The East African Community has earned praise as the most progressive of all the five economic blocs on the continent, but unfortunately member states don’t seem to get it right when reforming institutions of governance.
Right now, lawmaking in the region is at a crossroads. We have a situation where incumbents not only manipulate the views of the public on the type of constitution they want, but go the whole hog to ensure self-preservation.
Except for Tanzania, that is in the process of overhauling its constitution, and Kenya, which is now struggling to implement an ambitious document, the rest of the East African partner states — Uganda and Burundi — have to deal with situations where incumbents change or attempt to change the constitution to cling to power beyond their designated terms or do away with term limits altogether.
For a start, Kenya’s Constitution, promulgated four years ago, was a product of compromise and accommodation of different interests.
Some experts have argued that it was actually a ceasefire agreement after the 2007 post-election violence and that Kenyans voted for a new Constitution out of fear that failure to produce one as per the Agenda Item 4 negotiated by Kofi Annan could have resulted in war.
Now, Kenyans have a situation where they are being blackmailed by politicians who amend the Constitution to suit their whims.
Members of Parliament, Governors and County Assembly Representatives are now taking advantage of some lacunae in the negotiated document to advance their selfish interests.
Tanzania has a chance of learning from the mistakes of the other partner states by focusing on pertinent issues like the state of the Union, the land tenure system and the structure of governance.
In Uganda, President Yoweri Museveni in 2005 coerced parliament into removing the term limit on the basis that having restored law and order in the country after constant political instability for 24 years since the Pearl of Africa gained Independence in 1962, the country would degenerate into chaos without him.
Now, Western Youth MP Gerald Karuhanga is agitating for a return of the term limit but Uganda watchers are saying that it is a futile effort given Museveni’s firm grip on the Ugandan psyche.
The neighbouring Rwanda could be forced to amend its Constitution should President Paul Kagame — having been credited for resurrecting the country after the 1994 genocide — decide to seek a third term.
In Burundi, President Pierre Nkurunziza’s fairly obvious intention to change the Constitution to run for a third term after his constitutional term ends in 2015 is raising prospects of a return to civil war.
In 2005, President Nkurunziza inspired hope among Burundians fatigued by 13 years of civil war. But now, his desire to go against the Arusha Agreement that restored peace in Burundi could well taint his legacy.
