Mwita discusses East African integration, borders

Africa’s national borders are often the products of colonization, Mahiri Mwita, lecturer in the Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies, said during a lectureon Wednesday.

Before 1884, he said, Africa consisted of simple communities with no clear borders. When the European powers decided to divide Africa according to their own interests at the Berlin conference, borders were drawn and countries were given names.

“Very few people in Africa know what the name of their country means,” Mwita said. “After independence, the countries that emerged and the blocs that emerged were actually replicas of what was there during the colonial period.”

Growing up near the border of Tanzania and Kenya during the Cold War years presented challenges, he said.

“We felt like we were the ground zero of the cold war,” he explained. “It was like a literal Berlin Wall, happening in East Africa. These are people who do not only speak the same language but people who belong to the same family. We could not cross to the Tanzanian side.”

Immediately after African states achieved their independence, the movement of Pan-Africanism began, he explained. Leaders wanted to form a confederation that would resemble the United States. Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania came together with the intention of forming a union in 1967.

However, the union did not last very long due to unresolved political differences, Mwita said. Kenya adopted a capitalist economy, while the government of Tanzania nationalized all property.

Today, the second phase of effort to form one economic bloc is still under way. That organization, called the East African Community, is trying to bring together its combined population of 143.5 million into a monetary and political union, which is more ambitious than the bloc’s previous integration, Mwita said.

"[The goal is] eventual integration into a formidable bloc that can stand against the United States, against the European Union, or negotiate on equal terms,” he said.

Economies of Eastern African countries have been growing rapidly. The abundance of oil and gas reserves in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Sudan have been an important factor. In addition, the expansion of the cell phone industry has allowed for greater internet access and better communication.

“I don’t think Africa needs to go through industrialization for them to survive in the globalized world,” Mwita said. “I think they may have to manufacture ideas instead of manufacturing goods.”

For example, East Africa has invented a new and cheaper way of transferring money via the internet on mobile devices, known as M-Pesa.

The EAC will have to overcome some challenges in order to be successful, he added. For instance, the pre- and post-Cold War legacy may serve as a limiting factor, because Tanzania still has a strained relationship with its neighbors, especially Kenya.

Recent years have seen the formation of a middle class in Africa.

“The hype of Africa rising is not just a hype,” Mwita said. “The middle class is rising.”

More people are now enjoying “the Kenyan, Ugandan or Tanzanian dream — owning a simple house, taking your children to high school and having a cow and a small garden, for example,” he said.“If you can instill some confidence in [the middle class] and have them produce ... what they eat, I don’t think you need much to sustain the economy.”