EAC integration: Are citizens players or spectators?

 

By Juma Mwapachu,The citizen

In Summary

Evidently, we are all accustomed to think and act within the prism of national political party structures and processes. Yet such structures are primarily focused on national elections and legislative politics and laws; not on regional integration questions.

Some lessons from the European Union might be helpful in determining how citizens in the EAC can be better engaged in the integration process. It was only in February, 2012, following the amendment of Article 11(4) of the Treaty on European Union by the Treaty of Lisbon, which entered into force in December, 2009, that a legal framework and tools were established and put in place to respond to EU citizen’s demands for greater voice in EU’s affairs.

The EU Treaty now provides for the European Citizens’ Initiative. Through this Initiative, at least one million citizens from a number of EU member states can now, by their signatures, call upon the EU Commission to bring forward new policy and legislative proposals that respond to demands of the citizens.

In this regard, the Treaty of Lisbon introduced a new dimension of participatory democracy which forges a closer link between the EU and the EU citizens. In recognition of the introduction of the Citizen Initiative, the year 2013 is designated by the EU as the ‘European Union Year of Citizens’, marking the 20th Anniversary of the establishment of the EU Citizenship under the Maastricht Treaty.

East African citizens’ initiative

With the EU experience in mind, I wish to propose two things:

First, that the EAC Treaty be amended to establish an East African Citizen Initiative. Alternatively, the EAC Council of Ministers should table a bill in the East African Legislative Assembly to enact a law that provides for the initiative.

Second, that the Secretary General of the EAC proposes to the Council of Ministers and the Summit at their sittings in November this year the proclamation of 2014 to be Year of East African Citizens as a clear and unequivocal commitment to opening up a new page in EAC’s integration process where the voice and will of the citizens shall begin to be heard and considered.

It will be essential, however, to clarify exactly on what issues the citizens should be engaged on. This is not intended to trample on rights of citizens; it is a mere act of leadership.

In this regard, the starting point should be to develop ‘Stories of EAC’s Success’ so far, as well as provide an outline of new ambitions and the challenges which the EAC faces, going forward.

Areas of focus for Citizen Agency

Second, and this flows from my experience, I think that the whole debate about citizen participation, whether at national or regional levels, proceeds from the premise that individual citizens have the knowledge and capacity to influence and drive change in institutions.

Yet the drivers and dynamics of change can be quite complex, particularly when one considers that the major issues that underlie EAC integration touch on the lives and livelihoods of ordinary citizens.

These issues include: jobs, regional value chains, food security, free movement of food commodities, goods, services and labour; integration of capital markets, regional infrastructure, trans- boundary human and animal diseases, climate change, ecology stability, management of inland waters such as Lakes Victoria, Tanganyika, Nyasa, Albert, Kivu etc.; free movement of people and the right of establishment, shared education facilities and faculties and a new wave of citizen political and human rights.

Awareness deficit about the EAC

In other words, effective citizen agency at the level of the EAC requires intimate knowledge about the role of the EAC, in the light of the existing broad perception that the social and economic factors that impact citizens are invariably national based. It is a reality, that both the political leadership, the media and organised civil society have the propensity to address issues that have a bearing on regional integration from a dominant national perspective. In such circumstances, a huge awareness deficit of regional as opposed to national issues exists which negatively impacts the EAC project.

Given such an environment, how do you promote a churning of broad-based citizen consciousness and action on regional integration beyond conventional seminars, conferences and forums? And how do you also promote a mind-set shift of ordinary citizens from national-based issues to a focus on the big picture of costs and benefits of regional integration? Where lies the navigational reference point for galvanising a regional integration ethos and thrust among the citizens? Can the Citizen Initiative become the reference point? These are important questions that can inform the form and depth of citizen engagement.

Evidently, we are all accustomed to think and act within the prism of national political party structures and processes. Yet such structures are primarily focused on national elections and legislative politics and laws; not on regional integration questions.

Indeed members of the East African Legislative Assembly (Eala) are elected by national legislatures with a strong political party bias.

And whilst there can be no escape from such bias, indeed even EU Parliamentarians who are directly elected by citizens at national levels win seats through the support of their political parties, the situation could probably be somewhat different were EALA members elected directly by the citizens.

Institutional changes to democratise the EAC

There are a number of institutional challenges that confront the quest for citizen agency in deepening EAC integration. Unless they are addressed and bold changes undertaken, citizens will remain spectators, not players, in the integration process. The following are some of the key challenges: The EAC is principally run and managed as a techno-managerial institution. It is national Governments that are on the steering wheel; they directly engage gears, apply the accelerator and the brakes of the vehicle called the EAC; the Eala which, ostensibly, is the Voice of the Citizens, is unelected by the citizens. It derives legitimacy from the National Assemblies and Parliaments that elect them, even when there is no defined accountability between the two legislative organs.

The Eala members lack proper structures at national levels where, purportedly, they could promote structured dialogue with the citizens; most National Assemblies and Parliaments lack effective Special Committees that specifically deal with EAC integration issues in spite of the fact that the EAC is the only regional economic community (REC) in Africa that has special ministries and ministers responsible for EAC matters; there is a great deal of ad hocity at national levels in dealing with regional integration issues, normally prompted by the need to prepare for meetings held at EAC dealing with different sectoral integration issues.

A Disconnect with the citizens

In contrast to what takes place at national levels where the executive branch of government would table important policy issues before the legislature to secure legitimacy and the ostensible will of the people, you rarely witness important issues pertaining to EAC integration being tabled before the national legislatures except in the case of ratification of Protocols and that is only in those countries where such a legislative ratification system exists, Tanzania being one.