Political parties within the East Africa Community bloc will be encouraged to forge alliances with like-minded parties in the region.

This will be in the spirit of integration and greater democracy.

After the Common Market comes into force, the focus will shift to Political Federation and Monetary Union.

So, as part of the preparation for Political Federation, parties will have to discard raw competition for power, which is often based on personality and ethnicity.

Such competition negates multiparty democracy and encourages violence.

Instead, political parties are now being encouraged to be ideological, especially on issues cutting across the region such as environment concerns and economic empowerment of the masses.

EAC Deputy Secretary General in charge of Political Federation, Beatrice Kiraso, has for the past two months gone around the five member countries meeting political parties and encouraging them to adopt new tactics.

She started with Tanzania, then Uganda and Kenya, and concluded the round recently by meeting 10 political parties in Rwanda and 43 in Burundi.

She said there are more than 140 political parties in East Africa, some national and others too small to win even a parliamentary seat.

“If the government of East Africa is to be democratically elected, political parties will have to agree on how they will form EAC-wide parties through mergers and coalitions,” she said. 

The concept has been met with resistance in most countries, owing to the entrenched culture of political manipulation, ethnic and regional interests and the imperative self-preservation.

In Rwanda, all 10 parties took part, just like in Burundi where the 43 political parties were keen on consultations.

In Kenya, there was full co-operation, but not so in Tanzania and Uganda.

“What was disappointing in Tanzania and Uganda is that the parties in government, CCM and NRM, did not attend the respective meetings. Yet being in government they have a major role to play. For NRM, it is even more regrettable given that it has a whole chapter on the issue in its election manifesto of 2006,” says Mrs Kiraso.

Apart from Tanzania and Rwanda, the three remaining partners are having severe problems with multiparty democracy.

Kenya is still reeling from a highly competitive presidential election in 2007.

Uganda is ill at ease politically, given the perception among opposition parties that NRM has manipulated the electoral process in the last two elections.

Burundi is currently grappling with many issues of democracy, political space and fair play as it approaches the general election in June next year. 

Under the auspices of the EAC, an Election Support Mission to Burundi recently established many capacity gaps.

It agreed to put together a team of experts to assist the Electoral Commission, as well as a long-term observer mission.

If the EAC Council approves the observer mission, it will be in Burundi from January till the election.

“The issues that need to be addressed immediately include financial requirements, voter register update and mechanisms to ensure fair play. 

“On a positive note, the political parties seem satisfied with the composition of the Electoral Commission,” said Mrs Kiraso.

As the region progresses towards greater integration, the EAC Secretariat wants to ensure that election-related violence does not recur, either because of electoral malpractices or from lack of room for political parties to compete fairly.

Fair elections in the five countries will lay a good foundation for Political Federation.

The EAC’s Early Warning Mechanism to prevent election-related violence has already been endorsed by the Council of Ministers.

It is expected to become operational after legal input.

All these initiatives will help lay a firm foundation for Political Federation.

“We are also working on an EAC Conflict Prevention and Management Resolution Framework. There will be a lot of emphasis on prevention because all past efforts have been reactive, after the fact,” said Mrs Kiraso.