First it was "the coalition of the willing", involving
Rwanda, Uganda and Kenya; now it is the "federation of the willing"
which has also side-lined Tanzania in the latest bid to fast-track the
proposed East African Community political federation.
On Monday in Kampala, four EAC member countries,
namely Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi met to discuss the draft of the
constitution that would govern the federation.
The two-day forum is expected to reach a consensus
on the form, structure as well as the fundamental principles of the
roadmap for the envisaged unity.
The high-level gathering was in adherence to a
directive issued by the first Infrastructure Summit held in Entebbe on
25 June 2013, where heads of State of Rwanda, Kenya and Uganda agreed to
set up a committee that would fast-track the EA political federation by
developing a draft constitution.
In this meeting, Tanzania wasn’t invited in what
was seen as a move to isolate it ahead of the quick march towards a
political federation.
Even Burundi, which had earlier refused to join
Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda, has now joined "the coalition of the willing"
leaving Tanzania in the cold. (Read: Tanzania out of latest coalition of the willing meeting)
Opening the meeting, which brought together
constitution making experts from the four countries, Uganda’s minister
for Internal Affairs, General Aronda Nyakairima said: "This political
process comes in the backdrop of a number of historical initiatives, as
informed by the debate on the importance of the federation.
"And this idea is not new, on 10th May 1964 in Dar
es Salam, during the meeting [then Tanzanian leader] Mzee Nyerere
stated: it is better that two countries should federate now, if three
cannot".
Work plan
The Internal minister who also doubles as the fast
tracking project chair told delegates: "The necessity and the urgency
of the work before us, does remind me of one man’s great wisdom, ‘Men
make their own history, but they do not make it as they please; they do
not make it under self-selected circumstances, but under circumstances
existing already, given and transmitted from the past."
At the end of the meeting, experts from the four
countries are expected to come up with a framework of the proposed
political federation, as guided by the work plan set during the
Ministerial Session on the Committee of Fast Tracking Political
Federation, held on September 12, in Kampala.
The technical team, according to details gathered
by The Citizen daily, has been appointed to draft an East African
Federation Constitution.
Defend the move, the Ugandan minister said:
“Probably this long-standing cooperation history and its benefits to the
region is inspired by Mzee Mwalimu Julius Nyerere in the 1960s, when he
proposed that the independence of Tanganyika be delayed until Kenya and
Uganda got independent, so that together they could form a federation
on simultaneous attainment of independence.”
Indeed, by 1963, three countries had attained
their independence and had declared the establishment of an East African
Federation, which came into being by the Treaty of June 1967, he said
adding:
“This treaty established joint ownership and
operation of services managed by the East African Railways and Harbours;
the East African Airways; the East African Posts and
Telecommunications; the Inter-University Council for East Africa; and
the East African Currency Board. There was also the Court of Appeal for
East Africa and the East African Legislative Assembly.”
