I was on the receiving end of a telling-off from a Tanzanian
correspondent N.Chiume, currently based New York because of my previous article, Tanzania diminishes chances of regional intergration .
It represented he said, what he called a smokescreen that constantly blames
Tanzania for hiccups and delays on the integration of the East African countries. In his reply, he raised some very
pertinent issues that will deepen anyone's understanding about Tanzania
and it's association with South Africa and the SADC block. Chiume is of the
opinion that there is an effort on the part of some Kenyans to soil Tanzania's name by
publishing malicious articles through the media; and therefore preclude the advancement of the unity efforts. He pointed out his displeasure that state broadcaster KBC (Kenya Broadcasting Corporation) had elected to take an unhelpful stance on the issue, reporting once Tanzanians had overwhelmingly
rejected the proposed East African Federation. Below is what Chiume had
to say.
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"First, let me apologise for any distress I may have
caused you by certain choices of my words. It expresses however the frustration people like myself feel whenever we read an article that
carelessly misrepresents the facts with the pretext of "open[ing] up the
issue for debate". It just makes it hard to have a constructive debate, which circumstances insist we have, if we don't address certain untruths from
their onset.
Case in point, there was an article recently on
the Kenya Broadcasting Corp (KBC) website(which if I'm not mistaken, is
still a Government owned media institution), twisting the results of
the poll in Tanzania that asked whether we should fast-track integration efforts. KBC
reported that the overwhelming results against such a move meant "Tanzanians say no to EA federation".
It went further claiming that Tanzanians "have rejected the plan for
the East African political federation" while we all know that the
referendum on this subject is still in the offing. Perhaps you can help
me understand the motives a Government institution like KBC would have in
publishing such a misleading article?
Fact is, Tanzania has
shown tremendous commitment to EAC, from hosting its headquarters in Arusha, to
building institutions like the EAC Judiciary and Legislature; and finally
negotiating and implementing the Customs Union despite the fact that its
also a SADC member. Your claim that Tanzania's membership in SADC makes
her "stand on EAC issues, always opposite the rest of the [EAC]
members" are therefore absolutely baseless.
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together as one
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Asking
Tanzania not to have "strong ties" with southern Africa is similar to
asking Europe not to have strong ties with the USA. Tanzania is a
founding member of SADC, and of SADCC, its predecessor. Our history,
our engagement and our attachment to southern Africa since the days of
Frontline States and prior to that cannot be easily severed.
Therefore,
there is nothing sinister that "raises questions" about Tanzania's
friendship with South Africa - anybody who knows her history will
appreciate it. If you can make an argument like that, then I could
equally claim that Kenya's one foot in COMESA and another in EAC
"raises questions" in the eyes of non-EAC members of COMESA, such as
Zambia, Sudan or Egypt because it shows Kenya's non-commitment to
COMESA! In that case, Kenya could equally be described as "an undecided
country" that "is unstable in all its ways".
What is universally
recognized is that as SADC moves towards becoming a trade bloc with
custom union, then a common market etc (as opposed to a grouping for
coordinating common economic projects); and as COMESA moves from a
free-trade area to custom Union etc, countries like Tanzania - and so
many others including Kenya and Uganda, will have to make the tough
decision on how they can continue membership in increasingly
competing organizations.
I'm saying this because one of the
biggest misconception that individulss like yourself perpetuate is that
somehow it would all be perfect if and when all EAC members belonged to the
COMESA bloc. It is as if no situations of conflict would emerge in a world of joint EAC/ COMESA membership.
The fear of competition from
Kenya isn't "mere big words". It does pose serious threat to the future
of manufacturing in Tanzania. And it is not true that these concerns have never
been brought to the table by Tanzania. As is clear from the successful
agreement in delaying the implementation of certain taxes within the EAC custom
union to give manufacturers in Tanzania some time to adjust to the new trade
environment.
As we progress into a more seamless common market, single
currency and a political federation; these concerns are clearly being
accentuated and reflected in the results of the fast-tracking poll in
Tanzania. There is too much of selling of the positives of intergration
and too little in the way of addressing the adverse consequences of it. For
instance, Tanzania could very well be forced by the reality of the situation to cede
dominance in manufacturing to Kenya but that will only be suitable to the common interest if she
is able to identify and begin to focus right now on alternative sectors
that would bring her a competitive advantage in the future, for example,
in the service economy. It is for this reason that we will require economic programs to
subsdize the manufacturing that will decline and to build up the
service economy. The people in Tanzania are pressuring their government for answers on such issues, and are observing the gradual benefits that come with
intergration before they can make a judgment that full EAC integration
will be beneficial to their daily livelihoods and not simply a raft of empty
promises. The aim is not to ignore globalization but to ensure that it
really works for them.
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kings of the south
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Its quite absurd and unfair to imply Tanzania doesn't
belong in Southern Africa (hence not a natural member of SADC) while at
the same time urging it to join COMESA, a grouping with southern
African countries further south of Tanzania like Malawi, Zambia and
Zimbabwe! The next thing you will claim will probably be that Swaziland
belongs in COMESA more than it does in SADC!
Tanzania happens
to have strong links with southern Africa, as much as it has with
Eastern Africa. To ask her to abandon its long standing relationships
in favor of the EAC only is just selfish and unrealistic to say the least. We want to do
business with as many of our neighbours as possible and South Africa has been
a positive economic force in Tanzania, challenging the dominance of
Kenya in the country. It appears that these constant concerns about
Tanzania belonging in SADC are a manifestation of Kenya's nervousness
towards South Africa coming to compete in its backyard through
Tanzania.
Tanzanians will not be bulldozed by pundits like
yourself. The people of Tanzania have a right to know precisely how
they will benefit from East African Federation and from its economic integration. The
issues of job losses, land grabbing, political stability and so on are very
relevant to them. The majority of Tanzanians are against fast-tracking the Federation
because the idea is unrealistic (implementation in 5
years) not because they are not in favor of the Federation. Most
Tanzanians see it as something achieveable by year 2020.
The
debate we need is not why Tanzanians are ambivalent about EAC, but what
can be done to address their concerns. Economic and targeted programs
should be suggested to help countries like Tanzania whose economies will
be negatively impacted, at least in the short-term. Such things will
help to calm the jitters and gather us all towards the noble idea of economic and political
integration.
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KBC is NOT the mouthpeace of the government of Kenya. While KBC is owned by Kenyans through the government, it is independednt in their content. With the very stiff competition in the Kenyan media marketplace, they have no choice if they want to be relevant. Long gone are the days when they were the only source of information to Kenyans. Kenya has a very independent media, and the government lost the war to control media long time ago.