By Peter Magomu Mashate
In the past two weeks, there has been a seemingly a political campaign by some of our brothers in Kenya appearing on social media and the East African News paper suggesting that Uganda’s case against Kenya is a hostile act.
This is to the effect that former Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta has been seen hobnobbing with Ugandan political elites and yet Uganda has filed a case against Kenya over oil related dispute.
In particular, one of the Kenyan politicians Robert Alai made a comment on X, accusing the former Kenyan leader of using Uganda Airline on his way to DR Congo alongside Ugandan Vice President Maj. Jessica Alupo who successfully represented Uganda at the swearing-in ceremony of H.E Felix Tshisekedi, the DR Congo President.
In his post which was later picked up by The East African paper and also attracted social media comments, Mr. Alai claimed that by H.E Uhuru flying on Uganda Airlines and also talking with Ugandan officials, was ‘an indication of lack of patriotism on his part’ noting that Uganda and Kenya have in recent days been seen to be bickering over oil issues the reason Uganda took Kenya to court.
Without prejudice to the matter before court, one wonders whether by Uganda taking the matter to court was a sign of hostility as opposed to being seen as a sign of brotherhood of seeking an independent adjudicator (East African Court of Justice) who happens to be a member of the EAC family to which both countries are important players.
It’s important to recap the factors that led to the collapse of the first EAC where Uganda by all standards lost out miserably. It should be recalled that among other things, Tanzania housed the headquarters for East African Civil Aviation with all the aircrafts based there, Kenya had the headquarters of the East African Railways while Uganda only housed the East African Postal headquarters at Nakawa. When it collapsed, each member state virtually seized whichever assets they hosted.
All these happened because there were disagreements among the political class of the member states especially between Uganda and Tanzania and unfortunately, there was no effective established avenue within the EAC to resolve them. Whether they were legal disputes or political ones, the fact remains they needed an institution to arbitrate.
The fact that we now have such an established institution called the EACJ to which Uganda has decided to approach for a resolution of a dispute with a brother state and member of the community, demonstrates Uganda’s unreservedly willingness to make the community work and veer away from the factors that led to it’s collapse in the earlier setting.
It therefore, baffles me when some elements within Kenyan political class question the spirit in which their former Leader Uhuru Kenyatta simply flew on Uganda Airlines with a Ugandan high ranking official whom by coincidence happened to be on the same flight.
On this note, I wish to ask such alarmist politicians if they know how many countless times Uganda political elites and the citizens have flown Kenya Airways and vice versa. Isn’t the EAC protocol on trade about economic empowerment of member states and therefore Uganda Airlines not part of the country’s assets that promote trade and economic ties? I want to invite such alarmists to look at how far the European Union has gone over the years in the spirit of unhindered intra-trade and elimination of all barriers and retrogressive sentiments.
In conclusion, let us welcome the fact that this EAC is working as evidenced by the expanding membership. Let’s not squander this opportunity of togetherness under this economic forum. Together, we must make it work with all it’s established institutions. Politics of sectarianism and parochial interests should be discouraged as we continue the crusade of achieving ultimately a political federation like our friends in the European Union.
The writer is a London-based Constitutional and Human Rights Barrister At-Law
