Political federation to become reality in a decade’s time

The consultations found that though the majority in all countries approved of integration and political federation.

Levels of awareness about the EAC integration process in general and the proposed Political Federation in particular were low.

A study carried out by Prof Regina Karega last year confirmed these findings, noting that the majority of East Africa’s 126 million people are not aware of the benefits of regional integration and most viewed it as an elite project.

“The project has a lot of goodwill from ordinary citizens but lack of active involvement has left it standing solely on the political pillar, without the critical social and economic relevance that would make it a reality in people’s lives,” Prof Karega said later.

The study also found that roughly one-third of the interviewees had only a weak or no sense at all of being East African.

Addressing these concerns, Mr Kingi declared that East Africa had “moved miles from the days of Nyerere, when Kenyans were seen as man-eaters. We have done a lot of civic awareness. We have covered a lot of ground in terms of developing brotherhood and sisterhood within the community.”

However, he acknowledged that stereotypes remained.

When asked whether the ongoing Constitution Review process would have any bearing on the federation project, Mr Kingi declared that the EAC Treaty provides for Community laws and policies taking precedence over national ones.

Thus the constitution of the federation would also be superior to national constitutions.

“At some point we have to cede sovereignty to embrace the bigger picture,” he said.

On the subject of the Common Market Protocol, Mr Kingi expected the ratification process to proceed smoothly.

“The five presidents sat in Arusha and appended their signatures to the protocol. I would not wish to imagine that in Kenya, for example, the Cabinet refuses to ratify a protocol that the head of state appended his signature to.”

His Permanent Secretary, David Nalo, clarified that the protocol would be fully implemented by 2012, citing current estimates.

A protocol on Monetary Union is expected to be ready for signature by 2012.