EAST AFRICA POLITICAL FEDERATION: COLLECTIVE IRRESPONSIBILTY AND LIABILITY

Every time I think of the year 2013, in feel sick. I want to get somewhere and throw up. I want to kick things about. Wait, I am not mad, but this is the year that I will cease to be a Kenyan. God forbid! I feel that no matter how technically they put it, I am being forced to be an East African. Oh hell, what’s that?

I must admit some jingoism here but I love Kenya, and the fact that I was born and nurtured in Kenyan love. Period. Let whoever does not show a feeling of patriotism be the first to pick a stone and throw it to me! At least even the moderate Ugandans and the Tanzanians have that sweet feeling of belonging to their mother countries. It is there in black and white for all to see. Kenyans feel fly in being Kenyans. Tanzanians take pride in being Tanzanians and Ugandans dance to the amour propre in being Ugandans.

That’s how it was designed almost forty-four years ago. After a successive struggle against colonialism, East Africa was never meant to be one. After all, it never was one! (Historians will prove me right.) In 1963, Kenya was granted full independence and before that, in 1962, both Tanzania and Uganda had had their independence. All that lay ahead for the three young republics was the question of uncertain future and how to face it. Indeed, there was great passion and enthusiasm since everything seemed so bright and there was little to worry about. The leading nationalists in the three countries took the leadership mantle with a pledge to steer their countries to destiny. Today, four decades and a half later, the struggle continues.

East Africa region covers a favored area. Starting from the sandy coastal lowlands in the east of Kenya and Tanzania where it neighbors the great Indian Ocean, the region runs down to the hilly and mountainous areas of western Uganda where it brushes face with the thick Equatorial forests of Congo area. Apart from some fewer areas, the region experiences above average relief and conventional rainfall round the year. From this favorable climate, the main backbone of economies of the three countries is composed mainly of agriculture coupled by tourism that is boosted by beautiful scenery and favorable weather. Sheer determination, hard-work and sacrifice by the citizens of the three countries has resulted to a boosting to the growing economies of the three countries. Virtuously, compared to the rest of Africa, the economies of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda can be termed as success story. But that’s the far it goes.

Despite the story of prolonged peace and stability in Kenya, Tanzania and some parts of Uganda, our leaders have turned out to be our worst enemies. Repeatedly, they have let us down by being selfish and egocentric. They have shown insatiable desire to have everything for themselves and their families. Because of such betrayal, the East African countries have continued to suffer under the yolks of dictatorship and its aftermath. Instead of a would-be success in development and stability, there has been consistent failure everywhere. This is most so in Kenyan and Uganda. For Tanzania, ideological misapprehension has proved to be the real threat for over thee decades and only recently is the country showing signs of recovery. Thus the question remains, do we need a political federation, really?

Our leaders are blatantly telling lies. They know that we don’t need a political integration in East Africa yet they are letting their egos drive them forward. They know that such a move is a political suicide to the three countries yet they are ignoring such a fact. They know that there are incorrigible differences among the three countries yet they want to try and see! This people are not genuine. These people are traitors! They want to betray the cause in which our nations were founded. They want to betray the history and the future of our nations. They have failed to steer our respective countries to enjoy the rule of law and justice and now they want to hide behind a political federation. They have failed as individuals and they want to shoulder the failure to everyone. This is purely collective irresponsibility and liability that they want to force down our throats.

Call me a pessimist but lest we forget, we should learn from the history. USSR, Serbia and Montenegro, Czechoslovakia, Croatia and other Balkan countries have political integration cases we should study carefully before we embark n some blind suicide mission. Surely, we don’t need this political federation. Not now, not ever. For this, come April 5, 2006 and I will not be singing the new East Africa anthem and I will not pay the Integration Tax simply because I strongly feel we don’t belong together politically.