The East African Community (EAC) is an intergovernmental regional body that brings together East African countries from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan. These countries are located in the African Great Lakes region. The first EAC that brought together Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania collapsed in 1977 and was, in 2000, revived by the three countries. Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan have joined this community for a period of time. Sudan and Somalia have expressed interest in joining the community. The main vision of EAC is to establish the East African Federation. However, the community had its share of suspicion among member states.
Chronology
Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania have a historically intertwined historical, economic and political background, including the common Lake Victoria. Kenya and Uganda had a customs union before in 1917, and from 1927 Tanganyika (before the inclusion of Zanzibar) joined the two. There were previous bodies such as the High Commissioner for East Africa (EAHC) (1928-1961) and the Organization of common services of East Africa (EACSO) (1961-1967). The EACSO disbanded to form the first EAC in 1967 whose purpose was to have a common market, common customs and other services to grow economies.
At that time, Kenya was, and remains, the largest EAC economy. The EAC collapsed because Kenya requested more seats than the highest organs, and there have also been unrealistic demands from both Tanzania and Uganda. Ugandan dictator Idi Amin also accused Tanzania of hosting forces to make it fall. Despite the collapse led to the loss of the benefits of economies of scale, Kenya celebrated. In 1993, Presidents Moi (Kenya), Museveni (Uganda) and Mwinyi (Tanzania) signed the EAC Treaty that started the reintegration process started in 2000. Rwanda was the first to join, followed from Burundi.
South Sudan is the last EAC member to join. Since then EAC has progressed smoothly with the confederation as an immediate necessity of the federation. Despite the collapse led to the loss of the benefits of economies of scale, Kenya celebrated. In 1993, Presidents Moi (Kenya), Museveni (Uganda) and Mwinyi (Tanzania) signed the EAC Treaty that started the reintegration process started in 2000. Rwanda was the first to join, followed from Burundi.
South Sudan is the last EAC member to join. Since then EAC has progressed smoothly with the confederation as an immediate necessity of the federation. Despite the collapse led to the loss of the benefits of economies of scale, Kenya celebrated. In 1993, Presidents Moi (Kenya), Museveni (Uganda) and Mwinyi (Tanzania) signed the EAC Treaty that started the reintegration process started in 2000. Rwanda was the first to join, followed from Burundi. South Sudan is the last EAC member to join.
Since then EAC has progressed smoothly with the confederation as an immediate necessity of the federation. South Sudan is the last EAC member to join. Since then EAC has progressed smoothly with the confederation as an immediate necessity of the federation. South Sudan is the last EAC member to join. Since then EAC has progressed smoothly with the confederation as an immediate necessity of the federation.
Structures and initiatives
The EAC region is rich in minerals and agricultural products. With only Kenya and Tanzania with coasts, the EAC countries have several integrated infrastructure plans that include pipelines, railways and roads connecting the countries. The main bodies of the EAC are:
The summit : The heads of state or government of the member countries that guide the strategic vision of the EAC. This body sits once a year.
Council of Ministers : It takes important decisions and is also the governing body of the EAC. The members of this body are the ministers or the secretary of the cabinet of the six countries in which the EAC lies. The Council of Ministers sits twice a year.
Coordination Committee : The coordination committee coordinates all the activities of the sectoral committees and also recommends the establishment, composition and functions of the sectoral committees. This committee meets twice a year, but can hold extraordinary meetings on request.
Sectoral committees : These committees often meet to conceptualize programs and conduct in-depth monitoring and evaluation of program implementation.
Court of Justice of East Africa (the Court) : The Court guarantees the respect of the law in the interpretation and application of the EAC treaty. This court is located in Arusha and has sub-degrees in all member states within the premises of the local courts.
Legislative Assembly of East Africa (EALA): EALA has the legislative, representation and surveillance mandate. Each partner state elects nine people to sit in EALA and also has seven ex-officio members.
The Secretariat: The Secretariat is the executive body that acts as guardian of the treaty. This Secretariat has the Secretary General with four deputies, the EAC Consultant and hundreds of permanent employees who work daily.
In addition, the EAC also has a reserve force hosted in Nairobi, Kenya, and recently launched a single passport.
Population
English and Swahili are the official EAC languages. Other major languages include French, Kinyarwanda and (O) Luganda. Burundi and Rwanda share close ethnic ties while some ethnic communities live in more than one country like Luo (Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and some roots in South Sudan) and Maasai (Kenya and Tanzania). In total, EAC has a population of 169,519,847 and if it were a country, it would have been the ninth largest population globally. Nairobi, Dar es Salaam, Kampala, Kigali, Mombasa, Bujumbura, Mwanza, Arusha, Dodoma, Kisumu, Mbeya and Juba are the largest cities by population and infrastructure respectively.
