The frustrated attempts to create the East African federation was motivated with the establishment of close co-operation known as the East African Community (EAC) in 1967. A commission on East African co-operation was set up under the chairmanship of Professor Kjeld Philip a Danish national who worked with three senior ministers from each of the three states.
The commission and the report of 1966 recommended the formation of the East African Economic integration. On 6111 June, 1967 the three heads of state namely; "Nyerere of Tanzania, Kenyatta of Kenya and Obote of Uganda signed the treaty of the EAC and it came into force on 1s1 December, 1967 according to article 95. However the 1971 coup in Uganda staged by Amin marked the beginning of the collapse of the community.
Nyerere refused to recognise Amin as president of Uganda creating misunderstanding between the two countries. Therefore the absence of good will among the East African leaders stalled the activities of the community leading to it's eventual collapse in 1975. On 1st December 1977, Uganda established it's own service and later followed by Tanzania and Kenya. In 1983, the three Heads of state met at Arusha and divided the assets and liabilities of the community. However, today the presence of good will among the three East African leaders viz; Mkapa of Tanzania, Mwai Kibaki of Kenya and Museveni of Uganda (the 3Ms) has led to the revival of the community
The defunct East African Community was formed in 1967 between Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. It came into existence in June of the same year in an agreement signed between the former leaders of East Africa namely: Obote, Kenyatta and Nyerere. The EAC started as an East African high Commission in 1948. A treaty was signed in 1967 to make it a community. The historical background to the formation of the EAC is as follows:
The close co-peration started with the opening up of customs and Uganda railway when both Uganda and Kenya were under British rule.
In 1905, the East Africa Currency Board was established. Tanganyika joined them in 1933. They had formed a customs union.
In 1948, they formed the East African High Commission made up of the three governors and other administrators of Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania.
After independence the EACSO was formed replacing the East African High Commission.
In 1963, they wanted to form the East African Federation but due to disagreements, it was abandoned. But the EAC was set up in 1967.
AIMS OF THE EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY
To strengthen and regulate the industrial and commercial relations between member states by exploiting the expanded market i.e. Kenya by 1963 had a population of 13,339,000, Uganda in 1962 had 11,549,000 and Tanzania by 1961 had 15,155,000, Therefore the East African Development Bank was set up to promote industrial development and giving priority to less industrially developed states.
To accelerate harmonious balanced development and sustained expansion of economic activities the benefits whereof would be equitably shared between the partner states.
The treaty guaranteed freedom of flow of goods between member states without exchange charges, and the three currencies came close very close to a single currency however there was to be control of movement of capital and restrictions were imposed on the movement of labour between the partner states.
To promote unity, co-operation and good will among the people of East Africa this would be a step in attaining security in the region.
The desire to have common services, with the headquarters of the East African Common Service in Nairobi such services included Habours, post and Telecommunications, Airways and Railways among others.
Encourage East African interstate trade by removing internal duties (taxes) between the East African countries.
To encourage the development of industries in East Africa. This is by creating large markets.
To coordinate the basic social service in East Africa such as railways, harbours, scientific research and East African borders.
To attract foreign trade and investment due to the expanded markets.
To create political and economic harmony.
To institute a common tariff in international trade.
To create a common monetary unit for East Africa.
Immediately after the formation of the East African Community in 1967, the following organizations came into effect:
East African railway cooperation, which had its headquarters in Nairobi, was supposed to link the activities of the entire railway corporation in the region.
The East African harbours with its headquarters in Dar-es-salaam were responsible for the control and development of harbours within the region.
The East African airways organization with its headquarters at Nairobi. It was particularly responsible for coordinating airfreights development of airports, airfields and training of civil aviation workers.
East African posts and telecommunications with its headquarters at Kampala was in charge of all telecommunication operations and maintenance within.
The Customs excise department with its headquarters in Mombassa was responsible for handling matters that concern internal duties among the three nations.
The East African Development Bank with its headquarters in Kampala was supposed to offer short term and long-winded loans for development projects within East Africa.
There was the income tax department with its headquarters in Nairobi. It was responsible for the collection of excise duties.
The medical research centre with its headquarters in Mwanza was responsible for all researches in the field of medicine. In addition, there was the Amani scientific institute also at Mwanza.
The Agriculture, veterinary and forestry research headquarters at Mugoga in Kenya was responsible for conducting research into better methods of production in agriculture, forestry and veterinary.
Fisheries research headquarters at Jinja was responsible for finding better fishing methods, establishing and developing fish farming with better commercial varieties.
Meteorological department headquarters at Nairobi for determining weather conditions.
The East African court of Appeal with its headquarters in Nairobi was responsible for cases that involved the three states. It also administered justice especially of individual appeals from the supreme courts of Uganda, Kenya, or Tanzania.
The East African Fisheries Marine headquarters was put in Zanzibar. By 1970, the cooperation was performing so well that it was the best economic cooperation within Africa. It was because of its good performance that led the West African states to form ECOWAS to perform similar functions in West Africa.
East African Authority: This was a supreme body of East Africa command and it was composed of three heads of state.
East African Legislative Assembly: It consisted of three East African ministers and three deputy ministers from each of the member states. It also consisted of the secretary general of East African community.
The East African council of ministers: The community had 15 ministers in this council. Three ministers were responsible for any of the five councils of East African Community. These councils include: the common market, the communication council, economic consultative and planning councils, the finance council, the research and social council.
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