care, provision of sanitation, maternal
health care, control of infectious diseases such as malaria and HIV/AIDS. However, serious
challenges such as malnutrition, lack of access and high cost of health services, inadequate
staffing, increase in lifestyle related diseases means that going forward the region will continue
to face severe health challenges which undermine human security.17 This is compounded by low
levels of expenditure on health which is below 10 percent of the budget with exception of
Rwanda despite commitment by the African states to spend at least 15 percent of their annual
budget on health sector.18
15

Martin, G.H and Pimhidzai, O, Education and Health Services in Kenya: Data for Results and Accountability.
Washington DC: World Bank, 2013
16
World Bank, Learning for All: Investing in Peoples Knowledge and Skills to Promote Development. Washington:
World Bank, 2011
17
See EAC Facts and Figures, 2012, accessed at www.eac.int
18
EAC Community Facts and Figures, 2012 accessed at http;//www.eac.int, p.25; See The AU Abuja Declaration,
April 2001.

Though there are various variables of measuring the quality of health care, the presentation has
used life expectancy indicator as a measure of the overall well being -quality of life- of East
Africans. This is because it capture the productive years citizens have, which is a pointer to
whether the region can exploit its demographic advantages. On the basis of life expectancy, there
has been sustained increase as shown below. However, the average is below 60 years- compared
to the 2011 global average of 70- meaning that most of the people will die when they are still in
their productive years.19

To further show the state of security in the region, the extent of economic inclusion provides
important insights. This is because the ability to engage in meaningful and gainful economic
activity is a key determinant of human security. In its absence, there is poverty which is
dehumanizing, makes individuals vulnerable and unable to effectively participate in social,
economic and political activities. Poverty also creates a strong basis for grievance based violent
conflicts.
Based on these observations, levels of poverty, inequalities, unemployment and competitiveness
of the economy are important indicators of human security. In terms of levels of poverty, more
than 40 percent of East Africans live below the poverty line. When this figure is disaggregated,
some states such as Burundi have very high levels of poverty. More than 70 percent of
Burundians lives below the poverty line. In Kenya the rate is 40 percent and 44.9 in Rwanda.20
The high levels of poverty are reflective of the high levels of unemployment and
underemployment in the region. Indeed, a key challenge facing the region is how to generate
enough employment opportunities considering that it has a very youthful population. The median
age for the regions 139 million people stands at 19 years. For instance in Kenya, young people
constitute more than 70 percent while Uganda has the youngest population in the world with

19

World Health Organisation, Global Health Obseravtory: Life expectancy.

http://www.who.int/gho/mortality_burden_disease/life_tables/situation_trends_text/en/
20
Data accessed at East Africa Economic Review and Assessment, September, 2012, www.stratlinkglobal.com,
Africa economic outlook, 2013, www.africaneconomicoutlok.org and International Monetary Fund, Regional
Economic Outlook, 2013, www. Imf.org

young people accounting for 83 percent of the population.21 This can either lead to demographic
curse or dividend depending on availability of economic activities.
Correlated to high incidences of poverty are the high rates of inequality. A report by the Society
for International Development (SID) has shown the extent of inequalities in the region. It has
noted that only 10 percent of the population can be said to have descent living controlling 35 per
cent of the regions combined GDP of 83 billion dollars. The poorest 40 percent controls only
12.5 billion dollars. 22 This visible inequality is a key driver for instability and without
sustainable measures for enhancing equity coupled with increased awareness of entitlements by
citizens will be a cause of violent conflicts in the coming years.
The figure below shows the extent of inequality in the region: It shows the number of times the
earnings of the rich compares to those of the poor.

Finally, the competitiveness of the economy provides another indicator of human security. This
is because the more competitive an economy is, the more opportunities it can create due to ease
of doing business, fair regulative and competitive regime, promotion of innovation and
enterprise, and high degree of economic inclusion. Based on this criterion, the EAC economies
have low competitiveness with exception of Rwanda which has remained highly competitive and
has correspondingly enjoyed high levels of growth and accelerated recovery from 1994
genocide.

21

Country

Ranking
(2006-2009)a

Ranking
(2010)b

Ranking
(2011)b

Ranking
(2012)c

Tanzania

131

125

125

127

Kenya

95

94

106

109

World Bank Statistics, 2012 and CIA Fact Book, 2013

SID, The State of East Africa, 2012: Deepening Integration, Intensifying Challenges, Nairobi: Society for
International Development, 2012
22

Burundi
Uganda

176
112

181
129

177
119

169
123

Rwanda

67

70

50

45

Source: a=IBRD, 2009/10, b=IFC (International Financial Corporation), Reports, http://www.doingbusiness.org/,

accessed on 17th January, 2014

Based on the above analysis, it is observable that the region is faced by political and security
challenges which unless addressed will hinder the achievements of the objectives and purposes
of the EAC instruments.
A Look into the Future
Going forward, these challenges will persist and constitutes threats to regional political and
security environment. The main challenges include:
Quasi-democratic systems which are not transparent and responsive to the needs of
citizens making them vulnerable to violent opposition.
Physical threats to security notably terrorism, political and inter-communal violence and
resource-based conflicts.
Lack of inclusive, accessible and quality education and health which are prerequisite for
human security.
Food insecurity and vulnerability to climate change.
Economic exclusion and uncompetitive economies leading to destabilizing poverty,
unemployment, and inequalities.
Ultimately, there is a need for sustained investment in quality education and health systems.
Besides, good governance should be promoted in social, political and economic realms.
Importantly, development of infrastructure is central to sustainable and secure East African
Community region.
Guided by these requirements, the following opportunities are available for effectively dealing
with the challenges identified:
Opportunities
The section identifies key opportunities which can make the EAC have sustainable political and
security going forward. Key opportunities include:
Democratic consolidation: The region has made progress towards democratization despite the
fact that no state is really fully democratic. However, the necessary laws are in place and the
region can build on the gains made to further entrench democratic culture. Central to this is the
cultivation of civic responsibilities, taking of rights and liberties seriously and ensuring
transparency in the management of public affairs. Ultimately such measures will lead to
responsive, inclusionary and legitimate political and economic systems.
Huge discovery of mineral resources: Central to the realization of political and security
stability is the need to address poverty, unemployment and other fundamental needs which lead
to secure people. To do so huge investments in quality education, health, agriculture, industry
and physical is needed.

Going forward, the discovery of hydrocarbons in the region has the potential of augmenting the
available resources and enabling states to generate enough resources to comprehensively deal
with these fundamental security needs. Uganda has an estimated 3.5 billion barrels of oil, Kenya
1 billion and Tanzania has discovered more than trillion cubic meters of natural gas.
Additionally, increased interest in exploration activities will definitely yield other mineral
deposits.
In the short term, states can securitize their expected future revenue flow from these minerals,
and use that to raise money from international markets so as to address pressing needs. 23 In the
long term, they need to develop transparent resource governance regimes so as to avoid resource
curse, overdependence on mineral resources at the expense of other economic sectors and
environmental degradation.24
Further, they should adopt regionalized approach to exploitation of these minerals especially
hydrocarbons.25 States can reap from economies of scale and harmonized policies to cushion
themselves from contagious booms and bust associated with natural resources.
Green revolution: That the region is going to grapple with food insecurity in the near future is a
reality. However, global examples abound on how to achieve green revolution within a decade.
The starting point is for the member states to meet their commitments to African Union Maputo
Declaration which requires states to spend at least 10 percent of their budget on agriculture.26
Additionally, there is a need to address land rights, lack of market access and farm inputs,
insufficient technical knowledge, poor storage capacity, constrained water and energy supplies,
and poor infrastructure.
At regional levels, member states should set up Centers of Excellence in Agriculture focused on
cutting edge research on sustainable agriculture in the region. Importantly, EAC should catalyze
development of policies in agriculture which integrate the most vulnerable groups in the society
in the national and regional production chain, mitigate the deleterious effects of climate change
especially over dependence on rain fed agriculture through irrigation and spur growth of agrobased industries.
Deepening regional economic integration: This paper has shown that, intra-regional trade in
EAC has been on an upward trajectory. Such trade remains a key to growth, employment
creation and overall improvement of the quality of life within EAC.
The region needs to leverage on these gains through enhancing the economic competitiveness,
institutional governance, infrastructural development, allowing free movement of factors of
23

On such securitization see S. Kektar and D. Ratha, Securitization of Future Flow Receivables: A Useful Tool for
Developing Countries, Finance and Development, IMF, Vol 38, No.1, March, 2001
24
Oil and Gas Management for Inclusive and Sustainable Development: An East African Regional Forum
proceeding Report. Conference organised by Economic Policy Research Centre, Kenya Institute of Policy Research
and Analysis, Brookings Africa Growth Initiative in Kampala on January, 23-24, 2013
25
Oil and Gas Management for Inclusive and Sustainable Development: An East African Regional Forum
proceeding Report. Conference organised by Economic Policy Research Centre, Kenya Institute of Policy Research
and Analysis, Brookings Africa Growth Initiative in Kampala on January, 23-24, 2013
26
Declartion on Agriculture and Food Security in Africa (Maputo Declaration), Assembly y of the African Union,
Second Ordinary Session, 10-12, July, 2003.

production often hampered by non-tariff barriers and encourage exploitation of regional

economies of scale by investors.
Youthful population: As indicated, EAC has youthful population and states must make a choice
between demographic dividend and curse. The outcome is dependent on how states invest in the
development of this youthful population. Inevitably, the main commitment is to reap from
demographic dividend since as the graph below shows in the next one hundred years Africa will
have a youthful and potentially productive population. Indeed, the 21st century can be the
Africas century.

3.00
2.50

East Asia

2.00
1.50

South America

1.00
0.50
0.00

East Asia

Sub-Saharan Africa

South America

Source: African Institute for Development Policy, 2013 accessed at www.afidep.org

To reap from this dividend, urgent measures are needed. Particularly, there should be massive
investment in education so as to provide access to millions of young people. The education
provided must be oriented towards inculcating practical skills at all levels of education, meeting
productive sector needs, enhancing science, technology and innovation, critical thinking and
problem solving abilities, responsible civic citizenship, promoting entrepreneurship, sustainable
development and lifelong learning. More so, in order to enable access to millions of learners
who fails to transit to the next level of education due to lack of enough spaces, multiple learning
pathways are needed. This will provide second chances to those who would wish to rejoin

education, and also enable certification of non-formal and informal education, creating
opportunities for thousands of out of formal schooling learners.27
This should be augmented by increased diversification of economy towards high value
production such as manufacturing and services so as to generate the needed employment and
entrepreneurship opportunities.
Infrastructural development: Poor infrastructure has remained the Achilles heel of growth in
the region. Main challenges lies in transport, energy and ICT infrastructure. Within EAC
transport prices are estimated to be anywhere from 50% to 175% higher than global averages. 28
Estimated cost of logistics and transports accounts for 42 percent on the value of imports and 75
percent on the value of exports.29
When it comes to energy costs, the region is costly for businesses. Tanzania has the lowest cost
at 11 US cents per kilowatt hour yet this is three times higher compared to Egypts 3.5 US cents
per kilowatt hour.30
In terms of access, only 26 percent of the population has access to electricity which is lower than
SSA average of 32 percent and below the needed 80 percent which is the average for middle
income countries. This means that more than 80 percent of residents rely on wood fuel which
has contributed to massive deforestation, pollution and low productivity.31
Regarding ICT, the region has made tremendous progress. This is more so in telecommunication
where mobile phones have revolutionized communication and access to services. For instance in
Kenya, mobile phones and related innovation have boosted financial inclusion, savings and
access to credit, payments etc. Consequently, in 2013 Kenya had 25.1 million mobile money
subscribers who transferred more than 22 billion dollars.32
Going forward the EAC region has shown strong commitment to addressing infrastructural
problems. There are ongoing projects aimed at improving trade including the construction of
roads and railway networks, building of new ports in Tanzania and Kenya, and expansion on
production of cheaper energy.
These measures will lower the cost of production and living, enhance productivity and
competitiveness, and contribute to environmental conservation. All these positive changes will
greatly improve the quality of life in the region making the EAC vision of a prosperous,
competitive, secure, stable and politically united region a reality.
27

See W. Hoppers (ed), Post-Primary Education in Africa: Challenges and Approaches for Expanding Learning
Opportunities. Tunis: ADEA, 2009
28
K. Findt, Infrastructure and Economic development: Huge potential in east Africa, Accessed at
http://www.howwemadeitinafrica.com/infrastructure-and-economic-development-high-potential-in-eastafrica/25610/
29
Scott Allen, Why economic growth remains elusive in EA, The Citizen (Tanzania), Nov 29, 2013, Accessed at
wwww.thecitizen.co.tz
30
Rush for Power: EAC in Haste to Reign in Crippling Energy, Accessed at http://www.trademarkea.com/rushfor-power-eac-in-haste-to-reign-in-crippling-energy/
31
Ibid
32
Kenya Transferred $22Bn Via Mobile Money-CBK, Accessed at http://www.ventures-africa.com; Why Does
Kenya lead in Mobile Money, May, 27th 2013, Accessed at http://www.economist.com/blogs/economistexplains/2013/05/economist-explains-18.

Conclusion
The paper has brought out diverse political and security issues with a goal of analyzing the state
of East African Community and making projections going forward. It has shown that though
tremendous progress has been made, serious challenges lies had and this will continue to have
negative bearing on political and security situation. Nonetheless, there is commitment by
member states to deal with the challenges which needs sustained investment in three key areas:
Institutions, infrastructure and Integration.