EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY

When I talk about EAC, it is East African Community, therefore, it is found in East Africa. It was formed in 1967 mainly formed to promote trade among countries and also;

- to promote unity and cooperation among member states

- to create a wider market for their goods.

When I say member states, I mean the countries that makeup East African Community.

EAC was formed by three countries in 1967 and these were Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania each country had a president that helped in forming in East African Community, H.E Dr Apollo Milton Obote from Uganda, H.E Jomo Kenyatta from Kenya and Julius Nyerere from Tanzania.

These member states benefit a lot from this Organisation For example EAC enable countries to get goods they cannot produce, creating a wider market for goods, It has also promoted free movement of people, and goods across the borders of member states, which means when a person is moving to one of the East African Community countries he/she doesn’t require a visa. After operating for 10 years EAC collapsed in 1977 due to shortage of funds and many other factors.

H.E Idi Amin Dada from Uganda, H.E Jomo Kenyatta from Kenya and Julius Nyerere from Tanzania were the presidents by the time it collapsed. Between 1993- 1999 preparation was made to revive it, and EAC was officially revived in 2000. Presidents were H.E Yoweri Kaguta Museveni for Uganda, H.E Daniel Arap Moi for Kenya and H.E Fredrick Mkapa for Tanzania.

Since then, EAC has expanded to seven member states after Rwanda and Burundi joined in 2007, South Sudan in 2016 and recently DRC in 2022.

By : Silvan Ebwalu

Primary Six.