Rais wa Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania, Mheshimiwa Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete akitembelea Chuo cha Taifa cha Ulinzi cha Kenya (National Defence College) kilichoko Karen, Nairobi, na baadaye kupiga picha ya pamoja na ujumbe wake, wanachuo na viongzozi wa chuo hicho. Picha na Ikulu
Honourable Yusuf Haji, Minister of Defence and Acting Minister of State for Provincial Administration and Internal Security;
General Julius W. Karangi, Chief of Defence Forces;
Lieutenant General Njuki Mwaruki,Commandant of the National Defence College of Kenya;
Course Participants;
Distinguished Guests;
Ladies and Gentlemen;
I thank Honourable Yusuf Haji, the Minister of Defence, General Julius Karangi, Chief of Defence Forces and Lieutenant General Njuki Mwaruki, Commandant of the National Defence College for the very warm reception and for giving me this rare opportunity to address the course participants.
On November 30, 2012 East Africans will be celebrating the Thirteenth Anniversary of the birth of the new East African Community. At the same time we will be celebrating sixteen years since the resumption of cooperation among the three East African countries of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, after the breakup of the first East African Community in 1977. Let me hasten to say that it has been sixteen years of tremendous achievement. I also acknowledge, however, that it has not been so easy and there is yet a lot of ground to cover ahead of us and many challenges to overcome.
As you may recall, the history of cooperation among East African countries dates back to colonial times. Burundi, Rwanda and Tanganyika were a Germany colony from 1884 until 1918, when Germany lost both the war and her colonies in Africa. Tanganyika became a British Trusteeship territory under the League of Nations while Burundi and Rwanda became Belgium colonies. So, since 1918 Tanganyika became part of the British Empire together with Kenya which was a British colony, Uganda a British protectorate and Zanzibar which was part of the Sultanate of Oman but under the protection of Great Britain.
Ladies and Gentlemen;
When I was asked to speak at this prestigious college on a subject of my own preference, I had difficulties to decide what to talk about. In the end, I decided to talk about East African integration agenda. I thought it was worthwhile for students of the National Defence College to pay serious attention to this matter because it concerns the present and the future of all countries, which are members of the East African Community.
Currently, the decisions taken by the East African Community are impacting the lives of the people of this region and will do so even more in future as the integration is deepened. It is important, therefore, for our military personnel to know in very clear terms what is going on in the East African Community.
Ladies and Gentlemen;
Regional cooperation and integration endeavours among East African countries seriously began in 1895 with the commencement of the construction of the Uganda Railway from Mombasa to Kampala. On completion, the railway established formal cooperation between Kenya and Uganda. In 1900, the cooperation between these two countries was further advanced when it was agreed that Uganda customs duty be collected at Mombasa port. Uganda made similar arrangements with Tanganyika, which was a Germany colony, with regards to her goods passing through the ports of Tanganyika. In 1917 a fully fledged Customs Union was established between Uganda and Kenya. In essence, this was the beginning of what was to become the East African Customs Union and the East African Common Market under the former East African Community.
In 1921, the Monetary Union was firmly in place. The East African Currency Board was launched and the East African Shilling replaced the British Rupee in Kenya and Uganda and Germany Rupee in Tanganyika. In fact, the East African Community structures we are busy trying to build since 1999 were already in place by 1924. The only exception was Political Federation. It is a pleasant surprise to learn that, there were attempts to create an East African Federation as early as 1924 when the Ormsby-Gore Commission discussed the desirability of an East African Federation. In 1927 there was the Hilton Young Commission on the same.
Ladies and Gentlemen;
Besides the Customs Union, the Common Market and the Monetary Union, regional cooperation and integration in East Africa established common services as well. In this regard, at their meeting in 1926 Governors of Kenya, Uganda and Tanganyika agreed to initiate establishment of inter-territorial common services such as customs, common currency, income tax, posts and telegraphs, Court of Appeal etc. Prior to that, in 1925 the East African Posts and Telecommunications was established and after the landmark decision of 1926 by the Governors, several pan East African common services were established. For example, in 1946 the East African Airways Corporation was inaugurated, in 1948 the East African Railways was created through the amalgamation of the Kenya-Uganda Railway and Tanganyika Railways.
As a matter of fact, by 1948 almost every important service that one thought of was East African. Between 1948 and 1960, over 40 different East African institutions in research, social services, education, defence etc. were established or strengthened. As cooperation and integration was expanding and taking root a pertinent matter arose about its coordination and management. As a result of this quest in 1948 the Governor’s Conference evolved into the East Africa High Commission to perform the role of the ultimate authority for coordination, management and decision making.
Ladies and Gentlemen;
When it became evident that Tanganyika would become independent and therefore, may create difficulties for the East African High Commission to operate, the Raisman Commission was set up. It recommended the establishment of an independent regional institution to replace the East African High Commission. As a result the East African Common Services Organisation was formed in 1961 with Dustan Omar, a Tanzanian, its Secretary General. In 1962 Uganda became independent followed by Kenya in 1963.
After the independence of the three East African countries, stress and strains began to surface with regard to the various aspects of the arrangements of cooperation and integration. The issues of what is rightful for which country became important, now that each was a Sovereign State and had obligation to deliver to its people. During colonial rule, some of these things were taken for granted or not noticed because they were the prerogative of the colonial master. At the core was the issue of imbalances in benefits accruing to Members States under the existing cooperation arrangements. Due to lack of adequate settlement mechanism, dissatisfaction continued without redress. Impatience set in and the Monetary Union was to become the first victim. Between 1965 and 1966 the East African Currency Board collapsed. Each country set up her own Central Bank and issued owned currency.
It became evident that the cooperation and integration arrangements framed by the colonial powers were inadequate. It was decided, to form the Phillip Commission in 1966 to advise on the best possible arrangements that would respond effectively or appropriately to the new realities of the existence of three independent nations. The results of the work of this Commission was the establishment of the East African Community in December 1967. It answered the teething question about how the Common Market and Common Service would
operate under an environment of separate Central Banks and currencies. It also address the question of how Member States would continue to benefit equitably.
Ladies and Gentlemen;
In 1967, the East African Community saw the light of the day. Not long since its existence stresses and strains set in which began to undermine the Community. This time it was the different socio-economic policies pursued by the Member States and the regional and international environment which were to blame the most. As you may remember, in 1967 Tanzania chose the radical socialist path while Uganda chose a more mild one and Kenya remained a market based economy.
As a result the ideological differences between Kenya and Tanzania became sharp and hostile. Our two countries called each other all sorts of names and there was deep suspicion of each working against the other. The new and debilitating twist ensued when President Milton Obote of Uganda was overthrown by Idd Amin in a military coup in January, 1971. President Nyerere of Tanzania refused to sit at the same table with Idd Amin. Subsequently no meetings of the East African Community at the level of Heads of States were held. In essence this factor and that of the animosity between Kenya and Tanzania severely weakened the foundations of the Community. Coupled with lack of compensatory mechanism and unfulfilment of the basic agreement to bring balance and equity in development among the three Member States, the future of the Community became very bleak.
On top of regional tensions the international environment was not conducive either. This was the era of the cold war which worked to pull our countries apart and not help us come together. Tensions were celebrated and reinforced. Eventually, the East African Community collapsed in June 1977 and buried the dream that was chased for over seventy years.
Ladies and Gentlemen;
Following this break down, Victor Umbritch, a Swiss diplomat was appointed mediator by the three governments to apportion the assets and liabilities of the collapsed Community. The exercise proved very complicated as it involved tracing the history of assets dating back to the beginning of the 20th century, establishing their sitting, maintenance and value, and verifying the claims by innumerable creditors of all sizes. The fact that many records had been lost or destroyed made matters worse. Despite the odds, in 1984, the Mediation Agreement was signed in Arusha by the three governments of the defunct East African Community. Fortunately, in that Agreement our three countries agreed to explore ways of cooperation in future.
Ladies and Gentlemen;
It was this clause which paved the way for the resumption of cooperation in 1996 and the birth of the New East African Community in 1999. In October, 1991 East African Heads of State at the meeting in Harare, during the Commonwealth Summit, decided to revive East African Cooperation. In November, 1991 they met in Nairobi where a formal proclamation to revive cooperation was made. Ministers of Foreign Affairs were assigned to work on the matter. On completion of their work in November 1993, the three East African Heads of State at their meeting in Arusha signed an Accord to set up the Tripartite Commission of East African Cooperation. In November 1994 at Kampala, the three East African leaders signed the first Protocol establishing the Secretariat of the Tripartite Commission. On March 21, 1996 the Secretariat was launched and East Africa was back on the path of cooperation.
Ladies and Gentlemen;
The three Partner States agreed to cooperate in five areas: political, security (police and military), legal and judiciary, economic as well as social and cultural. Satisfied with the achievements and progress being made, the East African leaders directed the Council of Ministers to start working on the establishment of the East African Community. Indeed, this was heeded and on 30 November, 1999 the Treaty establishing the East Africa Community was signed at a colorful ceremony held at Arusha. The Partners agreed on the road map of building the new Community. They agreed to start with the Customs Union, followed by a Common Market, subsequently a Monetary Union and ultimately a Political Federation.
According to the Treaty, integration process will take place in a progressive manner. The idea is to enable each stage be the building block or foundation for the subsequent stages. Only the Customs Union stage was given a specific time- frame of four years to be in place. The Treaty is silent on the other stages which means it was left to East Africans to decide using their wisdom. This was an anomaly which the Wako Commission was assigned to correct. The Commission came up with an elaborate proposal of benchmarks that are time bound.
In essence they proposed implementation to be done concurrently for the stages after the completion of the Customs Union phase. That is now being implemented. The Treaty establishing the Common Market has been signed and negotiations for a Monetary Union are now on going. If we are to abide by the same principle soon after signing the Protocol establishing the Monetary Union negotiate on the Political Federation would start. I must admit waiting has not been easy. There is a school of thought advocating the establishment of the Federation now or even yesterday. There is however, another saying let’s follow the Treaty. They argue that, it is neater that way and it will make the Federation be built on a stronger foundation. It will last. Which side are you in is a matter I leave it to you.
Ladies and Gentlemen;
I am saying all this because I believe we can learn from history and past experiences. With the knowledge of the past, the future may not be bleak. We have seen in the past how our integration evolved, how we missed the opportunity to federate and how we survived a sudden collapse. In addition, we have learned from the experience of other regional economic communities. In particular, the integration of the European Union taught us two important lessons. One is that there are several Members States, including founders that have opted out of the Monetary Union. There are those who are apprehensive about the political union. They were not ready and their decisions are respected by other member states. Those who are excited by the idea proceeded without any hindrances.
In my opinion, rushing to Monetary Union or to Political Federation for that matter is not opportune indeed. The truth is we have not yet attained a fully fledged Custom Union and the implementation of the Common Market is at its teething stage. It is not a secret that cross border trade among ourselves is still undermined by various challenges, particularly the technical and non-trade-barriers. Regarding Common Market Protocol, its implementation is also progressive. Partner States have committed in a “schedule” of fee movement of labour and time frame for their liberalization. There are categories of workers that will be reserved for respective Partner State. This is not uncommon in many other advanced regional economic communities.
It is therefore important that the Partner States acknowledge this sensitivity in the integration process. I agree with those who suggest that movement of labour and access to land be governed by our relevant national policies and laws. By doing this, I strongly believe, we will be avoiding unnecessary confrontation in the future. We will be building a strong community on pillars of trust, solidarity and mutual interests of all East Africans.
Honourable Ministers;
Distinguished Guests;
Ladies and Gentlemen;
In conclusion, let me emphasis that in approaching the subject of integration the focus should therefore be on how to co-operate sustainably by consolidating the gains and overcoming the challenges. Fast-track Yes, but not too fast to the point of ignoring the realities on the ground. Let’s work to bring everybody on board.
I am encouraged to see the private sector is actively engaged in integration process. We are witnessing the increase of cross border trade and investments. I am encouraged because these are the positive signs that the future is bright. The external environment is also in our favor. And above all, there is political will among the leadership of Partner States to move the agenda forward. To me, the sky is the limit only if we let people drive the process. Certainly integration needs to evolve, not the other way round.
Thank you for your attention.