Restructuring Economic Integration in East Africa: Can The East African Community Learn from other Regional Trade Agreements?

Economic integration is not new to East Africa. It can be traced back to the creation of the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) in 1917, which was the world’s first customs union. Upon gaining independence, states formed the Organization of African Unity (OAU) and Regional Economic Communities (REC) began to proliferate. One of these RECs was the East African Community, which started as from the days of the British rule over East Africa and continued after independence. The community which started out as a successful organisation and was attracting interests from neighbouring states ended up collapsing less than a decade into its existence. Two decades later the community was re-established by the previous members and later expanded to add three additional members. Today the EAC is considered by many to be the most developed REC in Africa, given that it is the only Monetary Union in the continent. However, the EAC is still suffering from internal issues that hinder its development, this paper aims to address the legal side of these issues, specifically the enforcement of community law within the national legal systems of member states. Starting with an overview of the integration process of the former EAC, the paper will then move to the issue of enforcement of community law and examine the legal mechanisms that have been advanced by most academics as being necessary to the success of any REC. The examination will be critical in nature and will be followed by a comparison between the EAC, the Southern African Development Community, the Economic Community of West African States and the European Union. The aim of such comparison is to highlight the issues associated with comparing the EU to African RECs by demonstrating their unique nature. The paper calls for the advancement of the notion of flexible legal regimes as an ideal choice for African RECs.