COLLAPSE OF THE EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY

Despite its success, the East African Community collapsed in 1977 due to a number of reasons discussed below:

1.     Personal differences between the East African leaders led to the collapse of the community.  Nyerere and Amin for example had personal conflicts, which made the functioning of the East African Community very difficult.  Throughout Amin's regime in Uganda, East Africa Authority, which was the supreme body of the organization, never met because Nyerere had refused to recognize Amin as Uganda's leader.  He had also sworn never to sit on a round table with Amin. 

2.     All ministers whom Amin appointed were refused to take offices in Tanzania by Nyerere's government.  Likewise, Amin responded by chasing away the Tanzania East African Community officials in Uganda.  The East African Development Bank governor, Idi Simba was also dismissed by Amin.

3.     Ideological differences: The collapse of the East African Community was also due to ideological reasons.  All the three East African countries were following different ideologies. Tanzania was pursuing socialism, Kenya was a capitalist and Uganda was following a policy of mixed economy.  Due to this difference, planning became greatly difficult.

4.     All the three East African countries were at different levels of economic development.  Uganda and Tanzania were forced to depend on Kenya for manufactured goods because it had more industries than her counterparts.  As a result, Kenya benefited more from the wide market.  This situation left Uganda and Tanzania to think of establishing industries of their own.  Because of this weakness, the community collapsed in 1977.

5.     Due to the already bad relations between Amin and Nyerere, trade between Uganda and Tanzania became extremely difficult.  The poor trade between Uganda and Tanzania was also prompted by the lack of good communication network between the two countries.

6.     When Kenya started to use all the customs money belonging to the community, the union lost meaning.  Uganda and Tanzania accused Kenya of this malpractice but there was no improvement, instead, conditions worsened so that by 1976, Uganda pulled out of the union and in 1977, the community collapsed.

7.     Foreign influence during its time of existence, The East African Community was the best economic integration in almost the whole world.  As a result, foreign countries especially USA and Britain worked for its collapse because they knew it would result into a higher development of East African countries.  By the way, this would cut off dependence of these countries.  USA and Britain also feared that the East African Community would act as an example to the rest of the world, thus leading to the integration of economies though Kenya, USA and Britain worked in collaboration with Charles Njonjo to ensure the collapse of the East African Community.

8.     Selfish political interests between the partner states also led to the collapse of the community for example Uganda went to war with Tanzania, Kenya was always threatening to go to war with Uganda.

9.     Failure to indicate to the people the real benefits of the union meant that people cared little for the union.   Community interests lagged behind individual national economic interests.

10.            Absence of specialization but duplication of enterprises for example cement industries in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania.

Note: The East African Community was revived in the 2000 with the effort of the three presidents: Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, Benjamin Mkapa of Tanzania and Arap Moi of Kenya. The secretariat of the community is in Arusha, Tanzania.

Mr. Amanya Mushega, former Member of Parliament for Igara West was appointed Secretary General. The East African parliament was opened on November 30 2001 by the three heads of states. The revived East African community works to promote:

Trade and industry, Transport and communication, Energy, Agriculture and animal husbandry, Environment and natural resources, Tourism and wildlife conservation, Social and cultural activities. Harmonization of fiscal and monetary policies. Promotion of political relationship. Security matters. Legal and judicial co-operation. Immigration

The following are the Objectives:

·        Strengthen and consolidated co-operation in agreed fields with a view of bringing equitable development among member states and thereby uplifting the living standards and the quality of life of the people.

·        Promote effective utilization of the natural resources in the region for the peoples own benefits

·        Putting measures towards effective environmental protection.

·        Enhance the role of women in development.

·        Promote peace, security and good neighbourliness in the region.

"The collapse of the East African Community (EAC) was inevitable" Discuss

Approach: Identification of the EAC and its aims. Give and explain reasons for the collapse of the EAC. On the other hand give its achievements. Standpoint required

Points to consider.

The EAC was a comprehensive attempt at promoting regional co-operation among East African states; it  was on 6th June 1967 that the treaty establishing it was signed. Present were the three East African heads of state namely Kenyatta, Obote and Nyerere. Mr Mathaura was appointed as its first Secretary General. The Community was hoped to act as a framework for social, political, cultural and economic co-operation  between the East African countries, to improve trade development, transport and enhance global influence of member states, increase investment, productivity and promote regional peace and security. There were numerous reasons for the collapse of the EAC

Ideological differences among East African leaders and divergent paths taken by member states precipitated the collapse of the EAC.

Unequal level of development and distribution of benefit among the member states left room for doubt among them.

Neo colonialism also undermined the operation of the Community. This was witnessed, firstly, in the role of Multinational Corporations from USA and Britain.

The East African Development Bank's weakness must equally share the blame. The bank was established to oversee the development process of the region; to act as resource base.

Shortage of foreign exchange (1969-73) undermined the continued existence of the EAC. This arose from inflation on the world market when Arabs reduced oil supply as a way of fighting Israel.

The resultant global economic recession also affected East Africa and led to foreign exchange shortages. The financial crisis that arose undermined the role of the East African Development Bank while the fuel shortages, on the other hand made it difficult to maintain the railway system.

Member countries began trading with foreign countries: Western Europe and USA. Tanzania in particular turned to China as a foreign partner. This undermined inter-territorial trade.

Institutional weaknesses accounted for the problem of lack of effective regional planning. This included weal-messes in transport institution e.g poor management and corruption in the railway sector; the railway would not make profits because of Kenya's preference for road transport.

Lack of experience/commitment among member states was enough to fail the community's continued existence. The Community collapsed because it lacked the political goodwill of the leaders who apparently refused to first consider the effects to the people of East Africa of its break up.

Obote himself, one of the founder members, had began considering domestic affairs in Uganda as being paramount as soon as he embarked on the Common Man's Charter.

Moreover, Amin who had the Community less at heart overthrew him.

Surprisingly too, some prominent Kenyans did not favour the Community and as such they were pleased when Nyerere refused to convene the East African Authority.

 Others individuals were not interested in its success but had personal interests to this end, institutions like the East African Airways were beset by corruption.

The weakness of OAU contributed to the collapse of the EAC. OAU failed to maintain its stand on regional integration and interterritorial understanding.

It is surprising that member states, led by Tanzania, could opt to demonstrate their hatred of Amin through threatening to boycott the OAU conference that had been scheduled to take place in Uganda in 1971. In this regard, the OAU could not be a forum for reconciliation.

Furthermore, OAU failed to completely destroy forces of nee-colonialism hence the intervention of foreigners in the affairs of the Community that eminently saw it collapsing.

The conflict between Amin and other East African leaders was instrumental in leading to the collapse of the EAC. Amin claimed parts of Western Kenya and the rift valley; Kenyatta responded by cutting off oil supply to Uganda to bring Amin back to his senses. The Uganda-Kenya boarder was closed; trade between the two countries was frozen and tourists from Kenya would not enter Uganda.

With all the buffoonery, Amin antagonised himself with Kenyatta without regard to Uganda's being a land- locked country! Amin also conflicted with Nyerere; the latter refused to recognise Amin as the leader of Uganda because he had ousted, through illegal means, Obote, a personal friend. Such conflicts militated against joint action within the EAC.

The absence of measures for collecting and sharing customs revenue in accordance with the pre-negotiated formula exposed the Community to chances of collapse. Kenya continued collecting revenue from the Community's services and used it for own benefit. This raised suspicion and  disagreement from Tanzania and Uganda that put the Community at the verge of collapsing. The Income Tax Department split up in 194 and from the same year it became difficult to transfer funds from the Community or to its headquarters.

The running of the Community was an affair of only leaders. It was a Community of 3 presidents; it did not involve the masses, each head of state started determining the state of the Community. Moreover, the Community lacked an organ for decision-making. This sufficed to make it crumble down.

Duplication of resources militated against the survival of the East African Community. To guarantee market and realise economies of scale, it had been agreed that each country should specialise in the production of a certain commodity. But there was duplication whereby Uganda and Tanzania began establishing inefficient industries producing similar goods and began competing for foreign markets.

Trade protectionism weakened the EAC. The principle of free movement of goods failed. Partner states started charging (axes on goods brought within their boundaries/those passing through their territories so as to protect the economy of each member state. This undermined economies of scale hence the subsequent collapse of the EAC Achievements of the Community

The long existence of the EAC was another achievement. The community survived for 10 years and despite its collapse in 1977, it had succeeded to lay foundation for the formation of the current EAC. The latter has its origin in the Mediation Agreement for Division of Assets and Liabilities of the EAC [defunct EAC] signed on May 14th 1984; in that agreement there was provision that Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania should explore areas of future co-operation.

It was on this basis that the 3 heads of state held a mini-summit in Harare in 1991 during which they announced their intention to revive the Community. In November 30th 1999, in Arusha, they signed a treaty for the establishment of the EAC in Arusha,

Other countries were inspired by the treaty that established the EAC e.g Burundi, Somalia, and Zambia only that they never joined the Community. The community became a model of other regions in Africa took the same trend of development e.g independent West African states formed ECOWAS in 1976 and has become partly responsible for the development of West African member countries.

Led to increase in international trade. The value of inter-state trade in manufactured goods from 690 million shillings in 1967 to 855 million shillings in 1973. This increase was mainly a result of industrial development in Kenya.

Further still, the EAC established the East African Development Bank to act as a financial resource base for member countries.

The EAC also promoted education in East Africa. It promoted inter-university exchange programmes; some students from Uganda [Makerere university] were exchanged with those from Kenya [Nairobi university] and Tanzania [Dar-es salaam university] and vise versa. In Tanzania, the Amani institute of research was established to facilitate research. The Community also established the East African Examination Council to deal with exams in the region. This was Pan East Africanism in progress.

The Community promoted political stability to some degree. It established the East African Court of Appeal to solve regional conflicts. This not only gave chance to those who were dissatisfied with Judgements of lower courts to appeal to this court but also represented an attempt to maintain justice.

Political stability some how existed among the East African leaders before the Idi Amin coup. Even when Amin conflicted with Nyerere, the two accepted Kenya's mediation though misunderstandings remained.

The Community established various institutions. The major ones included the East African Authority made up of three heads of state of the member countries. Its task was to direct and control the performance of the Community. There was the East African Legislative Assembly, which was composed of 3 Community Ministers, 3 Deputy Ministers, 9 representatives appointed by each member state. It made laws for the Community. The Assembly did some useful work notably in its 1973 Select Committee to probe into the mismanagement of the East African Airways. Corporations that were established included the East African Posts and Telecommunications with headquarters in Kampala, the East African Airways with headquarters in "Nairobi etc

In the final analysis therefore, the collapse of the EAC was attributed to a multiplicity of factors ranging from the weaknesses of member states themselves to external influence and since such weaknesses outweighed its achievements then its collapse was inevitable

"It was primarily the conflict between Idi Amin Dada and Julius Nyerere that led to the collapse of the East African Community" Discuss

How to answer the Question: Identification of the EAC. Analyse the role of the Amin-Nyerere conflict alongside other factors in the downfall of the EAC. Standpoint

Points to consider

Nyerere refused to recognise Idi Amin as a tine leader of Uganda. This made Amin to face difficulties on the diplomatic front immediately after the coup. Nyerere branded the new Ugandan regime as "an illegal regime, which has no excuse for staging a revolution.

To many Ugandans even among Nyerere's admirers this outburst appeared to be hypocritical in the extreme because unlike Nyerere, Obote whom he continued to recognise as the legal president of Uganda had been made president by his troops just like Amin.

Nyerere refused to sit together with Amin on the same table. While addressing a huge rally in Dar-es-salaam, Dr. Nyerere told his enthusiastic audience; "how can I sit at the same table with a killer? Whom will Amin be representing? I cannot sit with murderers." He also stormed that he would never sit at the same table with the military usurper next door who was "little better than an imperialist stooge." To this end,

Nyerere's dislike of Amin created problems for Kenyatta. In the first place, during the momentous days of the military coup in Kampala, Kenyatta shed no tears over Obote's downfall, for had there not been speculation that Uganda was giving house room to Kenyan desidents plotting to overthrow the Kenyan government?

But Kenyatta understood that if Kenya welcomed Gen Amin with open arms when Tanzania and Uganda were at daggers drawn, Tanzania would claim that Kenya and Uganda were conspiring against her. This meant that in order to play his cards right, he had to wait for the right moment. When he finally brought the two leaders together, he did not make the mistake of having them on the same table for this would have been disastrously premature!

The gap between Nyerere and Amin was widened when Nyerere rejected the convening of the OAU. The OAU was the body formed in 1963 to, among other things promote unity in Africa and had achieved this in the event of the formation of the EAC. However in the wake of his diplomatic setbacks which he attributed to Nyerere and his friend Obote, Amin’s delegation was not seated at the OAU ministerial conference. The OAU summit itself was relocated to Addis Ababa instead of Kampala where it had been scheduled in May 1971 after many states led by Tanzania refused to accept Amin and threatened to boycott the summit. Accordingly, if Nyerere could not cooperate with Amin within the OAU framework, then how would he cooperate with him in the EAC framework?

Amin's contemptuous character militated against co-operation between him and Nyerere. He despised Nyerere and sought to humiliate the intellectual president: "I love you very much; had you been a woman I would have married you inspite of your grey hair". Amin didn't stop at that, he challenged Nyerere to a boxing bout as a means to sort out their differences once and for all! Amin's act of undermining a fellow head of state earned him wide spread hatred hence throughout Tanzania Amin was referred to as "Nyoka" [snake], This worked against the Community's stand on promoting inter-territorial understanding.

Maintenance of peace in the East African region became difficult for the EAC. The conflict between Amin and Nyerere had reached a crisis amidst reports in Uganda of an impending Tanzania's invasion. Amin lived in constant fear of such invasion. The threatening statements issuing from Tanzania convinced Amin that his opponents were not in Uganda but in Tanzania. On the other hand Obote's thinking from the moment he landed in Nairobi was to master an invasion force to oust his Amin. On 17th September 1972 Obote's followers who had not blessed the regime with deep recognition launched an abortive invasion in Uganda. To this end, the EAC would not effectively operate in an environment of political instability.

Nyerere's strong intimacy with Obote made the differences between him and Amin irreconcilable. It should be recalled that Nyerere, Obote [on top of being members acting within the EAC], and Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia were in a political club called 'Mulungushi' which was critical of colonialism. Thus when Amin overthrew Obote, this had an adverse impact on the club on grounds that Nyerere felt that there was a missing link in the fight against colonialism. This laid ground for the strong hatred that Nyerere harboured for Amin.

Nyerere blocked Amin's appointees to head the EAC positions. He refused to endorse Uganda's nomination for senior posts in the Community until Uganda had approved the community's budget white Uganda refused to do anything of the sort until Tanzania accepted her nominees. On the other hand Amin had also put a ban on Mr Malacella. the Tanzanian Community's finance minister from visiting Uganda. In effect, the morale and the efficiency of the Community staff begun to crumble. Important ministerial meetings would not be convened because the Ugandan representative had not been confirmed in his post by Tanzania.

Give other factors as explained in the previous number.

THE EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY.

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 EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY (EAC)

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.

ORGANISATION OF THE EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY

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.

WHY EAST AFRICA FAILED TO FEDERATE

Attitude of the British government towards the formation of the federation. Unlike in the formation of the CAF where both the labour and conservative government initiated and facilitated it's formation in East Africa British un desired to develop the colonies as individual countries.

The divergent thinking of the East African leaders towards the creation of the federation. Julius Nyerere of Tanzania in 1960 declared "we must confront the colonial office with a demand not for freedom of Tanganyika and then for Kenya and then Uganda and Zambia but with a demand for the freedom of East Africa as one political unit". Practically he offered to postpone Tanganyika's independence for several months so that the various territories could achieve independence and unite together. His view was supported by Gichuru and Tom Mboya of Kenya but opposed by Sir Edward Mutesa of Buganda who could not accept uniting Buganda with the rest of Uganda. Milton Obote commented " it is futile to think outside Uganda before solving internal problems. In the long run the idea is attractive". Therefore the opposition from Uganda gave London the chance to ignore the proposal of the federation.

Tanganyika union with revolutionary Zanzibar in 1964 frustrated the idea of forming the federation this because it partly exposed the problems of a closer union. For on the question of which of the divide Germany i.e. East or West Germany would open up an embassy in Tanzania therefore threatening Kenya and Uganda which were moving under the umbrella of capitalism.

Tanzania socialist tendencies which hindered her performance in the common market. Therefore she was forced to leave the common market and to adopt a separate currency thereby diluting the common market which was a vehicle to the formation of the federation.

The different party structures m the three countries between 1960-64. Tanzania following a single party system consenting on the federation was simple. But to Uganda and Kenya were multi-party pluralism was practiced the situation was quite difficult if the ruling party supported it's formation and the opposition due to micro-nationalism would suppress the idea causing a dilemma.

Question of leadership of the federation due to the influence of personal ambitions. Leader were more comfortable to be heads in their respective countries other then sharing power. W.P. Kirkman wrote " any arrangement which put Mr. Kenyatta at the top (because of his age and prestige) and Mr. Nyerere the second (because he inspired it's formation) would leave Mr. Obote of Uganda in the cold". Therefore the question of leadership partly failed East Africa to federate.

Different opinions on the question of citizenship and foreign affairs by the three East African countries. Kenya and Tanzania held that a "true federation and a real federation must exercise control over foreign policy and foreign relations". They added that "if you have separate representatives for, e.g. the United Nations, you may find states voting against each other on International issues- However Uganda disagreed claiming that the OAU charter signed in Addis Ababa held the clause on maintenance of territorial integrity and sovereignty of African states would prevent any partial federation before the eventual formation of a continental of Africa.

The Uganda delegate also found arguments in Uganda's own federal constitutions which it still retained in 1964 when the discussions on a federation were held. Uganda would have to ask her federated states to go into the proposed East African federation as "independent units'',

FORMATION OF THE EAST AFRICAN FEDERATION

Attempts to Create the East African Federation

A closer union among East African countries dates far back in the First World War favoured by colonial secretaries and governors for economic development. Common services for Kenya and Uganda in railway, customs, post and telegraph had been started in 1890' s. In 1918 these services were extended and in the 1920's and 1930's Kenyan European settlers strongly advocated for a political union. The successful coordination between Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya led to the formation of the East African High Commission (EAHC) comprising of governors from the three colonies but it was not a federation. In 1960 the Raisman commission and report replaced the High commission with the East African Commission Service (EACS) comprising of three elected leaders from each state but still this was not a federation.

REASONS FOR IT'S ATTEMPTED FORMATION

The chief advocates for a closer union among East African countries would enhance economic development since it would enable the three countries to pull their resources to finance and implement large project of common interest- The white settlers in Kenya who had also taken control of the Kenya highland hoped to extend their area of settlement to Uganda and Tanganyika Highlands too.

The creation of the federation would frustrate Germany's continued demand over the return of Tanganyika it should be noted that Germany lost Tanganyika to Britain after the two wars, The desire to create a settler state under the settler's control in East Africa which would have been like the settlers government in Southern Rhodesia.

The fact that the three East African countries had some aspects of common cultures and traditions boosted by the geographical location would facilitate coordination among the people in the federation.

Perhaps the idea that the three countries shared the same colonial history that is being under the armpits of the same colonial master Britain, Therefore the creation of the federation would be made easy.

The long history of co-ordination among the countries of East Africa stretching back in the 1890's starting with the formation of the common services between Kenya and Uganda, 1948 the EAHC was set up and in 1960 the EACS. Therefore to it's advocates such links would act as a foundation to the formation of the EAF-

Influence of the Accra conference of 1958 that highly called for African unity to defeat neo-colonialism, which was manifested through the balkanisation of the continent. One of it's outcomes was the Ghana-guinea union of 1958. Likewise this conference inspired African members of the legislature to support a fuU political and economic federation in East Africa,

REGIONAL AFRICAN ECONOMIC ORGANIZATIONS

ADVANTAGES OF REGIONAL CO-OPERATION

Provision of Loans: Internal lending becomes easy because of trustworthiness.  It is also easy to get foreign loans, financing bodies and it is easy to lend organised bodies than a single country.

Wider market: African countries are very small in terms of population thus regional cooperation helps in creating large markets for African states.

Joint development: Regional cooperation helps in bringing all resources together for joint development purposes.  Therefore, the small African states with a small resource base stand to benefit greatly with such integration.

Raising capital: African countries have got very small capital.  It is only through regional cooperation or integration that they even mobilize the scarce capital resources for joint economic projects which would be very expensive if one single county tried.

Attraction of investors: Large markets created by regional economic grouping attract foreign investment. Foreign capital investments are also of the major prerequisites for industrial development in Africa.

Specialization: Regional economic cooperation fosters specialization and avoids wastage of resources especially in industry.

Access to sea ports: Regional economic cooperation among states can help landlocked countries like Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, etc to get free access to the sea.

Reduces dependence: Economic cooperation in Africa can assist in reducing dependence on developed countries for the manufactured goods for example with PTA, Uganda can purchase tractors easily from Zimbabwe than from Europe.  It can also purchase transformers at cheaper costs from Tanzania than from Europe.

Fighting natural hazards: With economic cooperation, it becomes easy to fight natural hazards such as water hyacinth.

Impetus to agriculture: A wider market for agricultural projects may improve on agricultural production efficiency and promotes agricultural development.  Countries with different climatic conditions can consume goods from other areas.

Common currency: Countries adopt a common currency, which enables the smooth running of trade.

Removal of Trade barriers: Economic cooperation helps in increasing the volume of trade among member nations.  Commodities are free to move from one country to another without any barrier.

Reduces economic imbalance: Economic cooperation can assist in removing economic imbalance between member nations.  Poor nations within the group are in a position of benefiting from the resources of richer member nations.

Political relationship: Regional economic cooperation can help in promoting good political relationships between member states. 

Joint research: Allows member countries to conduct joint research so as to discover more at a low cost.

DISADVANTAGES

Low quality goods: Countries may be compelled to buy commodities of poor quality within the region instead of importing better ones from elsewhere.

Different political ideologies: Different political ideologies among member countries pose big problems in the smooth running of the affairs of the cooperation.

Differences in policy: Different foreign policies of member countries make it difficult to harmonize common external tariffs.

Production of same goods: Most countries produce almost the same commodities.  Therefore, there is need to trade with developed countries.

Unequal development: May lead to uneven distribution of industries for example in the EAC, Kenya acquired many industries and the social infrastructure at the expense of Tanzania and Uganda.

Political instability: In case political upheavals occur in the country, people are left to suffer because they may not have own industries.

Loss of revenue: Countries tend to loss revenue, which would be earned, from custom duties and tariffs. With economic co-operation, these are eliminated.

Political differences: Some leaders in the same regional grouping may not co-operate. Sharp disagreements and criticisms may lead the group to collapse.

Colonial Legacy: Different colonial backgrounds make economic co-operation difficult because there still exists neo-colonial links. This was experienced among the Ecowas member countries.

Dominance: The more powerful states may tend to dominate group. A good example is the influence of Nigeria in the Ecowas member countries.

What methods have independent African states employed to minimise the problem of dependency?

How to answer the Question. Define dependency. Analyse the various ways in which independent African states have tackled the problem. Tense must be respected. Points to consider

Dependence involves a state relying on another for assistance e.g financial, military, technological and other forms of assistance. Most African countries have continued to depend on donations, grants, expatriates, etc. Nevertheless they have tried to minimize such dependency by putting in place some measures as discussed hereunder.

1.     Several African countries have embarked on economic integration. This has taken the form of establishing economic groupings e.g the EAC, ECOWAS, SADC, PTA, etc. With these bodies, interterritorial trade has been promoted to overcome reliance on foreign markets.

2.     Privatization has taken strong roots in various states. This has encouraged more private economic establishments to come up hence increasing the volume of locally produced goods. Privatisation has also encouraged efficiency and increased production; corruption has been somehow dealt with. Privatisation has been encouraged in Kenya, South Africa, Uganda, etc

3.     Educational reforms have been undertaken. The education system has been reformed in order to produce local skilled labourforce and better entrepreneurship and to promote research. E.g provision of UPE in Egypt during the } 952-70 revolution, Uganda starting 1997, Kenya beginning 2003; there has been establishment of technical institutions in many countries e.g Uganda etc.

4.     Economic diversification has boosted the African economies. African states have attempted to create various economic activities to overcome dependency on agriculture, which makes them compete for foreign markets. For example, in Gabon, apart from agriculture, there is mining and forestry, in Uganda; there have been constant calls by the government to embark on industrial production.

5.     Market research has been carried out. This has been geared towards export market diversification to minimize dependence on one foreign market. In Kenya, eg, the tourism industry has been advertised world wide through the supply of magazines containing wildlife, use of the Internet, television, establishing tourism offices in various foreign cities etc. In Uganda, president Museveni himself took foreign journalists around Uganda's tourist centers to sell the country's tourist potential.

6.     There has been agricultural development. The aim has been to increase food supply so as to attain self-sufficiency in food production e.g, in Egypt, South Africa, Sudan (Gezira irrigation scheme), Uganda (Mubuku irrigation scheme) etc, there is irrigation farming which has encouraged food production during dry seasons. Many African countries have adopted strategies e.g the Plans for Modernisation of Agriculture (PMA) in Uganda, ministries of agriculture in various states have been strengthened, etc.

7.     Import substitution programmes have taken roots in Africa. Industries have been established to produce goods locally and therefore reduced dependence on imports e.g in Kenya, industries for food processing, beverages etc have been set up.

8.     Emphasis has been put on mineral prospecting. This has involved surveying opportunities to exploit mineral resources and reduce dependence on foreign resources. In Uganda, there has been mineral prospecting on lake Albert (oil) and Karamoja (Gold). Once mining takes place place, much foreign exchange will be saved.

9.     Political stability has been encouraged. Political instability has been one of the major causes of dependence; it leaves affected states in economic and social crises. African sates have therefore attempted to create stability e.g through democratic change of government like in the presidential elections in Uganda (1996,2001, 2006) in Kenya (2002) and Nigeria (April 2003), in DRC the peace process is bearing positive results, etc.

10.            Export promotion programmes have been encouraged. Most African states have aimed at increasing the volume of exports so as to earn more foreign exchange and reduce dependence of foreign aid. E.g, Uganda has joined the AGOA scheme to export clothes. South Africa exports Benz [vehicles] to USA. Liberia has made efforts to increase the quality other rubber and hence increase its exportation etc.

11.            Population growth control measures have been undertaken. A big population increases the demand for consumer goods; many African countries have taken measures to reduce the population, eg in Nigeria and Egypt through establishing family planning associations

12.            Seeking internal borrowing has been a further step. African states have at times borrowed money from local business tycoons so as to avoid depending on the foreign donor community. The African Development Bank was also established by OAU to act as a financial resource for African states

13.            Fighting corruption has been the order of the day to ensure maximum benefit from foreign aid; ie if money is not swindled, it can be put to developmental activities. The income generated from these activities could therefore be used not only to clear debts but also to be ploughed back in other activities. Uganda, e.g has instituted Commissions of Inquiry into public offices, the office of the IGG was been put in place and probably that is why its position among the corrupt countries has reduced. In Kenya, the current government of Mwai Kibaki has come in vigorously to probe corruption tendencies of the previous regime; Mwanawasa's government in Zambia has tried the former president (Chilluba) for mismanaging public funds.

RELEVANCY OF NAM TODAY

To avoid the revival of cold war politics given the continued existence of pockets of communism in Cuba, Russia, Vietnam, China and North Korea.

Solve the interstate conflicts between member states e.g. India and Pakistan, in the Great Lakes region and the Horn of Africa.

Fight poverty among the third world countries, which are the poorest and highly indebted countries of the world this would a break through in improving upon the standard of living of their population.

Fight racialism mainly practiced in the Middle East were efforts to create a state of Palestine has failed since 1948. Consequently major military confrontations have occurred between the Palestinians and Israelites. E.g.1948, 1956 (Suez-Canal war), 1967(six day war) and 1973 (Yom- Kippur war).

To put a strong fight against nuclear testing and revival of arms race between USA, Russia and China, India and Pakistan.

Restoration and respect of democratic rule in the countries of the third world. Rigging of elections, tempering with the constitution and suppression of the opposition is rampant in Afria

The challenge of watering down the civil wars on the continent of Africa which have resulted } into economic backwardness, loss of lives and high numbers of refugees among others. E.g. in; Sudan (1955-), Angola (1975-), Uganda (1986-), Somalia (1991-) and Burundi (1995-) and Democratic Republic of Congo (1998-).                                            

Has the NAM achieved the objectives of its founder members?

Approach: Identification of the Non Aligned Movement (NAM). Highlight on its aims,

Give and explain its achievements and failures Standpoint required

NAM is the third bloc that was conceived at Bandung, in Indonesia, in 1955 when the cold war between the Eastern bloc and Western bloc was in progress. Founder members included Nehru (India), Ahmed Surkano (Indonesia), Nasser (Egypt), Jossip Tito (Yugoslavia) etc. There were also observers from Sudan, Ghana, Algeria, and South Africa. It was formed to struggle to stop the cold war, to help decolonise Africa, to make Africa and Asia influential in world affairs, fight for Palestinian rights, loby for China to join the UNO, to fight poverty etc.

ACHIEVEMENTS

The long period of existence of NAM constitutes one of the achievements. At the time of writing (2005) NAM has survived for 50 years; During this period, NAM has organised many summit conferences e.g at Belgrade (1961), Cairo (1957), Lusaka (1970), Algiers (1973). Colombo (1976), Havana (1979), and Kuala Lumpur [February 2003]. In these conferences problems affecting member countries have been aired.

NAM has increased membership. NAM began with less than 30 members at Bandung but in 2003 it had more than 116 members.

NAM has diffused/condemned conflicts/wars.

Decolonisation of Africa took a serious trend after NAM was formed.

NAM has become the official ideology of independent African and Asian states.

NAM has supported Palestinian rights.

FAILURES

Some member states were not practically non-aligned during the cold war. Many members turned to the East. E.g in the Colombo summit, 30 of the 86 members claimed to be socialist.

Some Non Aligned countries accepted to be used as military bases / entered into military arrangements with foreign countries. The Belgrade conference (1961) had agreed that Non Alignment meant not having foreign bases in one's country.

NAM has failed to completely end conflicts. Many conflicts have been witnessed between Non aligned members and other states, or within these member states or amongst themselves.

NAM has failed to destroy the relationship between member states with former colonial powers. Instead of co-operating within the NAM framework, member countries have maintained links with former colonial powers.

No doubt critics of the Commonwealth have referred to it as the 'wealth of the common whiteman'.

NAM has failed to completely decolonise. The countries that NAM aided have remained as neo-colonies.

Poverty has still persisted.

NAM has not succeeded in having many members on a permanent Security Council of the UN.

REFERENCES

·        Nyerere, J., Man and Development, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1974.

·        Nyerere, J., Ujamaa, Essays on Socialism, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1968.

·        Nyerere. J-, Freedom and Socialism (1965-67), Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1970.

·        Nyerere. J., Freedom and Development (1968-73), Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1974.

·        Nyerere. J., Freedom and Unity (1952-65), Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1967.

ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE NON ALIGNED MOVEMENT

End of Vietnam War: Due to pressure from the non-aligned movement, the Vietnam War eventually ended in 1975.  This was an ideological war between the capitalist bloc.  The USA suffered a great loss in this war.

Independence: Colonized countries, which suffered oppression and exploitation such as Namibia, South Africa, got their independence.  Namibia became independent under SWAPO on 21st March 1990.  Then Mozambique on 6/7/1975, Zimbabwe on 18th April 1980 and South Africa on 10th May 1992.

Withdraw of foreign troops: In 1976, the French who used to occupy Mayotte Islands of the Comoros withdrew as a result of pressure from the non-aligned movement.  In 1985, the Nicaragua was finally relieved from the USA imperialism.

End of Arab-Israel conflict: Lots of peace efforts through the signing of treaties with the initiative of the non aligned have gone into the solving of the Israel-Arab conflict which started many years back.

Trade promotion: It has also promoted trade among the member’s states.  The poor members of the non-aligned cooperate with the richer members like Cuba, Brazil, India, etc.  This was the consequence of increased trade between the members in the 1970s while that with the former masters declined. This also led to the formation or regional trade organizations such as the PTA. ECOWAS, etc.

Reduction of Military bases: Through pressure mounted by the movement, the number of military bases has reduced. It has also enabled the member countries to acquire technical, economic and military assistance as well as capital investment.

End of Iran-Iraq war: It also helped in bringing about the end of the Iraq-Iran war in 1988 after eight years of serious clashes.

Condemnation of Nuclear weapons: The movement has always condemned the arms race and called for disarmament.  The consequence has been the strategic arms Limitation Talks (SALT).  There were talks on SALT 1 and SALT 2 and a series of non-proliferation of the treaties.

Creation of a nuclear free zone: Due to non-aligned pressure, the creation of nuclear free zone treaty was successful at least on the Pacific.  Following the nuclear plant disaster at Chernobyl on April 26th, 1986, two nuclear accident conventions were adopted on 26th September 1986 under the Atomic Energy Agreement.

End of Arab-Israel conflict: Also prescribed plans of the Arabs' league to end the conflict of Arab-Israel continued. The freedom of international associations and condemnation of aggression and intervention of big powers - The non-aligned movement through resolutions and condemnations have been instrumental in bringing about peace in crisis-ridden areas worldwide.

Weaknesses Of The Non Aligned Movement

Poverty: One of the biggest problems arises from the fact that the members of the non- aligned movement are poor and formerly colonies.  They are the third world nations, which experienced oppression and exploitation from decade to decade.

Attachment to Soviet Union: Due to political and economic inability, the poor members find themselves inevitably looking for foreign aid from the big powers yet they do not want to associate with them. The communist bloc for instance, was instrumental in the fight for independence. It financed, gave moral and logistical support to many developing countries.

Neo-colonialism: It has found it hard to make members condemn and abandon the neo-colonialism in the independent poor states.  For instance, we have the Anglophone and Francophone states which continue to have direct dealings with the former colonial masters.

Poor economies: Poverty has made the members of the movement vulnerable to the scheming of the powerful exploitative states.  Financial institutions such as the World Bank and the IMF have greatly influenced the economies of the non-aligned members. The same influence has infiltrated into the politics of these members.  Ghana, Nigeria, Uganda are examples.

Ideological differences: In countries such as Cuba, Libya and the Latin America, ideological imbalance has infiltrated too much such that communism is more evident for instance in Cuba.  Some leaders within the non-aligned have developed differences. Libya, Israel, Palestine, Egypt, Sudan, Uganda have many issues which divide them. In 1990, Gadaffi accused the movement for watching on while the USA was molesting the government of Libya while Iran stormed out the meeting simply because Iraq was not blamed for starting the war, and using chemical weapon on Iran.

Failure to isolate: It also at times failed to safeguard the sovereignty of some of its member states.  For instance, despite threats, on its neighbours by South Africa, some continued to interact politically and economically with South Africa.

Regional problems: Has also failed to address its self to regional problems.  Example is the India/Pakistan poor relations, the Iran-Iraq war that took eight years. Today, Yugoslavia has been reduced to ruins as though it was not a member of the movement

Coups: Its failure to control coups and condemn military leadership and impose sanctions has been one of the major setbacks.  Many countries like Nigeria, Algeria, Ghana, Gambia, Sudan, Somali, Rwanda, Chad, Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Gambia, Togo, etc have been experiencing the worst military leadership ever known.

Failure to liberate some countries: Some liberation fronts have failed to come near any success such as the Spanish Sahara organization (POLISARIO) and the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO)

No economic order: It has also failed to achieve the New World economic order despite being top in the agenda.  Member states will continue trading with non-members and worse still, with the former colonizers.  The result has been manipulation by the donor nations economically and socially.

Ignorance and disease: The third world countries have not moved away from ignorance, poverty and disease, phenomena that are no longer known in the developed countries.

Mass media: In the field of mass media, a lot is desired because the super powers are still leading and the propaganda has continued to dominate more especially the capitalist bloc now that the socialist bloc is in tatters.

ADVANTAGES OF NON ALIGNMENT

It enables countries to exercise influence with world affairs, which would not be possible for a single country.

Member countries can seek economic, technical and military and anywhere without strings attached.

Promotes self-reliance so that poor countries realized their real political and economic independence. Non alignment enables a country to act according to its best judgement.

It brings about mutual reliance between weak and strong countries.

It is an umbrella under which widely differing nations can find communication for views such as anti-colonialism, disarmament, and eradication of poverty, ignorance and diseases.

In a country where ethnic differences that can be exploited by foreigners do exist, non-alignment helps to emphasize independent foreign policy.

DISADVANTAGES OF NON ALIGNMENT

·        Problems concerning different social and political systems of member states.

·        Territorial conflicts are very common.

·        Foreign assistance does not come in steadily due to isolation.

·        Failure to stick on one country’s principles.

·        Playing off one block against the other is risky.

·        Cooperation among developing countries may lead to failure to copy good aspects of development from rich countries.

·        Member states are poor to avoid interdependence with big powers.

·        Internal problems within nations attract foreign interference.

·        Ideological conflicts still exist as a problem.

·        The absence of a unified military command to solve the third world military conflicts has forced the poor country to seek the UN assistance e.g. in the Congo crisis of 1960-63 and 2000.

·        The end of the cold war politics affected the performance of the NAM. USA remained a unipolar power dictating world policies such as the adoption of multi-party political system, liberalisation and privatisation. Therefore African states in order to attract American aid have only remained with the alternative dancing to her tunes.

·        Perhaps the demise of the original architects of the NAM has undermined it's existence and performance. J. Nehru it's flag bearer in Asia died in 1964, Nasser of Egypt in Africa 1970 and Tito of Yugoslavia in Europe 1980.