OPINION: State Of The EAC: Why We Must Reject Mediocre Performance

While generally commendable, some of the figures could well have been higher.

The Tanzanian leader said that according to a recent report, for example, implementation of decisions and agreements stands at 75.8 per cent for Kenya, 75.7 percent for Rwanda, 66 per cent for Tanzania, 56.5 per cent for Burundi, and 48.1 per cent for Uganda. And while these statistics may appear impressive on the face of it, the unanswered question is why we do not have 100 per cent implementation.

The issue needs to be placed into context.

Why would any country that counts itself a respected member of the international community want to enter into agreements it does not intend to abide by? The question is particularly vexing for countries that are claiming to be integrating and preparing for monetary union and even political federation.

Granted, there may be some difficulties here and there in the process of localization of regional agreements, but isn’t it rather poor for a country to have an implementation score of less than half, such as the 48.1 per cent for Uganda? It is a mark of lacklustre commitment to the East African Community that the star performers, Kenya and Rwanda, have achieved implementation of about 75 per cent only of their obligations.

Creation of trans-national exploitative classes

President Kikwete, who delivered his address to the East African Legislative Assembly sitting in the Burundian capital, Bujumbura, also referred to the 2013 report of the Society for International Development.  This particular report warned against rising inequality in East Africa. Nearly one and a half years after the report was released, it is instructive that Kikwete’s speech did not reveal any concrete action by the region’s heads of state to tackle inequality.

Regional integration, including expanding space for businesses to operate across the region, cannot on its own tackle inequality. If anything, we shall end up creating a transnational exploitative class that rides roughshod on the whole East African citizenry.

Inequality, both within countries and across borders, can only be tackled by policies that actively seek to promote fair labour and remuneration practices, in addition to sealing loopholes for corrupt networks and making economic crime extremely expensive for anyone caught with their hands in the public till.

We should remember that by now, the Customs Union and Common Market protocols ought to be fully operational. This is a precondition for work on the next pillar of integration – Monetary Union – to commence. Yet, by Kikwete’s own admission, only two out of 20 capital operations are free of restrictions in all partner states.

Referring to the East African Common Market Scorecard 2014, Kikwete said that with regard to the free movement of services, 63 measures out of 500 key sectoral laws and regulations of partner states were identified to be inconsistent with the Common Market Protocol.

Chest-thumping over obvious achievements

Of course, there are also the usual culprits of non-tariff barriers, especially police roadblocks and weighbridges. Sometimes they seem to disappear after pressure exerted by stakeholders, only to quietly resurface more fiercely than ever before. It is also a disquieting feature of the regional integration process that as some non-tariff barriers are eliminated, more are introduced to take their place.

Figures don’t lie, they say. So, we can all comfortably thump our chests for obvious achievements that President Kikwete was only too glad to remind the Community about: A combined GDP of $110.3 billion, a 300 per cent increase in the value of trade from $2 billion in 2005 to $6 billion in 2014, and an increase in government revenues year after year from 89.55 per cent of the target in 2010 to 96.86 per cent of the target in 2013.

But the converse is also true: That we have continued with protectionist policies that go against the spirit of regional integration, that implementation of agreed protocols has proceeded at a snail’s pace despite public statements of utmost commitment by our political leadership, and that numerous hurdles remain in our quest to become truly one people with one destiny.

When our leaders put progress figures on the table, the challenge is now for East Africans to interrogate these figures and demand a better score card. We cannot and must never settle for mediocre performance.

The State of the EAC address did not measure up to what I call “the Citizens Scorecard,” and hopefully we shall have a better performance next year.

By Isaac Mwangi

Courtesy: East African News Agency