Considering how some East Africa Community member states have been reacting after being hit by COVID-19 pandemic, there are some issues they need to expediently and seriously consider and iron out shall the EAC aspire to be actualised and realised instead of fighting over the pie in the sky like going solo etc. Though COVID-19’s a health matter, it’s unearthed some hardships and colonial vestiges vis-a-vis practical unification of the region and Africa. The situation did a bad turn when some countries closed the borders to avoid COVID-19 infectivity from their neighbours. This speaks to the lack of a united strategy towards fighting the contagion.
Organically, before the criminal Berlin Conference 1884, all contemporary African countries were united entities. The EAC we see today the situation was the same. People along what’s today Namanga border, inter alia, used to operate freely without any disturbances, mistrusts and infringements on their natural freedom of movement and cooperation. They didn’t know that they’re the citizens of different countries. They’re just Africans in their big country known as Africa. However, they’d their organic nationalities which the West branded tribes. That’s why the Masai on both sides of the border, for example, still regard themselves as the citizen of one country known as Masailand; not to mention, the Swahili on Horohoro––Lunga Lunga or the Kurya and Luhya on Busia, Isibania Borders respectively.
Nonetheless, soon after Africa’s divided and partitioned into fake, feeble and fickle states, there were born the modern weak and ever-dependent countries as colonial tools intended to divide, exploit and weaken Africans perpetually. These faux nation states were tied to the Peace Treaty of Westphalia (1648) as if they’re European. By extension, they’re, and they still are. Fortunately, in the 60s, African countries became independent however covertly controlled and divided up until now. Ever since, these states have done nothing but furthering, internalising and reinforcing coloniality by maintaining colonial divisions under the Peace of Westphalia which ushered in modern-time colonial sovereignty.
However, some efforts were made to reunite Africa as championed by the likes of Julius Nyerere (Tanzania) Ahmed Sekou Touré (Guinea), Kwame Nkrumah (Ghana) and many more whose dreams were felled due to myopia and negativity individuality, not to mention narrow interests that resulted into pointless wrangles for the perilous division of Africa. To make matters worse, those who succeeded these founders became even more myopic and sitting ducks that dark forces have always used to hamper, sabotage and suffocate the unification of Africa. In a simple parlance, contemporary African leaders failed to reunify Africa for the fears of losing their morsels they exploit by being in the statehouses behaving exactly like those they booted out.
Despite malady and malice regarding reunifying Africa, the East Africa’s not left out of the efforts to reunite Africa as a whole or regionally. It embarked on the unification of the region giving birth to the East African Community (EAC I 1967-1977), which’s later felled by idiosyncratic and myopic reasons. The same also affected the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) and later the African Unity (AU). Thanks to colonial lees, the intended unity of Africa remained illusory and ceremonial even under the AU.
Practically, the move that EAC took was an antithetic and a challenge to the rest of Africa that refused to be reunited. However, there were other unions of federations such as Senegal-Gambia or Senegambia (1982-1989) and the Economic Commission of West African States (ECOWAS-1975 to present) among notable ones. The long story short, I’ll address a few reasons why the EAC and Africa must shake off their colonial after-effects; and thereby embark on true reunification of the region as follows:
First, reunification means, at best, returning back to its organic formula which gave the region and Africa the bang for buck and edge of living without necessarily depending on handouts from rich countries as it currently is after being colonized in the 18th Century; thereby ushering in dependency, exploitation and imperialism that saw Africa become the backwater of the world to exploit as pleased. The sage’s it that your donor is your owner.
Secondly, practical reunification of region will create many economic, political and social opportunities such as interdependence, interconnectedness peaceability, power, prosperity and above all, trade and unity as the barbs for strength. We inevitably and out of necessity need each other even if we don’t like or love each other.
Thirdly, the reunification of the region will enable it and Africa in general to assert its power globally not to mention increasing security and good use of endowed humongous resources. Reunited EAC and Africa won’t have the many do-nothing and despotic presidents that are responsible for exploiting Africa as black colonizers or the agents of colonialism sustained by the armies.
Fourth, oft-border squabbles will never bother neighbours as it currently is. Refer to how COVID-19 responses in the EAC threatened to set them against each other. Instead, the united Africa will straightforwardly and swiftly allow people and African countries in the one mega-country known as Africa or the EAC to do business among themselves compared to how they do it with non-African countries. Thanks to coloniality and neo-coloniality, many African countries are at home with doing business with foreigners as they shy away from their sister countries. Again, Swahili sage’s it that you can choose a friend[s] but not a neighbor[s]. This means that our interconnectedness is organic and inevitable; whether we like it or not.
Fifth, the reunification of the region, and later, Africa will increase production as a spur by which to grow economically due to the fact that, instead of importing goods from afar, Africa will have an internal supply of some goods it imports from abroad. So, too, it’ll cut the costs of running business and production not to mention environmental degradation from the machinery used to transport goods so as to enhance good prices for the products produced and traded within Africa. Similarly, by having one united country, there won’t be any many presidents, armies, immigration offices and the likes.
Sixth, a united Africa or the EAC will produce what it needs first and thereby satisfactorily feed its people. I wonder, for example, to find that some countries are importing onions from the EU. According to the Agri trade (2011), in January and February 2011, Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire and Mauritania ‘purchased more Dutch onions than 2010 while in 2009, 42% of Dutch onion exports to West Africa went to Senegal, 22% to Côte d’Ivoire and 13% to Mauritania. I hope such dependency ever since increased. This is shameful and surreal for Africa in general. Why importing food stuffs on top of industrial product as if Africa is a barren continent?
In a nutshell, the major question Africa needs to ask and rightly answer’s: why’s Africa become a food importer while it used to feed itself before colonialism’s introduced to Africa? There are those who dubiously say that the population of Africa’s grown exponentially due to improved health services colonialism started. This is utterly duplicitous, fallacious and fictious. One may query why Africa’s able to produce healthy persons who’re taken to the Americas as slaves if at all it didn’t have a very sound health system before colonial. Africa needs to reunite and stem caterwauling like a baby while it’s what it takes as it used to be. Shutting borders at each other for fear of COVID-19 may make sense. Yet, in the long run, it shows how divided we’re. United we stand, divided we fall the sage has it. COVID-19 needs to unite but not divide us as it currently seems to be the case.
Source: African Executive Magazine
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