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Mwapachu on Federation
2007-05-15 09:54:33
By Guardian Reporter
On Friday May 11, The Guardian published a story headlined:
`Fast-tracking federation idea wrong—Mwapachu.`When the story came out on Friday, East African Community Secretary General Juma Mwapachu was away in Kigali, Rwanda and Bujumbura, Burundi on official business.
On arrival in Arusha on Sunday, Mwapachu sought to clarify what he had actually stated at the EU Seminar and also give a clearer picture of the issues involved.
Here is a full text:“After attending the European Union Anniversary Workshop in Dar es Salaam on Thursday morning, May 10th, I left for Kigali that evening.
I did not therefore see the story in The Guardian headlined: “Fast tracking federation wrong idea —Mwapachu.`I was in Kigali on Friday.
It was only this evening (Sunday) that I came across the statement in The Guardian.
Therefore, there may be some people who may wonder why I have not responded to The Guardian story earlier.
Someone called me in Nairobi today (Sunday), as I transited the airport to Kilimanjaro, to inform me of the story. Now, I never said that fast-tracking the federation is a wrong idea.
I could not have said so because the idea about fast-tracking a federation, as such, has never been an issue.
What has been the issue is fast-tracking the process towards a political federation.
Yes, the Wako Report has as its title: Fast Tracking the East African Federation. But
I believe that was a mere abbreviation.
The mandate of the Wako Committee was to look into how the process towards a political federation could be brought into the public domain.
What I said exactly at that seminar is that in 2004, the Heads of State of the EAC met in Nairobi and took serious concern about the slow pace in achieving the objectives of the EAC treaty.
The objectives are: Putting in place:
A Customs Union.
A Common Market
A Monetary Union, and then ultimately a Political Federation.
I pointed out that the Heads of State were concerned, for example, that the discussions about the formation of a customs union were taking too long due to unnecessary differences between the Partner States.
The leaders wanted the process to constitute a customs union to be speeded up.
They thus resolved that there was an overall need to fast-track the process towards a political federation, given that political federation is the ultimate objective of the EAC as an entity.
In this light, they decided to appoint a committee, led by Kenyan Attorney General, Amos Wako, to go round East Africa, talk to various people and come up with recommendations on how to fast-track the process towards political federation. That report is now known as the Wako Report.
In my statement at the seminar, I observed, that unfortunately, in the on-going national consultative process going around East Africa, to obtain the views of the people, the core perception in the minds of many is that their views are being sought on fast-tracking the political federation and not on the process towards the political federation.
As a result, there has, in my view, a serious disconnect between what the leaders of East Africa resolved in 2004 and what is actually taking place in the on-going debate.
In other words, the people are generally discussing the political federation and not the process towards political federation.
The second issue is about the timeframes for realizing the political federation.
I did not state that what the Wako Report did, in proposing timeframes, was wrong.
What I said was that the East African leaders never had time frames in mind when they resolved to have the process towards a political federation fast tracked.
They could, as they wanted the East African wananchi to have their say on the matter. However, the Wako Report came up with recommendations about timeframes.
What I said at the seminar is that by recommending such timeframes, the Wako Report put the cart before the horse.
Clearly, if you put time frame to an issue which you want the people to openly and freely debate upon, it is like telling such people that political federation has to be realized by that date.
This timeline has caused difficulties in the on-going consultations.
It has been the major cause of resistance, especially in Tanzania.
Indeed, the objectivity of the ultimate goal of the political federation, which is inbuilt in the Treaty establishing the EAC, has suffered.
I underscored at the seminar that the EAC needs to go back to the basics of the 2004 resolve of the Heads of State to fast track the process towards political federation and not, as it has come to surface, to fast track political federation. This is not a semantic issue.”
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