Ceding sovereign powers of the Partner State to the East African Community – a viable integration model?

Abstract

As a result of the changing nature of public international law, state sovereignty is increasingly becoming limited in the interests of the broader international community. The central thesis of this paper is that the East African Community Treaty, 1999 envisages the ceding of sovereignty by Partner States to the Community organs, though implicitly. It posits that the integration model adopted by the East African Community (EAC) is rather sceptical compared to other regional blocs whose provisions on pooling of the sovereignty are explicit. The paper thus addresses the legal aspects of transfer of sovereign power and its implications for the growing importance of regional economic integration. It suggests that the commitment to the EAC integration process not only requires the explicit inclusion of elements of ceding sovereignty to the Community in order to facilitate the integration process but also the political will of the Partner States to abide by the decisions resulting from the powers so ceded.