Land issue holding back EAC integration

By Luke Anami in Arusha

East African Community must address the issue of land ownership to hasten the implementation of a common market.

Speakers at the on-going East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) symposium called for the hastening of the implementation of the common market to spur free movement of people within the region.

"The vast majority of East Africans are peasants. The question that concerns peasants is that of land," Prof Mahmood Mamdani, Director, Makerere Institute of Research said. "Without secure access to land, there is no secure livelihood."

He took issue with the EAC heads of state resolution that under the Common Market Protocol (CMP), land ownership will still be subject to the governing laws of each country, saying it slows down the integration process.

"The EAC has not solved the issue of land but only shelved it. The earlier the issue is sorted out the better for the future of the EAC," Prof Mamdani said.

Land has been the most sensitive area to EAC partner states, particularly Tanzanians, during the negotiations for the EAC CMP. Tanzania has vast land compared to the rest of the member states, which is either over populated or the limited arable land they have is in the hands of a few capitalists or feudal lords. And according to Tanzanian laws foreigners cannot own land. But it could be leased to them.

Initially, the CMP called for land ownership in order to spur free movement of people and labour. But this only increased Tanzania’s fears that their land would be grabbed.

Speedy solution

Speakers at the symposium —who included EAC Assistant Minister Peter Munya, Martha Karua and EALA members of parliament — called for a speedy solution to the matter as the EAC gears for a monetary Union in 2012, and eventually a political federation in 2015.

"East Africans must own the EAC integration process in order to buy into it. We must be ready to tackle the critical issues facing the EAC, including land, instead of avoiding them," Kenya’s MP for Gichugu, Martha Karua said.

The EALA symposium began in Arusha on June 29, to discuss the way forward for the ten-year-old community, and also commemorate one year since the common market protocol came into force on July 1, 2010.