Tanzania’s Dilemmas and Prospects in East African Community: A Case of Trepidation and Suspicion

Abstract

In 1999, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania revived the defunct East Africa Community (EAC) slightly over twenty years after its collapse .This was to some extent motivated by the example of the European Union (EU) where smaller economies band together to fortify their position in the global economy. In the year 2007 Rwanda and Burundi were formally admitted to the community. There was a lot of optimism that the new found and expanded community will eventually deliver fruits to its membership. To some extent the fruits were forthcoming but were hobbled by many constraints in institutional capacities as member countries protected their own interest and often vested interests of specific groups and players. Although Rwanda a new comer appears to be active, the older and founding member Tanzania seem to be reluctant.  Many Tanzanians are convinced that their country will be taken advantage of in the proposed integration matrix. At the two-week session of the East Africa Legislative Assembly (EALA) in December 2008, Tanzania expressed objections to the purchase of land by foreigners, arguing that the other EAC members should instead consider the Tanzanian model of public land ownership, and also argued against the use of an East African passport. These and other sentiments expressed by it are the concerns of this study. It is also indicated that suspicion and trepidation in the EAC traces its root to colonial times and the federation project was its agenda. The question then is why does Tanzania harbor trepidation and suspicion towards some propositions of the EAC integration? This study is an attempt to interrogate the dilemmas faced by Tanzania towards the EAC agenda, examine the achievements, prospects and benefits accrued by Tanzania by virtue of its membership to the EAC and evaluate the fears brought forth by Tanzania’s public and the government. The study also attempted to highlight the recent contentious issues that need to be resolved and recommend measures that Tanzania can take in order to convert the EAC agenda for its domestic development and assume a position of economic powerhouse and a leader in east and central African region. In order to accomplish the objectives of the study; a wide range of interconnected methods of data collection were employed in the hope that a better fix on historical facts were achieved. In that case this study adopted a historical research design. Information was gleaned by consulting newspapers, published books, EALA documents, research papers, commentaries, reports and articles on EAC. It was found out that some fears and trepidation displayed by Tanzania were genuine while others were not. Other members were also guilty of the same. Tanzania has a comparative advantage compared to other members in myriad of areas. If the country wholly exploits its membership, it will be the leading beneficiary in the long run of the EAC integration project.

Keywords: East Africa, Integration, Suspicion, Powerhouse, Trepidation