EAC Helplessness

Charles Onyango-Obbo—Kenya has just set a record for having the crisis that attracted the most former African presidents.

Last week, Tanzania’s Ben Mkapa, Mozambique’s Joachim Chissano, Zambia’s Kenneth Kaunda and Botswana’s Ketumile Masire, were in Kenya to help end the violence that broke out after the disputed December 27, 2007 election.

Sierra Leone’s former president Ahmed Tejan Kabbah, who had led the Commonwealth election observer team to Kenya, had the first stab at bringing the politicians together after the elections when he finished his vote monitoring duties.

US Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi Frazer probably spent the longest time she has in an Africa country on a political assignment, also trying to help sort things out between President Mwai Kibaki and his rival Raila Odinga.

Finally, Ghanaian President John Kufuor rode into town to do his bit. He left us guessing on what exactly happened, as the Kibaki and Raila sides make contradictory statements about the talks. It’s now expected that former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan will also get a piece of action in the days to come.

WHAT’S STRIKING ABOUT ALL THIS is that the East African Community has had no public role at all. President Yoweri Museveni has said he has spoken to both Kibaki and Raila, and it has been reported that Tanzania’s President Jakaya Kikwete has been playing a “backroom” role to help ease tensions.

In Museveni’s case, one of the calls he made to Kibaki was to congratulate him on his victory. We didn’t know what had transpired between him and Raila, until the latter revealed in a Kampala radio interview that he called Museveni to ask him if he had anything to do with alleged armed men driving Ugandan registered trucks who shot and killed protesters in Kisumu. Museveni pleaded innocent.

The EAC’s near-irrelevance in the Kenyan crisis so far has shamed those of us who had always been gung ho about regional unity.

Not too long ago, I boasted in this column that the harmony among East African countries was greater than that between any other groups of countries in Africa’s different regions..

Obviously, events in Kenya have shown that that was a romantic view of the possibilities of the region. For proximity creates factors that limit the ability of neighbours to have a moral influence on each other, because they know each other too well. Thus a Museveni who has treated his Dr Kizza Besigye appallingly badly does not have the credibility to counsel Kibaki on how he should deal with Raila. In any event, Kibaki could say he has so far treated Raila magnanimously, unlike Museveni, who has imprisoned and tormented Besigye endlessly.

Also, the Kenyan crisis has revealed that good neighbourliness sometimes doesn’t run too deep. There is a feeling in Uganda, and more strongly in Tanzania, that Kenya has a chip on its shoulder. The Tanzanian media reported the election troubles and violence with glee, because they finally seemed to confirm what they had thought of Kenya.

In Uganda, there is a constituency that feels that Kenya has for far too long mocked the country because of its history of wars and stolen elections.

With Kenya poised precariously on the edge, it seemed to be headed where Uganda had been. To those who bear a grudge, Kenya has been humbled. As someone put it in an SMS, “Kenya’s wings have been clipped.”

EVERYONE, HOWEVER, SEEMS TO BE missing the big troubling questions. First, it was Uganda. Then Rwanda, then Burundi. Now Kenya. Does that mean it will be Tanzania’s turn soon? And what’s the cost of all this to the EAC’s reputation? Sometimes, it helps to be nice to your neighbour.

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Charles Onyango-Obbo is Nation Media Group’s managing editor for convergence and new products.

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