The birth, death and revival of EAC under three generations of leaders

The first East African Community was born out of necessity.

It was the only regional grouping on the globe before the formation of the European Union.

The EAC was a pace-setter on the continent long before other regional groupings.

Its foundations had been laid by the colonial power, Britain, which had formed the East African Common Market Services that largely gave the EAC its character.

The EAC has undergone two phases with an intervention of the Preferential Trade Area (PTA) that brought in Central African countries.

It has also undergone three generations of leaders – Jomo Kenyatta (Kenya), Julius Nyerere (Tanzania) and first Dr Milton Obote of Uganda.

The post-first-generation witnessed a politically turbulent Uganda – with eight successive presidents in less than two decades.

The post-Nyerere and post-Kenyatta eras saw single party rule in both countries and a painful campaign for the re-introduction of multi-partyism.

This second generation did nothing to revive the EAC.

The first EAC boasted, a monetary union, with East African shilling, a common market and regional transport services. It had East African Airways, Railways and Harbours, Posts and Telecommunications.

Without restrictions

The East African currency had been inherited from the coloniser, the British. It bore the head of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II, just like the present British Pound.

People moved freely without passports and worked in the three countries without restrictions.

And the official language was English, but Kiswahili was commonly used in Kenya and Tanzania.

Uganda used English and Luganda.

Luganda is the language of the Baganda, whose Kabaka (King) was among other kingdoms recognised by law before Dr Obote dismantled them in 1966 in a power struggle with Kabaka Mutesa II.

Mutesa II was Uganda’s first President and Obote was his Prime Minister.

Matters were complicated by several years of political instability in Uganda.

While Kenya and Tanzania retained stable one-party systems, Uganda underwent years of political instability until the current President Yoweri Museveni fought a guerilla war that restored stability in 1986.

The entry of Museveni began another journey for the second EAC that has now invited Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan in an expanded union.

The final third phase is a generation of revival leaders, who signed protocols to create the present expanded EAC.

First Generation

Mzee Jomo Kenyatta (1889-1978 Kenya)

Harambee! was his political philosophy, meaning pooling together to build the nation.

When he found himself in the grouping of East African Community, he played the father-figure as he was the oldest among the three presidents.

This gave him a towering role in the grouping.

Taking power at 65 years, Mzee, as he was fondly known, oversaw the first administration in which he laid the strong foundations that have seen Kenya through turbulent ages.

This began with a systematic peaceful transfer of prime land from white settlers to Kenyans, the establishment of a strong Kenya shilling by preventing cash flight by departing foreigners, creation of a strong civil service, and the initiation of the trend of holding regular elections.

All these have established Kenya as one of Africa’s economic powerhouses besides South Africa, Egypt and Nigeria. For this, Kenyatta became a reference point among the three regional leaders.

He was instrumental in the founding of the first EAC in 1966 and it was him who suggested that the headquarters be based in Arusha, Tanzania.

Mwalimu Julius Nyerere (1922-1999)

Ujamaa was his socialist political philosophy, meaning togetherness.

His political ideology coupled with his friendship to the former East became a liability to the first EAC. For instance, his friendship with China and the Soviet Union created suspicion in the capitalist West that had a grip on Kenya and Uganda.

He negotiated for a loan to build the Tazara railway line from Dar es Salaam to Zambia at the annoyance of the two partner states.

Nyerere regarded Kenya as a man-eat-man society, where few people were fighting for wealth at the expense of the poor millions.

He disparagingly told Tanzanians to visit Nairobi instead of going all the way to London, equating Kenya to the skyscrapers of the western world.

Nyerere built, first the union between Tanganyika and Zanzibar to create Tanzania in 1964. He then embarked on a mission to build the EAC, from which he was the first to walk out.

Nyerere demolished the monetary union by printing bank notes and coins bearing his portrait.

He translated William Shakespeare’s Merchants of Venice (Mabepari wa Venisi) and used its theme of capitalism to campaign against Kenya and Uganda.

Initially friendly to Dr Obote, he took his army to drive Gen Amin out of Kampala in 1979 and installed a titular President Prof Yusuf Lule. But this was after the collapse of the EAC two years earlier.

Dr Apollo Milton Obote (1924-2005 Uganda)

The Common Man’s Charter was his philosophy. It was neither capitalist nor socialist, but something that resembled a combination of the two ideologies.

Dr Obote lived in Kaloleni Estate, Nairobi, in the 1950s during the independence war.

He had a confused political philosophy that was like a hydra. Even Ugandans were at a loss in grasping the political direction the country was taking.

His philosophy did not find any definition in the partner states – Tanzania, which was clearly socialist and Kenya, which was capitalist.

It is significant to point out that even Dr Obote, who took office as Prime Minister under Kabaka Mutesa II in 1962, started the instability that was to haunt his country by ousting Mutesa II in 1966 and grabbing all power.

His differences with the Kabaka stemmed from the fact that he took a leading role during negotiations for independence with the British, while the Prince remained a colonial good boy.

Dr Obote was instrumental in the signing of the protocols for the formation of the first EAC.

The protocols distributed headquarters of common services in the three countries – Tanzania housing the headquarters and a Parliament, Uganda the East African Posts and Telecommunications and Kenya taking the Airways and Railways.

The Second Generation

General Idi Amin (Uganda)

A World War II veteran, he deposed Dr Obote on January 26, 1971.

Obote was away attending a Commonwealth meeting in Singapore.

In his memoirs serialised in the Monitor and the Daily Nation in 2005, Dr Obote admitted it was Amin as head of the army who helped him depose the Kabaka from Mengo capital near Kampala in 1966.

The entry of Amin – a buffoon for a president – accelerated the collapse of EAC.

First, Kenyatta refused to help Dr Obote, who flew from Singapore to Nairobi and camped at the Panafric Hotel to launch a counter coup.

Instead, Kenyatta negotiated with Nyerere to fly him to Dar es Salaam in transit to Zambia, where President Kenneth Kaunda accommodated him.

The move endeared Amin to Kenya, but only temporarily. Soon, Amin was to claim swaths of Kenyan land up to Naivasha as belonging to Uganda. This caused commotion and hostility between the two countries.

Meanwhile, Nyerere had not forgiven Amin for ousting Dr Obote, who was his friend.

By 1977, Gen Amin found himself with two hostile partners. This accelerated the collapse of the EAC. Two years later, Nyerere sent his army to overthrow Amin and install a new regime.

Prof Yusuf Lule (Uganda)

A short-lived President, he was installed after the Tanzanian army toppled Amin in 1979.

He was at one time Vice-Chancellor at Makerere University and had fled Amin’s atrocities to Dar es Salaam.

Prof Lule, a colourless President, found Uganda in a state of disrepair.

His tenure did not make any impact on the East African scene and was soon replaced by another President.

Godffrey Binaisa (Uganda)

He replaced Prof Lule in a palace coup in circumstances dubbed as re-positioning Uganda in the region.

A close friend of Dr Obote, he ruled Uganda for the better part of 1980.

He is famous for praising the Tanzanian army that deposed Amin, saying that Ugandan women gave in to the soldiers’ sexual advances in appreciation for their role in ejecting the dictator.

“What else do you want?” he was quoted as saying. But like his two predecessors, he did not play any successful role in restoring the regional union.

Binaisa, however, made amends with the two neighbouring countries to the extent that it created a friendly environment for a re-think on the regional union.

Paulo Muwanga (Uganda)

He was a de facto President and Chairman of the Presidential Commission in 1981 in a tumultuous period.

He was appointed to prepare the country for presidential elections to restore democracy in Uganda and had the difficult task of dealing with a volatile country, which was always in civil strife.

The controversial elections were organised in 1982 and saw the return of Dr Obote.

Obote II

He returned some form of friendship in East Africa. Elected in 1982 in controversial elections, in which the other contenders believed were rigged in his favour, his presence made matters worse when Museveni waged a guerilla war.

But he made friendships with his counterparts Daniel arap Moi (Kenya) and Nyerere, to the extent that they endorsed him as the only leader who had the ability to sanitise Uganda.

However, his second tenure was more disastrous than the first one. He returned his old friends to the fold and oversaw the looting of Uganda’s public coffers. By the time he was being toppled by Gen Basilio Okello, in 1985, the country was in tatters.

The misrule, helplessness was contributed to by the fact that Nyerere, the all-time friend, had just retired and a new administration under Ali Hassan Mwinyi had come to power in Tanzania.

Kenya was averse to meddling in Ugandan affairs since the times of Idi Amin and successive regimes. Inadvertently, Dr Obote found himself isolated in the region.

As he was crossing to Kenya at the Busia border, Gen Okello defused coup rumours by issuing a statement that there “was uncoordinated movement of troops in Kampala”.

This was to give Dr Obote a safe exit. By the time Obote was ousted from office a second time, little progress had taken place on the revival of EAC, though the talks had began.

Gen Basilio Okello (Uganda)

He came to power at the height of Museveni’s guerrilla warfare. The situation culminated into the famous “Uganda Talks”, which President Moi tried to broker for unity among all factions.

Mr Moi even tried to help Uganda back to its feet by sending emissaries to broker peace between Dr Obote and Museveni, but without success.

The Uganda Talks at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre came up with a Peace Pact that was rubbished by Museveni on the spot.

According to the Pact, Museveni was supposed to stop his guerilla warfare and share power with Okello.

But Museveni went back to the bush even before the ink dried and launched the offensive that led to the taking of Kampala in 1986.

The Third Generation

President Daniel arap Moi (Kenya)

He had become one of the big men of Africa, owing to his age and the political stability he inherited from Kenyatta in Kenya.

The rest of regional leaders looked up to him for leadership after the exit of Nyerere in 1985.

He provided an enabling environment for the revival of EAC.

The exit of Nyerere also gave Moi a chance to assert himself in the region as Ali Hassan Mwinyi (Tanzania) and Yoweri Museveni (Uganda) were new kids on the block.

They even referred to him as “Mzee Moi”. At one time during a meeting in Arusha, Moi gave them a lecture like he would do to children, telling them to shape up or ship out.

It was after this meeting that Foreign Ministers and Attorney Generals of the three countries were ordered to draft the protocols that led to establishment of the present EAC in 2000.

The final protocol was signed in 2000, and the actual inauguration was done in 2001 with an EAC Parliament having its first sitting in November the same year.

Ali Hassan Mwinyi (Tanzania)

He succeeded Nyerere in 1985 and played a significant role in negotiations for the establishment of the present EAC.

He was in office for the 10 years (1985-95) it took for negotiations of sharing the assets of the old EAC and revival of the union.

For instance, Mwinyi had suggested a completely new-look EAC with headquarters away from Tanzania. He also suggested that funding of the EAC should not be based on the economies of the countries but on equal terms.

Mwinyi further proposed that protocols should differ significantly with the ones of the old union to avoid a future collapse.
Perhaps it was this window that enabled the regional leaders to open up membership and invite Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan.

Benjamin Mkapa (Tanzania)

He put the final signatures to the protocols. It was Mkapa who insisted that to avoid more costs, the headquarters should be retained in Arusha as there was already infrastructure.

However, since the former EAC headquarters had been given to Tanzania in the sharing of assets, it was the same Mkapa who gave 100 acres for the new EAC.

His major contribution was that he restored cordial relationships between the other two leaders – Moi and Museveni. His journalistic instinct helped him to create the cordial relationship in a region that was politically polarised by the past.

Yoweri Kaguta Museveni (Uganda)

He entered State House as a guerilla fighter. This gave him a bad image in the region. For a while, the other leaders did not trust him.
For instance, he had bad relations with Mr Moi, leading to the 1987 border skirmishes in Busia.

His rag-tug army was repulsed by the Kenyan General Service Unit, who pursued them right inside Uganda.

Earlier, former president Moi had donated bags of sugar to starving Ugandans, which President Museveni had ordered to be poured on Busia’s Uganda side.

The hostilities between Kenya and Uganda continued until the 1992 General Election in Kenya – the first multi-party election in two decades.

Museveni became friendly to Moi, thereby changing the political scenario in the region.

It was this that accelerated the revival of the regional union.

Museveni became active in the negotiations, even urging the three leaders to form the union.

He argued that the developed world, for instance, the European Union, had come together to continue global dominance.

Africa, he said, was continuing with isolationist politics to the detriment of economic gain.

His knowledge of economics played a big role in the revival of the union.

Today, he is the father-figure in the union, owing to the ages and experience of the other partner leaders.