Eric Otenyo WPSA 2008
East African Citizenship and Federalism: An idea whose time
has come?
Abstract
Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania have considered federating by the year 2010. Regional
political elites have sought to establish a single political federation that will include the
three countries, Rwanda, and Burundi. This article discusses the emerging regional
governance structure by examining political dimensions of federalism in the context of
the regions unique characteristics. The research explains the timing of the current push
for regional federation in East Africa and the inherent operational bottlenecks to be
overcome, paying special attention to socio-economic and political forces. Surprisingly,
the idea of East African citizenship and federalism in the region is an elite driven work-
in- progress which is not based on a coherent and well -developed or understood
covenant. Most likely, in the short run, the new regional citizen is not unlikely to
overcome the legal and political realities of his/her current universe.
In most of the world, including Africa, the ideology and process of federalism is largely
derived from the American experience (Diamond 2000, 44; Afigbo 1991; Lijphart
1989a, 62; Gana
and
Egwu
2003). There is, however, a qualification to that assertion, at
the core of federalism in Africa is the lack of what Elazar termed a “people –driven
constitutional process and covenant” (1987). Regardless, of the origin of the idea, the
most typical conceptualization of federalism continues to be the understanding that
participant units of government exercise some degree of autonomy. Taken to its logical
conclusion, federalism establishes a community of citizens to which rival particularisms
are minimized while elements of homogeneity are reified.
Arguably, an East African identity was imagined during the formative years of the three
principle countries. The affirmation of particularity was reinforced by both cultural
(especially language) and the encounters with British rule in the post World War II era.
Indeed, at independence, regional nationalism created an imagined sense of
communitarian and regional citizenship. After all, several ethnic groups including the
2
Convention