East African Community Political and Security Outlook: Edging Closer to

the Tipping Point?

Kahara Kubai

(BA, Political Studies and Sociology, and MA, Diplomacy and International

Studies)

kahar.kubai@gmail.com

2014

Introduction

The East African Community has made tremendous progress since it was revived slightly more

than a decade ago. This has led to progressive steps towards the envisaged political federation as

the ultimate objective. Recently, state members signed a common market protocol allowing for

the free movements of factors of production (capital, labor, goods and services) and a protocol

for the adoption of a monetary union. The protocol on Monetary Union is set for ratification

come July this year.1

There is no doubt that the commitment to enter into a monetary union is reflective of the deep

commitment members have towards EAC since it will mean ceding of substantial control of their

fiscal and monetary policy to the EAC. Significantly, it indicates an acceptance that in a highly

competitive and globalized world, the most effective strategy for maximizing on the benefits of

globalization is through regional economic integration. This is because as a region, they have a

large and hence attractive market; they can reap from the benefits of economies of scale, attract

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), and have more bargaining power on the international stage.

Nevertheless, this progress must constantly face the reality of the challenges which any regional

integration efforts do encounter. The challenges are an outcome of the gaps between stated

intentions as contained in constitutive instruments (principles, treaties and policies) and what has

been actualized. To address the gaps, there is a need for an evidence based analysis of the state

of affairs and objective projections into the future. This presentation does exactly that through

identifying the current state of affairs, challenges, opportunities and proffering some solutions.

The task is limited to political and security analysis and projections.

To achieve these goals, it is divided into three broad sections. Section one, briefly delineates the

key achievements of the EAC region, identifies and operationalizes the variables for measuring

regional political and security state of affairs and making projections. Section two uses these

variables for analyzing security and political state of affairs in EAC. Section three drawing from

the analysis identifies the opportunities present going forward and key challenges.

The State of East African Community Region

The Vision of EAC is a prosperous, competitive, secure, stable and politically united East Africa.

Its mission is to widen and deepen economic, political, social and cultural integration in order to

improve the quality of life of the people of East Africa through increased competitiveness, value

added production, trade and investments.2 Towards achieving these goals key milestones have

been achieved. These are:

Peace and stability: The EAC region has increasingly enjoyed sustained peace and stability.

Prolonged large scale violent conflicts have such as the ones which have been witnessed in

Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda have been terminated. Though there are still some remaining

armed opposition groups such as the Lord resistance Army in Uganda, Hutu genocidaires

1 See East African Community Website www.eac.int

2 See Treaty Establishing the East African Community, 1999 available at www.eac.int

targeting Rwanda and Burundi operating from the lawless regions of Eastern Democratic

Republic of Congo, clan militias in Kenya especially in Northern Eastern province, the specter of

large scale violence has receded.

Additionally, the region has been active in dealing with extra-regional instabilities in their

neighborhoods. There has been increased engagement of member states in peace and stability

operations in the wider Horn of Africa and Great Lakes Regions .e.g. in Sudan, Somalia, South

Sudan, and Democratic Republic of Congo.

Elaborate integration architecture: Since its inception the community has progressively

developed the needed architecture for effective implementation of the EAC treaty and

subsequent protocols. Indeed, among regional organizations globally with exception of the

European Union, EAC has the most advanced institutional framework with executive, legislative

and judicial power and increasingly these organs are acquiring supranational competencies.3

Significantly, the operation of these organs is backed by the necessary structures addressing

various sectoral needs ranging from infrastructure, natural resources, climate change, peace and

security.4

Progressive integration: The EAC has achieved progressive integration evidenced by the

ratification of the Customs Union protocol and signing of the Monetary Union protocol.

Significantly, there is an explicit aim of eventually becoming a political federation. Importantly,

national policies and standards are increasingly been aligned to regional requirements.5

Subsequently, EAC region is becoming the key engine of growth in Africa

Sustained economic growth: A remarkable achievement has been the sustained economic

growth in the region averaging 6 percent. Between 2000 and 2010, the size of EAC economy

grew in real terms from 32 to 79 billion dollars.6 Significantly, intra-regional trade expanded

from 2.2 to 4.1 billion US dollars by 2010. Further, an examination of projected national growth

indicates that in absence of major macro-economic shocks all member states are on sustained

growth trajectory: Real GDP growth is projected at 4.9% in Burundi, 5.2% in Kenya, 7.3% in

Rwanda, 7% in Tanzania and 5.5% in Uganda.7 Finally through prudent macro-economic

stabilization strategies, inflation has fallen to a single digit.

Increased FDI: Correlated to this growth has been steadily increasing flow of Foreign Direct

Investment in the region. In 2012, total FDI in the region was 3.9 billion dollars compared to 2

3 S. Johann Plenk and L. Maxmilian, The Uniting of East Africa and the Uniting of Europe?, JIOS, Vol 4, Issue 2,

2013 4 Protocols and policies are available at EAC website.

5 For instance see East African Community Standardization, Quality Assurance, Metrology and Testing ACT, 2008,

Accessed at sidint.net/soear/intergration-tracker/legal-status-of-laws 6 Society for International Development, The State of East Africa, 2012: Deepening Integration, Intensifying

Challenges. Nairobi: Society for International Development, 2012, p.6 7 Data accessed at East Africa Economic Review and Assessment, September, 2012, www.stratlinkglobal.com,

Africa economic outlook, 2013, www.africaneconomicoutlok.org and International Monetary Fund, Regional

Economic Outlook, 2013, www. Imf.org

billion dollars in 2009. However, it should be noted that much of the investment has targeted oil

and gas sectors with Uganda and Tanzania receiving 3.4 billion dollars.8

Figure 1: Foreign Direct Investment, 2009-2012

Believe in a shared destiny: Despite the failed integration efforts after independence in 1960s

and 70s, the revival of the EAC has been accompanied by a shared vision of a region united by

history, culture and destiny. The progressive ratification and implementing of treaties and

policies on various social, political and economic sectors, peace and security, increased

cooperation on security and holding of joint military exercises are pointers of this vision.

Importantly, there exists mutual trust evidenced by decline in securitized foreign policies among

member states. The decline means that members are moving towards becoming a security

community whereby use of force will no longer be an instrument of pursuing interests in the

region.9

Robust involvement of non-state actors: A key challenge of regional organization has been

absence of the involvement of non-state actors in the integration process. Though integration in

the EAC has remained largely an inter-governmental process, there has been private sectors

involvement. The formation of regional professional body such as East Africa Business

Association, Association of Professional Societies of East Africa attests to this involvement.

Also expanded cross border venture by multinationals and local firms such as Nakumatt, BIDCO

8 United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, World Investment Report, 2013, Accessed at

http://unctad.org/en/publicationslibrary/wir2013_en.pdf 9 On security community see E. Adler and M. Barnett (eds)., Security Communities .Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press, 1998

and Equity Bank as well as high levels of informal cross border exchanges shows that businesses

and citizens are actively engaged in the integration process.

The above milestones are not exhaustive but do suffice to show that EAC ranks among the most

progressive sub-regional organization globally.

Having done so, the following section develops some variables which can be used as proxies for

measuring and projecting the political and security situation in EAC region.

Variables for Measuring Political and Security Situation

For the purposes of this presentation, I have developed variables which are pointers to the

political and security situation in the region. Regarding political situation it is observable that

member states have democratic political systems though the levels of democratization vary. To

capture the variations two proxies for measuring the levels of democratization have been used.

These are: How participatory the democratic process is and; how transparent and accountable the

system is. These variables have been operationalized by Society for International Development

and are measurable through: the integrity of the electoral process, functioning of the

government, extent of political participation, the type of political culture and the degree which

citizens enjoys civil liberties.10

Using these variables, based on the values of 1-10, where 10 represent an ideal democratic

political system the SID Index has ranked the states as follow:

Country Rank Overall

Score

I.

Electoral

Process

and

Pluralism

II.

Functioning

of

Government

III.

Political

Participation

IV.

Political

Culture

V.

Civil

Liberties

Classification

Tanzania 81 5.88 7.42 4.64 6.11 5.63 5.59 Hybrid

Uganda 94 5.16 5.67 3.57 4.44 6.25 5.88 Hybrid

Kenya 104 4.71 3.92 4.29 4.44 5.63 5.29 Hybrid

Burundi 125 3.60 3.00 2.57 3.89 5.00 3.53 Authoritarian

Rwanda 132 3.36 0.83 4.64 2.22 5.00 4.12 Authoritarian

Source: SID, State of Democracy Report 2013

In addition, how democratic the political systems in the region are can be measured using the

degree of transparency as a proxy of how responsive they are to the needs of the citizens. This is

because fundamental to any democratic system is transparent management of the public affairs

and one of the main hindrances to this is the extent of corruption. Corruption undermines the rule

of law and public institutions, nurtures rent- seeking activities and state capture by politically

connected elite, creates gross inequalities and erodes state legitimacy and capacity to provide

10

SID, The State of Democracy In East Africa, 2013, Accessed at accessed at

http://inequalities.sidint.net/soear/data/picture-of-now/east-africa-social-context/the-state-of-democracy-in-east-

africa

public goods.11

Essentially, it leads to state failure. Based on the variable of corruption, we can

use data from SID to show how democratic the states are. As shown in the figure below, all the

states in the region with exception of Rwanda-which in terms of other democratic indicators is

ranked as authoritarian making it an outlier when it comes to transparency-, are highly corrupt.

Source: SID, Corruption Perception Index, 2009-2012

This shows that none of the member state is fully democratic. Indeed, in all states even managing

a free and fair electoral process has remained a challenge. Consequently electioneering period

remains the most destabilizing process often accompanied by political violence, intimidation of

opposition groups and allegations of electoral rigging. Similarly major corruption scandals are

regularly reported in all states.

When it comes to security, the concept is wide and what it encompasses remains essentially

contested.12

Broadly it refers to absence of threats to state and the people within its jurisdiction.

In this presentation, the analysis is based on human security since the EAC has been founded on

principles whose main objective is the security of people in the region.13

Importantly sustainable

state and regional security is founded on secure people.

To measure the extent of how people are secure, several variables have been used. However,

they are not exhaustive since the concept of human security is analytically expansive.

Regardless, there are some fundamental human needs which are critical for any meaningful

existence; needs which constitutes fundamental human rights. Among them are: physical

security, food security, sustainable environment, education, health and meaningful livelihood.

In terms of physical security several threats are identifiable in the region. They include violent

conflicts whether political such as electoral-related violence, inter-communal, resource based and

terrorism. Additionally, threats from organized criminal groups abound. Though the extent of the

11

The deleterious effects of corruption have been discussed by Uslaner. E. M. Uslaner. Corruption, Inequality, and

the Rule of Law: The Bulging Pocket Makes the Easy Life. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010. 12

M. Sheehan, International Security: An Analytical Survey. London: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2005 13

Detailed explanation of human security is available at United Nations Development Programme, Human

Development Report. New York: UN Publication, 1994

threats is varied across states, most of them have regional implication due to their increasingly

transnational nature and spillover effects.

In addition to physical threats, the region has experienced cycles of food insecurity. This is more

so in Kenya where almost two thirds of its territory is either arid or semi-arid. Currently an

estimated 1.7 million people are affected by famine.

The regional food situation has been worsened by the effects of global climate change which has

manifested itself through increased cycles of flooding and droughts coupled with environmental

degradation. Also, unsustainable and traditional agricultural practices, poor transport

infrastructure, food prices distortions have led to high numbers of people who are food insecure.

The other measure of human security is access to education. Education is critical to human

security since it is a key determinant of achieving a meaningful and decent of livelihood.

Research indicates that globally 177 million people could be lifted out of poverty in low income

countries if they left school with basic reading skills. Also, in sub-Saharan Africa an estimated

1.8 million children could have been saved in 2008 if their mothers had at least secondary

education-this translates to 41 percent reduction in child mortality. Importantly, every extra of

schooling has the potential of increasing income earning capacity by 10 percent, and raising

national GDP by 0.3 percent.14

States in the region have made tremendous progress in provision of universal primary school

education. Through the provision of free primary education, they have achieved 100 percent

Gross Enrolment Rates. However, the transition rate to secondary education has remained

depressingly low with Kenya having the highest rate of 49 percent. This means that the education

systems in the region have denied millions of learners from accessing education and hence a

chance to have a meaningful existence. The graph below captures the transition rates compared

to other regions. It shows that East Africa has 39 percent transition rate, slightly above the

conflict plagued Central Africa region. Additionally, the table shows that there are huge

gendered disparities in access to secondary education.

14

UNESCO, Education for All Global Monitoring Report, 2011, accessed at www.efareport.unesco.org

Source: Africa Institute for Development and Policy, 2013, Accessed at http://www.afidep.org/

A related challenge is the quality and relevance of education offered. Research has consistently

shown the poor quality of education in the region. In Kenya, Service Delivery Indicators (SDI)

data of 2013 showed that in public primary schools, children are on average taught for only 2

hours and forty minutes a day, yet officially they should be taught for five hours and forty

minutes. Also only 35 percent of teachers showed mastery of subjects they taught.15

Additionally, the curriculum content is outdated meaning that it does not factor in knowledge

needs for the region such as sustainable development, adoption of science, technology and

innovations and the key goals of any education such as problem solving , civic responsibilities,

creative and critical thinking and learning to learn are not addressed.16

When it comes to health, the region has made strides in improving the health of the citizens.

There have been concerted efforts in preventive health care, provision of sanitation, maternal

health care, control of infectious diseases such as malaria and HIV/AIDS. However, serious

challenges such as malnutrition, lack of access and high cost of health services, inadequate

staffing, increase in lifestyle related diseases means that going forward the region will continue

to face severe health challenges which undermine human security.17

This is compounded by low

levels of expenditure on health which is below 10 percent of the budget with exception of

Rwanda despite commitment by the African states to spend at least 15 percent of their annual

budget on health sector.18

15

Martin, G.H and Pimhidzai, O, Education and Health Services in Kenya: Data for Results and Accountability.

Washington DC: World Bank, 2013 16

World Bank, Learning for All: Investing in Peoples Knowledge and Skills to Promote Development. Washington: World Bank, 2011 17

See EAC Facts and Figures, 2012, accessed at www.eac.int 18

EAC Community Facts and Figures, 2012 accessed at http;//www.eac.int, p.25; See The AU Abuja Declaration,

April 2001.

25%32%

27%

68%

92%

40% 39% 37%

70%

88%

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

100%

Middle Africa

East Africa West Africa North Africa Southern Africa

Girls Boys

Though there are various variables of measuring the quality of health care, the presentation has

used life expectancy indicator as a measure of the overall well being -quality of life- of East

Africans. This is because it capture the productive years citizens have, which is a pointer to

whether the region can exploit its demographic advantages. On the basis of life expectancy, there

has been sustained increase as shown below. However, the average is below 60 years- compared

to the 2011 global average of 70- meaning that most of the people will die when they are still in

their productive years.19

To further show the state of security in the region, the extent of economic inclusion provides

important insights. This is because the ability to engage in meaningful and gainful economic

activity is a key determinant of human security. In its absence, there is poverty which is

dehumanizing, makes individuals vulnerable and unable to effectively participate in social,

economic and political activities. Poverty also creates a strong basis for grievance based violent

conflicts.

Based on these observations, levels of poverty, inequalities, unemployment and competitiveness

of the economy are important indicators of human security. In terms of levels of poverty, more

than 40 percent of East Africans live below the poverty line. When this figure is disaggregated,

some states such as Burundi have very high levels of poverty. More than 70 percent of

Burundians lives below the poverty line. In Kenya the rate is 40 percent and 44.9 in Rwanda.20

The high levels of poverty are reflective of the high levels of unemployment and

underemployment in the region. Indeed, a key challenge facing the region is how to generate

enough employment opportunities considering that it has a very youthful population. The median

age for the regions 139 million people stands at 19 years. For instance in Kenya, young people

constitute more than 70 percent while Uganda has the youngest population in the world with

19

World Health Organisation, Global Health Obseravtory: Life expectancy.

http://www.who.int/gho/mortality_burden_disease/life_tables/situation_trends_text/en/ 20

Data accessed at East Africa Economic Review and Assessment, September, 2012, www.stratlinkglobal.com,

Africa economic outlook, 2013, www.africaneconomicoutlok.org and International Monetary Fund, Regional

Economic Outlook, 2013, www. Imf.org

young people accounting for 83 percent of the population.21

This can either lead to demographic

curse or dividend depending on availability of economic activities.

Correlated to high incidences of poverty are the high rates of inequality. A report by the Society

for International Development (SID) has shown the extent of inequalities in the region. It has

noted that only 10 percent of the population can be said to have descent living controlling 35 per

cent of the regions combined GDP of 83 billion dollars. The poorest 40 percent controls only

12.5 billion dollars. 22

This visible inequality is a key driver for instability and without

sustainable measures for enhancing equity coupled with increased awareness of entitlements by

citizens will be a cause of violent conflicts in the coming years.

The figure below shows the extent of inequality in the region: It shows the number of times the

earnings of the rich compares to those of the poor.

Finally, the competitiveness of the economy provides another indicator of human security. This

is because the more competitive an economy is, the more opportunities it can create due to ease

of doing business, fair regulative and competitive regime, promotion of innovation and

enterprise, and high degree of economic inclusion. Based on this criterion, the EAC economies

have low competitiveness with exception of Rwanda which has remained highly competitive and

has correspondingly enjoyed high levels of growth and accelerated recovery from 1994

genocide.

21

World Bank Statistics, 2012 and CIA Fact Book, 2013 22

SID, The State of East Africa, 2012: Deepening Integration, Intensifying Challenges, Nairobi: Society for

International Development, 2012

Country Ranking

(2006-2009)a

Ranking

(2010)b

Ranking

(2011)b

Ranking

(2012)c

Tanzania 131 125 125 127

Kenya 95 94 106 109

Source: a=IBRD, 2009/10, b=IFC (International Financial Corporation), Reports, http://www.doingbusiness.org/,

accessed on 17th

January, 2014

Based on the above analysis, it is observable that the region is faced by political and security

challenges which unless addressed will hinder the achievements of the objectives and purposes

of the EAC instruments.

A Look into the Future

Going forward, these challenges will persist and constitutes threats to regional political and

security environment. The main challenges include:

Quasi-democratic systems which are not transparent and responsive to the needs of

citizens making them vulnerable to violent opposition.

Physical threats to security notably terrorism, political and inter-communal violence and

resource-based conflicts.

Lack of inclusive, accessible and quality education and health which are prerequisite for

human security.

Food insecurity and vulnerability to climate change.

Economic exclusion and uncompetitive economies leading to destabilizing poverty,

unemployment, and inequalities.

Ultimately, there is a need for sustained investment in quality education and health systems.

Besides, good governance should be promoted in social, political and economic realms.

Importantly, development of infrastructure is central to sustainable and secure East African

Community region.

Guided by these requirements, the following opportunities are available for effectively dealing

with the challenges identified:

Opportunities

The section identifies key opportunities which can make the EAC have sustainable political and

security going forward. Key opportunities include:

Democratic consolidation: The region has made progress towards democratization despite the

fact that no state is really fully democratic. However, the necessary laws are in place and the

region can build on the gains made to further entrench democratic culture. Central to this is the

cultivation of civic responsibilities, taking of rights and liberties seriously and ensuring

transparency in the management of public affairs. Ultimately such measures will lead to

responsive, inclusionary and legitimate political and economic systems.

Huge discovery of mineral resources: Central to the realization of political and security

stability is the need to address poverty, unemployment and other fundamental needs which lead

to secure people. To do so huge investments in quality education, health, agriculture, industry

and physical is needed.

Burundi 176 181 177 169

Uganda 112 129 119 123

Rwanda 67 70 50 45

Going forward, the discovery of hydrocarbons in the region has the potential of augmenting the

available resources and enabling states to generate enough resources to comprehensively deal

with these fundamental security needs. Uganda has an estimated 3.5 billion barrels of oil, Kenya

1 billion and Tanzania has discovered more than trillion cubic meters of natural gas.

Additionally, increased interest in exploration activities will definitely yield other mineral

deposits.

In the short term, states can securitize their expected future revenue flow from these minerals,

and use that to raise money from international markets so as to address pressing needs.23

In the

long term, they need to develop transparent resource governance regimes so as to avoid resource

curse, overdependence on mineral resources at the expense of other economic sectors and

environmental degradation.24

Further, they should adopt regionalized approach to exploitation of these minerals especially

hydrocarbons.25 States can reap from economies of scale and harmonized policies to cushion

themselves from contagious booms and bust associated with natural resources.

Green revolution: That the region is going to grapple with food insecurity in the near future is a

reality. However, global examples abound on how to achieve green revolution within a decade.

The starting point is for the member states to meet their commitments to African Union Maputo

Declaration which requires states to spend at least 10 percent of their budget on agriculture.26

Additionally, there is a need to address land rights, lack of market access and farm inputs,

insufficient technical knowledge, poor storage capacity, constrained water and energy supplies,

and poor infrastructure.

At regional levels, member states should set up Centers of Excellence in Agriculture focused on

cutting edge research on sustainable agriculture in the region. Importantly, EAC should catalyze

development of policies in agriculture which integrate the most vulnerable groups in the society

in the national and regional production chain, mitigate the deleterious effects of climate change

especially over dependence on rain fed agriculture through irrigation and spur growth of agro-

based industries.

Deepening regional economic integration: This paper has shown that, intra-regional trade in

EAC has been on an upward trajectory. Such trade remains a key to growth, employment

creation and overall improvement of the quality of life within EAC.

The region needs to leverage on these gains through enhancing the economic competitiveness,

institutional governance, infrastructural development, allowing free movement of factors of

23

On such securitization see S. Kektar and D. Ratha, Securitization of Future Flow Receivables: A Useful Tool for Developing Countries, Finance and Development, IMF, Vol 38, No.1, March, 2001 24

Oil and Gas Management for Inclusive and Sustainable Development: An East African Regional Forum

proceeding Report. Conference organised by Economic Policy Research Centre, Kenya Institute of Policy Research

and Analysis, Brookings Africa Growth Initiative in Kampala on January, 23-24, 2013 25

Oil and Gas Management for Inclusive and Sustainable Development: An East African Regional Forum

proceeding Report. Conference organised by Economic Policy Research Centre, Kenya Institute of Policy Research

and Analysis, Brookings Africa Growth Initiative in Kampala on January, 23-24, 2013 26

Declartion on Agriculture and Food Security in Africa (Maputo Declaration), Assembly y of the African Union,

Second Ordinary Session, 10-12, July, 2003.

production often hampered by non-tariff barriers and encourage exploitation of regional

economies of scale by investors.

Youthful population: As indicated, EAC has youthful population and states must make a choice

between demographic dividend and curse. The outcome is dependent on how states invest in the

development of this youthful population. Inevitably, the main commitment is to reap from

demographic dividend since as the graph below shows in the next one hundred years Africa will

have a youthful and potentially productive population. Indeed, the 21st century can be the

Africas century.

Source: African Institute for Development Policy, 2013 accessed at www.afidep.org

To reap from this dividend, urgent measures are needed. Particularly, there should be massive

investment in education so as to provide access to millions of young people. The education

provided must be oriented towards inculcating practical skills at all levels of education, meeting

productive sector needs, enhancing science, technology and innovation, critical thinking and

problem solving abilities, responsible civic citizenship, promoting entrepreneurship, sustainable

development and lifelong learning. More so, in order to enable access to millions of learners

who fails to transit to the next level of education due to lack of enough spaces, multiple learning

pathways are needed. This will provide second chances to those who would wish to rejoin

0.00

0.50

1.00

1.50

2.00

2.50

3.00

East Asia Sub-Saharan Africa South America

East Asia

South America

education, and also enable certification of non-formal and informal education, creating

opportunities for thousands of out of formal schooling learners.27

This should be augmented by increased diversification of economy towards high value

production such as manufacturing and services so as to generate the needed employment and

entrepreneurship opportunities.

Infrastructural development: Poor infrastructure has remained the Achilles heel of growth in

the region. Main challenges lies in transport, energy and ICT infrastructure. Within EAC

transport prices are estimated to be anywhere from 50% to 175% higher than global averages. 28

Estimated cost of logistics and transports accounts for 42 percent on the value of imports and 75

percent on the value of exports.29

When it comes to energy costs, the region is costly for businesses. Tanzania has the lowest cost

at 11 US cents per kilowatt hour yet this is three times higher compared to Egypts 3.5 US cents

per kilowatt hour.30

In terms of access, only 26 percent of the population has access to electricity which is lower than

SSA average of 32 percent and below the needed 80 percent which is the average for middle

income countries. This means that more than 80 percent of residents rely on wood fuel which

has contributed to massive deforestation, pollution and low productivity.31

Regarding ICT, the region has made tremendous progress. This is more so in telecommunication

where mobile phones have revolutionized communication and access to services. For instance in

Kenya, mobile phones and related innovation have boosted financial inclusion, savings and

access to credit, payments etc. Consequently, in 2013 Kenya had 25.1 million mobile money

subscribers who transferred more than 22 billion dollars.32

Going forward the EAC region has shown strong commitment to addressing infrastructural

problems. There are ongoing projects aimed at improving trade including the construction of

roads and railway networks, building of new ports in Tanzania and Kenya, and expansion on

production of cheaper energy.

These measures will lower the cost of production and living, enhance productivity and

competitiveness, and contribute to environmental conservation. All these positive changes will

greatly improve the quality of life in the region making the EAC vision of a prosperous,

competitive, secure, stable and politically united region a reality.

27

See W. Hoppers (ed), Post-Primary Education in Africa: Challenges and Approaches for Expanding Learning

Opportunities. Tunis: ADEA, 2009 28

K. Findt, Infrastructure and Economic development: Huge potential in east Africa, Accessed at

http://www.howwemadeitinafrica.com/infrastructure-and-economic-development-high-potential-in-east-

africa/25610/ 29

Scott Allen, Why economic growth remains elusive in EA, The Citizen (Tanzania), Nov 29, 2013, Accessed at

wwww.thecitizen.co.tz 30

Rush for Power: EAC in Haste to Reign in Crippling Energy, Accessed at http://www.trademarkea.com/rush-for-power-eac-in-haste-to-reign-in-crippling-energy/ 31

Ibid 32

Kenya Transferred $22Bn Via Mobile Money-CBK, Accessed at http://www.ventures-africa.com; Why Does Kenya lead in Mobile Money, May, 27th 2013, Accessed at http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2013/05/economist-explains-18.

Conclusion

The paper has brought out diverse political and security issues with a goal of analyzing the state

of East African Community and making projections going forward. It has shown that though

tremendous progress has been made, serious challenges lies had and this will continue to have

negative bearing on political and security situation. Nonetheless, there is commitment by

member states to deal with the challenges which needs sustained investment in three key areas:

Institutions, infrastructure and Integration.