The managing director of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, was last week in Kampala, where she met Ugandan government officials,
addressed journalists and delivered a public lecture.
Among other things, Ms Lagarde cautioned member states of the East African Community not to rush into full integration without clearly-understood and harmonized positions. (See Key questions unanswered even after IMF chief’s visit, The Observer, February 1).
Ms Lagarde said the region needed “intelligent regional integration”, with member states leveraging their respective economic strengths. Specifically, she urged a slow, one-step-at-a-time approach. We think this is good advice, especially from a Ugandan perspective, and at a time when the world is trying to figure out the full effect of Donald Trump and Brexit.
This year, it is 18 years since the treaty reviving the EAC was signed, and 12 since the the EAC customs union came into force. But as we reported recently, the region is failing to significantly grow trade (See EAC struggles to create enough trade – IMF, The Observer, January 23).
Free movement of labour remains largely a myth, especially into Tanzania and Kenya. The IMF reported that intra-region trade has not grown in the last 16 years, with Kenya and Tanzania importing particularly little from fellow EAC states.
Yet at the same time, President Museveni has remained an enthusiastic champion of political federation as the logical conclusion to the present EAC processes.
While regional integration has been held up as an international cooperation ideal, the “America first” protectionist rhetoric from the Donald Trump administration in America, coupled with Britain’s exit from the European Union, makes Lagarde’s remarks timely.
It now appears that the values of the internal system as previously idealized are facing their sternest test in a generation.
In the face of the Trump reality, German chancellor Angela Merkel retorted that Europe must respond with unity. We can say the same about the EAC: we need to act together and grow together. But we need to be cautious, and ensure that regional integration brings to Uganda as much as Uganda gives.