Regional integration : the case of the East African community

Abstract

Regional cooperation in the three East African countries Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda has developed over a number of years, taken several forms and had a chequered history. It was established by the British Administration in East Africa as a convenient contrivance for rationalising British hegemony in this part of Africa. When independence was won by the three countries, the institutions of East African cooperation, then known as the East African High Commission, were bequeathed to the three independent States and its name changed to East African Common Services Organisation (EACSO). The three countries tried to use EACSO as a nucleus for an East African Federation. The attempt failed in 1963. The enthusiasm for forming a federation temporarily concealed the weakness in the economic cooperation which had been inherited. After earlier attempts at federation had been frustrated, the Partner States became more concerned with economic cooperation and in correcting its weaknesses. The Kampala-Mbale Agreement of 1965 and the Treaty for East African Cooperation of 1967 were part of the effort to improve and strengthen economic cooperation instead of political unification. Show more