The month of record

 East African Community report: a model of regional integration?

With a visa, common institutions and soon with  the same currency, East Africa sets an example in terms of regional integration in Africa. Above all, thanks to these very modern regional infrastructures, starting with its roads, they would facilitate the movement of goods and people from member countries. Africa News Agency tried the experiment.

 

After disembarking in Nairobi, for our first step, we reach Mombassa, by the new train line which connects the Kenyan capital to the port city. The ticket is purchased in seconds via the MPesa online platform. After careful checks of people and luggage, we enter the most modern station. The route, marked by sublime landscapes that make the reputation of the country renowned for its safari, it is an opportunity to learn more about this « development » train. (See the video report here). Arrived at Mombassa. « Salam » is a local greeting in Mombassa, a predominantly Muslim city. Land above all Swahili, the dominant identity marker in this city with multiple identities, a legacy of the many colonizing powers, where mosques, Hindu temples and churches mingle, witnesses to the city’s cultural mix. A veritable melting pot, Mombassa is also a crossroads city. If one million people live there, thousands more pass through it every year. For business, a beach session between two safaris or cross the region. What it has never ceased to be throughout its history. A crossing point between East and West. Africa and the Arab world. A legacy engraved in stone, on the facades of buildings, inspired by European, African and Islamic arts, the Omannian version.

« 1 minute to unload from the boat to the dock »

Mombassa is today a major economic hub, marked by the port of Mombassa, the first in the region, a bridge between East and Central Africa. 32million tons of goods passed through Mombassa last year. « 1 minute to unload from the boat to the dock, » said an employee of the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA). A pace imposed to maintain its positioning, threatened by Dar es Salaam. That has the establishment of the Single Window, the second container terminal, the port dedicated to hydrocarbons …

Second stop of our trip. Uganda, we arrived by a personal car, by road, in the city of Malaba. One of the connection points between Kenya and the Ugandan border. Dozens of trucks are waiting in single line near the border post. We have to pay 500 Kenyan shillings so that our driver can get a GO pass and drive us across the border. After a long corridor, on a more than obsolete track of two or three kilometers, we arrived at the border check. « Uganda » appears in full letters above the post. We pass by the immigration station to recover the precious stamp which will allow us to cross the border and enter Ugandan land. « Hello, where are you going? » Ginge. Why ? We are journalists, we are working on a series of reports on East Africa. How many days are you going to stay in Uganda ”. The most common questions asked with the courtesy that makes the reputation of Ugandans. We have an East African Community visa obtained easily at the Embassy for $ 100 per person. In less than five minutes, our passport was stamped. We were allowed to return to Uganda. Nothing more will be asked from us. No document nor money.

 

“Around 400 and 600 people and at least 500 trucks cross this border point every day « 

 

We took this opportunity to obtain some information on the density of traffic at the border. “Around 400 and 600 people and at least 500 trucks cross this border point every day.” Knowing that there are others, the border between Uganda and Kenya crosses through two crossing points. 5 p.m. we leave the border post and enter Uganda. Heading to Matatu station, local collective bus, to reach Ginge. Three hours and we had to deal with dust, but we arrived by the edges of the Nile river. On the road, always incredible, we found our trucks. “They come from Mombassa. They are loaded with containers of cements, power supplies and others that come to the port from Dubai, ”the driver tells us. With the adoption of the single customs procedure, and thanks to a single control of goods, transit times have been reduced by half and transport costs by more than 30%.

Further on, dozens of groups of monkeys attracted our attention. « They come to the side of the road to get food. » With climate change and urbanization, animals are leaving the forest for cities to beg for food. Green. Immensely green. On both sides of the road, wide land. Rice plantations especially for this waterlogged country.

Traditional mud huts mix with stone houses. Our stay in Uganda began. And It will end, after Kenya, with Rwanda. Road trips, the region has high-quality inter-regional road infrastructure_ in public transport, all that was with the only document requested being the visa for the East African Community.

 

the EAC was originally founded in 1967, dissolved ten years later and then truly recreated in 2001, the EAC consists of 5 member countries (Burundi, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda), the Community is a model in regional integration. While the countries of East Africa show the strongest growth on the continent, with locomotives including Kenya, which, with its regional infrastructure, is essential as the regional hub, while Rwanda, a veritable breeding ground for start-up, is a land of innovation.

 

Common money in 2024, and the creation of a political federation in 2025

 

Unlike other African regional organizations, it is the economic interests that are developing and continuing to dominate within the East African Community. Therefore, despite the prevalence of conflicts, the food insecurity that threatens, the epidemics also with the resurgence of Ebola, one of the most recent regional organizations has finally gone the furthest in the process of regional integration. With integration customs, commercial, monetary, the common currency of the East African Community (EAC) is planned for 2024, and finally we can see political efforts, with the creation of a political federation that is announced for 2025.

 

 

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