Is Tanzania out to derail the move towards a united East Africa Community?

It's still too early to judge, but the actions of that country's administration would seem to point in that direction. Evidence abounds.

The five member states, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi, aim to set up a common market by 2010-- free movement of goods, labour and capital- and a monetary union- single taxation federation of the east African member states by 2015. But Tanzania looks to be wavering in its commitment.

Two weeks ago, Dar es Salaam made it clear that its land would not be available for sale to citizens of other member countries.

The land, it says, will only be "accessible to serious investors and not the poor from other countries."

This would seem to negate the spirit of the East Africa Treaty that allows ownership of land to the citizens of all member countries and is provided for under the Right of Residence, one of the major items under the treaty.

Addressing private sector representatives from EAC member states, Tanzania's East African Co-operation minister Diodorus B. Kamala said this item has to be renegotiated.

Denying that Tanzania was backtracking on its commitment to regional integration, the minister, however, noted that the process could take longer than originally thought because of "thorny matters' that had not been well articulated."

Furthermore, he made an interesting proposition: Tanzania would press for the inclusion of provisions in the proposed EA Common Market to address regional disparities.

Tanzania seeks a revival of the Kampala Agreement of the 1960s that established rules that limited each of the three member countries to participation in designated industries.

"This approach will result in the emergence of EA firms which can compete globally and which can produce goods competitively by taking advantage of the economies of scale," he said.

In April, Tanzania's negotiating team nearly failed to attend a meeting in Kigali where a number of treaties and agreements were concluded. The excuse was that the team was still consulting nationally.

Just as the meeting was about to end, Tanzania weighed in with its conditions, saying they had to be included if the process were to be considered conclusive.

The other member states caved in, and another meeting was planned for August in Nairobi.

By end of that meeting, the delegates had only managed to condense a list of issues deferred. Tanzania's conditions were the main stumbling block.

Our sister regional publication The EastAfrican reported that the only agreement entered into dealt with non-issues; i.e. the need to restructure the preamble--the introductory remarks--of the proposed Protocol on the EAC Common Market to read "to reflect economic growth and development as the main pillar of the Common Market in addition to free movement of persons, labour, services, capital and right of establishment."

Interestingly, Tanzania objects to free movement of the four specified factors of production. It wants conditions placed on each, all because of its fear that Kenya and Uganda will exploit its resources , leaving little for its own citizens.

On capital, Tanzania is yet to open up its markets, with the latest example being its refusal to allow other EAC member countries to participate in its stock market.

But it is not only Tanzania that is wary of the consequences of the proposed integration. Other EAC countries and their citizens have their own concerns. It is how they handle these concerns that makes the difference.

In fact, the Uganda business community is said to be equally wary of its Kenyan counterpart. In the days leading to the Nairobi meeting, they left nothing to chance, calling a meeting between the Uganda government-- six ministers attended-- and their representative.

They were demanding that Uganda go to Nairobi to seek another decade of protection from competitors from other East African partner states.

The response of the Ugandan government was direct and to the point: we are in this for better prospects, not for protection.

"We should not discuss protectionism or equality but unity. Issues of equality are what sank the first East African Community because other countries thought that Kenya was gaining more," second deputy premier and minister for East African affairs, Eriya Kategeya told the Ugandan business leaders.

The most Uganda was willing to do was to listen to their input on which policies and regulatory frameworks would ensure competitiveness. "...but you should not tell us to stop going East African," Mr Kategeya told them.

Uganda has been leading the push for integration under the direction of President Yoweri Museveni.

The Ugandan leader was quoted in May 2007 as urging that the integration process be implemented with or without Tanzania's participation. Kenya vetoed that idea.

But while Tanzania appears to be dragging its feet on EAC integration, its commitment to the Southern African Development Community (SADC) looks unwavering. Tanzania is the only EAC member state with membership in SADC.

Most of Tanzania's trade is with South Africa whose corporates and citizens are the main beneficiaries of the bloc's relaxed trading policies.

The SADC Trade Protocol was signed in 1996 and came into effect in October 2000.

The protocol aims at removing intraregional trade barriers and turning the community into a free trade area for 85 per cent of goods by August 1, 2008, and for all goods by 2012.

The latest update says the August 1, 2008 deadline has been met by all member countries except Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo, who are not part of that agreement.

Because of this, Tanzania looks more poised to join the proposed United States of Southern Africa than the EAC.

By 2010 SADC is to move to single a customs union, to a common market by 2015, and to a monetary union by 2016.

By 2010 EAC aims to move to a common market and a monetary union by 2012.

How Tanzania intends to meets its obligations under its memberships in the two competing regional blocs is not known, raising suspicions over where its heart really lies.