Dar ponders its fate in EAC

Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Mr Bernard Membe PHOTO|FILE 

By Mkinga Mkinga The Citizen

Posted  Wednesday, October 16  2013 at  00:00

In Summary

“We are carefully watching everything…We aren’t in any hurry because at the end of the day we will know the truth.”

Dar es Salaam. Tanzania is carefully studying the moves by the so-called “coalition of the willing” before making any concrete decision regarding its membership in the East African Community.

Speaking to The Citizen yesterday, the minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Mr Bernard Membe, said: “It won’t be easy to isolate Tanzania, though we know there are attempts to that effect.”

“I am not the minister for East African Community, but I can assure you that the only body that can isolate Tanzania is the Heads of State Summit …But it won’t be easy.”

Asked whether Tanzania may have to reconsider its membership of the East African Community following the recent move by four other partner states to hold talks without Dar, purporting that they are charting out the modalities of establishing a political federation by 2015 Mr Membe said, “It’s too early to say anything so far.”

“We are carefully watching everything…We aren’t in any hurry because at the end of the day we will know the truth.”

The minister’s comments come in the wake of a series of regional meetings featuring Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda—leaving Tanzania feeling isolated.

The latest development comes amid claims that the rush to form a political federation is a calculated move by President Yoweri Museveni.

On Monday, representatives of the four countries met in Kampala to discuss how to draft the proposed constitution of the federation. The two-day forum is expected to develop a consensus on the form, structure as well as the fundamental principles of the roadmap for the political federation.

The forum was called as per a directive of the first Infrastructure Summit held in Entebbe, Uganda on June 25, where the heads of state of Rwanda, Kenya and Uganda agreed to set up a committee that would fast-track the EA political federation by developing the relevant draft constitution.

But Mr Membe told The Citizen, “We have been very supportive to our neighbours in various international matters…We won’t be shaken by the on-going meetings of experts on the federation.”

In another development, The Citizen learnt that the current move is a brainchild of Uganda’s President Museveni.

Details gathered by The Citizen also show that President Museveni was the brain behind of the so-called “alliance of the willing”, which kicked off in Kampala mid this year when he invited President Uhuru Kenyatta and Paul Kagame to discuss mega infrastructure development between the three countries. The senior cabinet minister, speaking about Museveni’s influence on the current initiative, said: “We know and we have evidence that he has been backing the fast-tracking of the federation.”

In 2007, Mr Museveni travelled by road on a tour of Kenya and Tanzania to discuss the East African Federation, in what some analysts connected with his ambition to become the first president of the envisaged unity.

Though the senior cabinet minister and some top government officials in Dar es Salaam connect the Ugandan leader with the ‘politics of isolation against Dar’, The Citizen couldn’t independently verify these claims.

According to senior officials within the government, the Ugandan leader’s dream is to be the first president of the East African Political Federation upon retirement from active politics in his country.

“Problems started after the Chinese President visit in Dar, followed by President Obama, Bush and Clinton…all these leaders except Clinton didn’t visit any country in this region apart from Tanzania,” a senior government official told The Citizen yesterday.

“Tanzania is currently seen as Big Brother and the regional focus of the international community, something that doesn’t augur well with some EAC partner states,” he said.

But The Citizen understands that for about four years now, Tanzania has been cited as an obstacle towards political federation and economic integration because of fear for its land, jobs and other opportunities being eyed by citizens of other EAC countries. It is understood that Tanzanians voted against political federation whereby about 80 per cent rejected it four years ago.

Under these circumstances, some East African countries decided to forge ahead with the proposed federation, but the pace was very slow until this year when Presidents Museveni, Kenyatta and Kagame formed what is now referred to as “coalition of the willing”.

But during the interview with The Citizen, the senior cabinet minister said: “We may consider suspending our EAC membership and let them proceed.” He added:

“We should focus on Sadc (Southern African Development Community) because it’s actually more important to us than the EAC.”

Geographically, Tanzania is a most well positioned country in the East African region compared to Southern Africa, where South Africa, which is a giant in the region has the Gross Domestic Product estimated at $400 billion.

SOURCE: THE CITIZEN