CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF EASTERN AFRICA

DEPARTMENT OF ARTS AND SOCIAL SCIENCES

FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCE

UNIT: RELATIONS AMONG DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

UNIT CODE: SPO 343

NAME: ESTHER SANGUDI

REG. NO.: 1028919

LECTURER: DR. FIONA NGARACHU

No. of Words: 1500

HOW EAST AFRICA COMMUNITY (EAC) CAN LEARN FROM PAST MISTAKES IN
ACHIEVING A SUCCESSFUL REGIONAL INTEGRATION

Vision
A prosperous, competitive, secure, stable and politically united East Africa
Afrika Mashariki yenye mafanikio, ushindani, usalama, imara na iliyounganika kisiasa

Mission
To widen and deepen Economic, Political, Social and Culture integration in order to
improve the quality of life of the people of East Africa through increased competitiveness,
value added production, trade and investments

Kupanua na kuimarisha uchumi, siasa, huduma za jamii na utamaduni wa kubadilishana ili

kuboresha hali za maisha ya watu wa Afrika Mashariki kupitia ushindani endelevu, uzalishaji
wa hali ya juu, biashara na uwekezeji

Esther Sangudi
(EAC Policy Officer)

13th March, 2017

 ABBREVIATIONS

ADB African Development Bank

COMESA Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa
EAC East Africa Community
EACBC East African Community Business Climate
IMF International Monetary Fund
RTA Regional Trade Area

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 Table of Contents
ABBREVIATIONS ....................................................................................................................... ii

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .......................................................................................................... 1

1.0 Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 1

2.0 EAC Treaty ........................................................................................................................... 1

3.0 Factors Contributing to EAC Failures ................................................................................... 2

3.0.1 Self-Interests ................................................................................................................... 2

3.0.2 Power Disparities ............................................................................................................ 2

3.0.3 Political Challenge .......................................................................................................... 3

3.0.4 Fear of Loss of Sovereignty............................................................................................ 3

3.0.5 Violations of Custom rules ............................................................................................. 3

4.0 Recommendations to accelerate EAC integration ................................................................. 4

4.0.1 Provisions for national interests ..................................................................................... 4

4.0.2 Collective decisions ........................................................................................................ 4

4.0.3 Dealing with Redundancy .............................................................................................. 5

5.0 Conclusion............................................................................................................................. 5

References ................................................................................................................................... 6

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 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

EAC is made up of five countries – Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi. Plans to
include South Sudan and Somalia are underway. Great integration progress has been achieved by
EAC since it was founded. This progress has resulted to mutual benefits amongst its members
states in terms of economic, social and political perspectives. EAC has great potential to emerge
one of the leading economic hubs in Africa if the member states are fully committed to the
integration. Successful integration would see the five member countries transform into one
regional economy, which would thus mean accruement of optimal benefits to the individual
members.

1.0 Introduction

East Africa Community was formed with an aim of combining strengths among the member
states in order to work as a unit in fostering deep economic and political integration. Efforts have
been made to accomplish expansive integration plans. Unfortunately, the process has been slow
due to some reasons.

This report outlines the EAC treaty which is crucial to the regional integration, challenges facing
the integration and implications of its plans for economic cooperation and political unity. The
report also outlines recommendations on how the block can learn from the past mistakes to
become one of the most successful blocks in Africa.

2.0 EAC Treaty

Chapter 23 of the EAC treaty outlines the issue of cooperation on political matters. Article
123(3) lists the guideline of the basis of the foreign policy coordination protocol. According to
this article, the objectives of the common foreign and security policies are to: (a) Safeguard the
common values, fundamental interests and independence of the Community; (b) Strengthen the
security of the Community and its Partner States in all ways; (c) Develop and consolidate
democracy and the rule of law and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms; (d)
Preserve peace and strengthen international security among the Partner States and within the
Community; (e) Promote co-operation at international forums; and (f) Enhance the eventual
establishment of a Political Federation of the Partner States.

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Article 2 of the EAC protocol lists the scope of foreign policy cooperation; (a) Collaboration in
diplomatic and consular matters; (b) Collaboration in multilateral diplomacy; (c) Collaboration
in economic and social activities; and (d) Collaboration in capacity building

3.0 Factors Contributing to EAC Failures

The foreign policies of individual EAC member states tend to differ. There also exist differences
on other domestic factors such as national history, the size of the member states, national identity and
the extent of a country's foreign relations network.

3.0.1 Self-Interests

East Africa Community individual member states have always worked with self-interest and
power in mind. Each of the states has previously worked in a unitary way, pursuing its own
national interests disregarding the centrality of the EAC. Politics has dominated the effective
functional integration of the EAC states.

The EAC member states have previously engaged in multiple regional trading blocs. Failure of
EAC member states to rationalize their participation in Regional Trade Areas (RTAs) has led to
the problem of foreign policy coordination through regional to state level. This process has thus
shifted the leadership to larger more economically stable members of the EAC, particularly
Kenya and Tanzania. This has presented them with an opportunity to pursue their own national
interests rather than those of the EAC.

Implementation of EAC policies has also been a challenge. A number of policies have been
delayed in implementation due to divergent interests within member states. Some state partners
have created restrictions which have consequently led to failure of policies implementations.

3.0.2 Power Disparities

Power disparities have existed among EAC member states with Kenya playing the key role in the
disparity which has enabled it to dominate in the regional policy agenda. Kenya's dominance can
be attributed to its dominant position in most aspects of inter-state relations.

Additionally, Kenya and Tanzania have the highest military strength in the region. The two
countries are also strategically in good positions in the regional transport and trade networks.

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This is due to their pivotal roles of the ports in transit network for landlocked EAC member
states.

As a result of these factors, Kenya and Tanzania have the capacity to exercise disproportional
influence on other member states in the EAC. This has led to their dominance in the regional
policy agenda.

On the other hand, Tanzania has been cautious about integration process and wary about Kenya's
leading role in implementation of the EAC policies. This is reflected in the initiative to jointly set
up the North Corridor, which was opposed by Tanzania.

3.0.3 Political Challenge

There has been no political goodwill among EAC member states. The sustainability of the East
African Community and the achievement of a political federation will depend on a level of
political goodwill. The implementation of the EAC treaty requires successful negotiation of a
number of protocols. In order for negotiations to succeed quickly, political goodwill is essential.
However, the EAC report indicates that the fear of loss of sovereignty is an issue in the minds of
some members of the political elite of East Africa.

3.0.4 Fear of Loss of Sovereignty

The main challenge towards the establishment of the Political Federation is the fear of loss of
sovereignty for some major political players in East Africa. They fear is that as a Federation, the
EAC States would lose decision-making power and their flexibility in exercising power at
national level.

3.0.5 Violations of Custom rules

There have been several contentious violations of customs rules over the last few years which
have shown how domestic pressure, coupled with underfunded and slow bureaucracies, presents
major challenges for further integration.

In 2011 when there was shortage of sugar in the region, EAC was prompted to introduce a
licensing system to allow for import quotas from outside of the region at low tariffs. The Kenyan

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sugar industry, a large and significant political group domestically, soon accused Ugandan
traders of repackaging sugar bought cheaply from outside the region and selling it in Kenya as
Ugandan products.

This circumvention of EAC Customs Union protocol, which provides for free movement of
goods between the member states, led to an import ban on Ugandan sugar in 2012. In reprisal the
Ugandan government enacted a ban on Kenyan beef and beef products, and the trade war was
just recently settled in a high-level meeting between presidents Kenyatta and Museveni.

4.0 Recommendations to accelerate EAC integration

This report has identified that foreign policy coordination is a political process involving the
amalgamation of different national interests with the purpose of benefiting the member states and the
region.

4.0.1 Provisions for national interests

To strategically convince the member states that their interests is catered for into the region interest,
there is need to build upon existing relations – in this case from economic to political cooperation.
Foreign policy coordination is a political process but regional integration is a process that has
different aspects; economic, political and socio-cultural aspects. Of these three the hardest part of
regional integration is the political aspect. Thus alternative approaches like state to regional level or
regional to state level approaches to foreign policy issues are sensitive to different aspects of
integration and take into account the level national interest issues.

The strength of the protocol is that it should not touch on issues of national interests directly. Such a
protocol would create a better framework for the implementation of foreign policy strategies within
the region. This coordination would mean diplomacy would be carried out in a systematic organized
manner where members’ state actions would be in a unified approach.

4.0.2 Collective decisions

Collective decisions and responsibilities will remove the pressure of foreign policy decisions on a
single state and create a bureaucracy where better informed bureaucrats will advise the political
leaders.

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 4.0.3 Dealing with Redundancy

Lack of redundancy in bilateral agreements and stronger multilateral agreements will reduce
administrative costs and create a structure that is streamlined, cost efficient and effective. This means
that one foreign policy organ will dictate the agenda on short term and long term strategies. This will
clear the anarchic nature of having different policies and trying to make sense of them within a
regional point of view. However, before the implementation of the protocol there is need to recognize
the weaknesses within each state and the region as a whole in order to prepare for them.

5.0 Conclusion

Regional cooperation can serve as a vehicle for nondiscriminatory liberalization of multilateral trade
and integration into the globalized economy. If properly conceived, regional integration offers many
advantages for developing countries. First, closer trading links between these countries would
strengthen their capacity to participate in world trade. Regional integration would enable many
countries to overcome the obstacles represented by their relatively small domestic markets, by
enabling producers to realize greater economies of scale and benefit from the establishment of
regional infrastructures. A regional approach in key structural areas enables participating countries to
pool their resources and avail themselves of regional institutional and human resources, in order to
attain a level of technical and administrative competence that would not be possible on an individual
basis. The regional approach also allows countries to assert their interests from a stronger and more
confident position in the international arena.

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References
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