East African Community Region Research Articles

The Role Of Kenya’s Economic Diplomacy In Enhancing Economic Resilience In The East African Community (EAC) Region

Economic diplomacy is emerging as a critical pillar in the foreign policy of states around the world. The Kenya Foreign Policy Framework (2014) recognizes economic diplomacy as one of the key pillars of the state’s foreign policy alongside peace diplomacy, environmental diplomacy, cultural diplomacy and diaspora diplomacy. The East African Community (EAC) region has a long history of fostering economic cooperation right from the time of the East African Cooperation up to date. This is the foundation of the shared economic objective of enhancing economic development for the region as a way of building resilient economies that can overcome global economic challenges that have been occasioned by globalization and the related complex inter dependencies among states. This has seen EAC states move towards regional integration efforts. This study examined broadly how this pillar is cast towards the realization of resilient economies in the East African region and how this contributes towards the region’s economic development. It specifically focused on three crucial research objectives: first, is to examine the foreign policy formulation process touching on economic interests; secondly, is to investigate the key economic diplomacy strategies that Kenya employs in the region towards enhancing economic resilience; thirdly is to evaluate the achievements of Kenya’s economic diplomacy towards the EAC region. The study employed an explanatory research design anchored on a mixed method of data collection employing the use of questionnaires and interviews.

Women Entrepreneurs in East Africa: How Women Integration can boost Entrepreneurial Solutions to Sustainable Development. A Review of Literature

Women’s contributions to sustainable development and trade development are recognized at the national level in the East African community nation’s Frameworks for financial development and trade policy. This paper focuses on examining how women’s Integration can boost Entrepreneurial Solutions to Sustainable Development in the East African Community member states of Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda. The researcher employed secondary data to conduct a thorough literature search. On how Women’s Integration can boost Entrepreneurial Solutions to Sustainable Development in the East African community context. The findings indicated that overcoming obstacles including inadequate market access, market competition, Poor business education, inadequate infrastructure, a lack of resources, a lack of access to raw materials, an unreliable electricity supply, and a lack of marketing knowledge, production restrictions, and a lack of storage space. Additionally, having few contacts outside of prejudice and class bias, lack of social acceptance, relationships with the workforce, attitudes of other workers, and society’s low opinion of women are the bigger social hurdles for them to choose entrepreneurship in the East African community Fellow Countries. As a result, the report suggests that governments of East African Community Member States improve state subsidies, create welcoming workplaces, and The East African community region as a whole needs to embrace gender and strengthen the position of women in the advancement of culture, society, politics, the economy, and technology. Member Nations should encourage gender equality and women, effective assimilation, engagement in sustainable growth at all levels, especially in the outcome; eradicate discrimination laws and customs; support efficient education awareness programs aimed at changing negative attitudes toward women, and develop or embrace new technology that will ensure the security of occupation and certified success for females.

The East African Community mobile laboratory network prepares for monkeypox outbreaks.

In response to the largest recorded monkeypox virus outbreak outside of endemic Central and Western Africa, the East African Community (EAC), in cooperation with the Bernhard-Nocht- Institute for Tropical Medicine, coordinated an emergency monkeypox diagnostic training for the East African Region. As of June 2022, the Democratic Republic of Congo reported a steady increase of suspected monkeypox cases, increasing the risk of spill-over into the remaining six EAC Partner States. Within the existing EAC Mobile Laboratories project, laboratory experts of the National Public Health Laboratories of the remaining six EAC Partner States (Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, and South Sudan) participated in the workshop and were trained in the reception of suspect samples, DNA extraction and diagnosis using real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The EAC region is now equipped with the tools to prepare and rapidly respond to any emerging monkeypox outbreak.

Responsibility of the East African Community to Safeguard Physical Integrity and Freedom of the Citizens of its Member States

This paper looks at the responsibility that the East African Community (EAC) has in safeguarding the right of physical integrity and freedom among the citizens of the Community’s Partner States. It examines the extent in which the EAC has discharged that responsibility and what needs to be in response to any existing shortcomings. The first part of this work is the conceptual framework where the key concepts have been defined and explained. Those concepts are the right to bodily integrity and freedom. The next part is on the legal and institutional framework of the East African Community which deals with protection of the right of physical integrity and freedom. After that part, I have presented a number of incidents of violation of the right of physical integrity and freedom within the EAC region in order to use them as the basis for examining the performance of the EAC’s responsibility referred to herein. The main findings of this work are that EAC has an enormous responsibility to safeguard the right to physical integrity and freedom within its jurisdiction; and that so far, the EAC has underperformed that task. Most of what has been done is more of strategizing, planning and expression of commitments while very little work has been down on the ground. As a result, many citizens of EAC Partner States continue to suffer gross violations of their right of physical integrity as well as their freedoms both from governmental and non-governmental actors. In view of that, the paper has urged the EAC and its Partner States to be more proactive in discharging that significant responsibility.

Effect of Human Capital Development on Kenya’s Manufacturing Exports to EAC Region

Manufacturing industries have played a significant role in boosting economic wellbeing in the world through accelerating and maintaining greater productivity growth, boosting employment options for semi-skilled workers, and increasing country competitiveness through exports. Kenya, like many other developing nations, is working to build a strong manufacturing industry. Agriculture and services have been the primary drivers of growth in the country. Historically, the manufacturing sector's contribution to Kenya's economy has remained constant at 10% of GDP, and in 2021, it was around 8.4 percent. As a result, the country has seen an early deindustrialization, as evidenced by the manufacturing sector's contribution to GDP, which was just 8.4% in 2021 and 9.2% in 2016. Boosting manufacturing sector results remains a key priority for Kenya, as evidenced by the slew of planned interventions for the industry that have been created over the years. The government has established Vision 2030, the Kenya Industrial Transformation Programme (KITP), and, most recently, the Big 4 Agenda to modernize the industrial sector. The major goal of this research was to see how human capital development (HCD) affected Kenya's manufactured exports to the East African Community (EAC). The specific goals was to examine the impact of human capital development on Kenya's manufacturing exports to the EAC region. The Gravity model was used as the theoretical framework for the study, which is based on the theory of international trade and employs a correlation research design that is ideal for dynamic panel data models. Each country's data for

Examination of Security Challenges in the East African Community (EAC) Region

It is well settled worldwide that the most basic purpose of the state is to make people safe or feel safe within their secured state thereby gaining confidence, reassurance, and predictability of life. Partner states in the East African Community (EAC) strive to individually and collectively ensure that the security and development of the region and its people is guaranteed. This paper seeks to critically examine the security challenges in the EAC region, which range from resource – based conflicts, climate change, and organised crimes to maritime security. Data was collected through documentary review. It is concluded that much as the EAC region faces security challenges, efforts are made to address them. However, given the dynamic nature of those challenges, the efforts seem to be inadequate. The author recommends the establishment of a specific organ dedicated to security, having regional strategic engagement to tap the marine resources, strengthening regional security initiatives, enhancing the implementation of the legal regime to address the security challenges, the need for regional multijurisdictional taskforces and joint operations and spearheading implementation of regional and international security strategies.

Effect of Infrastructural Development on Kenya’s Manufacturing Exports to EAC Region

Manufacturing industries have played a significant role in boosting economic wellbeing in the world through accelerating and maintaining greater productivity growth, boosting employment options for semi-skilled workers, and increasing country competitiveness through exports. Kenya, like many other developing nations, is working to build a strong manufacturing industry. Agriculture and services have been the primary drivers of growth in the country. Historically, the manufacturing sector's contribution to Kenya's economy has remained constant at 10% of GDP, and in 2021 it was around 8.4 percent. As a result, the country has seen an early deindustrialization, as evidenced by the manufacturing sector's contribution to GDP, which was just 8.4% in 2021 and 9.2% in 2016. Boosting manufacturing sector results remains a key priority for Kenya, as evidenced by the slew of planned interventions for the industry that have been created over the years. The government has established Vision 2030, the Kenya Industrial Transformation Programme (KITP), and, most recently, the Big 4 Agenda to modernize the industrial sector. The major goal of this research was to see how infrastructure development (ID) affected Kenya's manufactured exports to the East African Community (EAC). The specific goals were to determine the impact of infrastructure development on Kenya's manufacturing exports to the EAC region. Gravity model was used as the theoretical framework for the study, which is based on the theory of international trade and employs a correlation research design that is ideal for dynamic panel data models. Each country's data for the study variables was obtained from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Kenya Nation Bureau of Statistics, World Bank development and African Development Bank for six EAC members for the period 2007–2021. Unit root test, Im-Pesaran and Shin, Levin-Li-Chu tests were used in the study. The Im-Pesaran unit root test results at Levels indicated that all the variables except inflation had unit root at levels as indicated by the p-values>0.05, except inflation which had a p-value of 0.0006

MONETARY UNION FEASIBILITY IN THE EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY: EVIDENCE FROM GPPP

This study utilises the generalised purchasing power parity (GPPP) to assess the feasibility of a monetary union in the East African Community (EAC) region. Time series and panel vector error correction models (VCM) were used to analyse monthly data from 1996-2016 for the five EAC countries. The cointegration results support the existence of a long-run relationship between the tested variables, providing evidence for the optimum currency area (OCA) and the feasibility of monetary union in the EAC region. The VECM results indicate some differences in the size of the coefficients, suggesting that any change/shock of real exchange rate in the region may cause unintended currency flow from one country to the other in the short run, and this may constrain the possibility of an effective and efficient monetary union. Therefore, member countries should harmonise their monetary policies well ahead of the implementation of the monetary union the region.Keywords: East African Community, Monetary Union, GPPP, Optimum Currency Area.JEL Classifications: E42, F15, F31, F36, F45DOI: https://doi.org/10.32479/ijefi.11846

A framing analysis of mainstream newspaper coverage of the 2013 ‘Coalition of the Willing’ initiative in East Africa

The phrase, ‘Coalition of the Willing’, emerged in East Africa in 2013, when three East African Community (EAC) members (Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda) forged a Tripartite Initiative to fast-track the EAC regional integration, sidelining Tanzania and Burundi, for their apparent ‘aloofness’ to integration. This coalition created tensions among the five countries, exacerbating an already simmering conflict between Tanzania and Rwanda involving the expulsion of ‘illegal’ Rwandan migrants from Tanzania. Informed by contemporary political communication and media framing, this article examines how these events were framed in five leading newspapers in East Africa: theDaily Nation(Kenya), theDaily Monitor(Uganda),The Citizen(Tanzania),The New Times(Rwanda) andThe East African(EAC region). Through a thematic frame analysis, we interrogate the prevalence and implications of five prominent themes found in most political conflicts (attributions of responsibility, conflict, human interest, economic consequences and morality) on the ‘Coalition of the Willing’ media debate. The analysis reveals conflicting frames with a potential to inflame antagonistic media debates to the integration efforts – by the resultant blame-game and opening up of historical wounds and personal differences, among the key players.

National medicines regulatory authorities financial sustainability in the East African Community.

Adequate and sustainable funding of national medicine regulatory agencies (NMRAs) is key for assurance of quality, safety and efficacy of medical products circulating in a market. The study aimed to determine factors affecting NMRAs funding in five East African Community (EAC) countries namely: Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania (Mainland and Zanzibar) and Uganda. An exploratory, mixed method design using both qualitative and quantitative data, was employed. Data from six NMRAs was collected through a combination of semi-structured interviews, questionnaires, and checklists for the period 2011/12-2014/15 while 2010/11 data served as baseline. Interviews were conducted with heads of NMRAs and monitoring and evaluation experts of the respective agencies. NMRA's financing was assessed using six indicators namely, funding policy, financial autonomy, the total annual budget, actual funding per annum, funds received from various sources, and the NMRA expenditure. The average total annual budget for all the EAC countries during the study period 2011-2015 ranged from USD 824,328.67 to USD 10,724,536.50. The low budget in Zanzibar may be attributed to population and pharmaceutical market size. Uganda's attainment of 98.75% (USD 10,656,704) revenue from industry fees is a result of deliberate government policy change from 100% reliance on donor funding over a period of 10 years (1995-2015). On average, the proportion of revenue against budget per annum is 54.8% (USD 458,970.11), 98.7% (USD 10,302,295.25) and 100% (USD 7,375,802.08) for Zanzibar Food & Drugs Agency (ZFDA), Uganda National Drug Authority (NDA) and Tanzania Medicines and Medical Devices Authority (TMDA) respectively. Governments, industry fees and donors are the major sources of funding across all NMRAs in the EAC region, with TMDA and Uganda NDA relying more on industry fees by 73.20% (USD 4,664,777.59) and 98.25% (USD 8,077,238.20) respectively. While Burundi relies solely on government funding, ZFDA, on the other hand, received on average 50.40% (USD 252,557.22) from government and 40.60% (USD 165,303.34) from industry fees and the remaining 9% from donors and other sources. An overall contribution of funds received from donors by each NMRA was the least among other sources of financing. Observation of expenditure patterns indicated operational costs to be the major expense in the majority of the NMRAs, followed by salaries and infrastructure development. The Kenya NMRA has the highest degree of average expenditure across all three categories, with the least average expenditures being marked by Burundi NMRA. The operational costs on average increased considerably in all the NMRAs during the study period. Evidence from the EAC suggests that government and industry fees are the main sources of funding while donor contributions vary from country to country. Government policy, legal framework, and fees structure are the key enablers of NMRAs funding sustainability.

Climate change and food security in EAC region: a panel data analysis

PurposeThis study aims to analyze the impact of global climate change on food security in the East African Community (EAC) region, using panel data analysis for five countries, over 2000-2014.Design/methodology/approachThe determinants of food security are expressed as a function of rainfall, temperature, land area under cereal production, and population size. The paper used pooled fixed effects to estimate the relationship among these variables.FindingsFindings show that food security in EAC is adversely affected by temperature. However, precipitation and increasing areas cultivated with cereal crops will be beneficial to ensure everyone's food security.Originality/valueActions for mitigating global warming are important for EAC to consolidate the region’s economic, political and social development/stability.

Effects of scaling up various community-level interventions on child mortality in Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania: a modeling study

BackgroundImproving child health remains one of the most significant health challenges in sub-Saharan Africa, a region that accounts for half of the global burden of under-five mortality despite having approximately 13% of the world population and 25% of births globally. Improving access to evidence-based community-level interventions has increasingly been advocated to contribute to reducing child mortality and, thus, help low-and middle-income countries (LMICs) achieve the child health related Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target. Nevertheless, the coverage of community-level interventions remains suboptimal. In this study, we estimated the potential impact of scaling up various community-level interventions on child mortality in five East African Community (EAC) countries (i.e., Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and the United Republic of Tanzania).MethodsWe identified ten preventive and curative community-level interventions that have been reported to reduce child mortality: Breastfeeding promotion, complementary feeding, vitamin A supplementation, Zinc for treatment of diarrhea, hand washing with soap, hygienic disposal of children’s stools, oral rehydration solution (ORS), oral antibiotics for treatment of pneumonia, treatment for moderate acute malnutrition (MAM), and prevention of malaria using insecticide-treated nets and indoor residual spraying (ITN/IRS). Using the Lives Saved Tool, we modeled the impact on child mortality of scaling up these 10 interventions from baseline coverage (2016) to ideal coverage (99%) by 2030 (ideal scale-up scenario) relative to business as usual (BAU) scenario (forecasted coverage based on prior coverage trends). Our outcome measures include number of child deaths prevented.ResultsCompared to BAU scenario, ideal scale-up of the 10 interventions could prevent approximately 74,200 (sensitivity bounds 59,068–88,611) child deaths by 2030 including 10,100 (8210–11,870) deaths in Burundi, 10,300 (7831–12,619) deaths in Kenya, 4350 (3678–4958) deaths in Rwanda, 20,600 (16049–25,162) deaths in Uganda, and 28,900 (23300–34,002) deaths in the United Republic of Tanzania. The top four interventions (oral antibiotics for pneumonia, ORS, hand washing with soap, and treatment for MAM) account for over 75.0% of all deaths prevented in each EAC country: 78.4% in Burundi, 76.0% in Kenya, 81.8% in Rwanda, 91.0% in Uganda and 88.5% in the United Republic of Tanzania.ConclusionsScaling up interventions that can be delivered at community level by community health workers could contribute to substantial reduction of child mortality in EAC and could help the EAC region achieve child health-related SDG target. Our findings suggest that the top four community-level interventions could account for more than three-quarters of all deaths prevented across EAC countries. Going forward, costs of scaling up each intervention will be estimated to guide policy decisions including health resource allocations in EAC countries.

Temporal trends in spatial inequalities of maternal and newborn health services among four east African countries, 1999\u20132015

BackgroundSub-Saharan Africa continues to account for the highest regional maternal mortality ratio (MMR) in the world, at just under 550 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births in 2015, compared to a global rate of 216 deaths. Spatial inequalities in access to life-saving maternal and newborn health (MNH) services persist within sub-Saharan Africa, however, with varied improvement over the past two decades. While previous research within the East African Community (EAC) region has examined utilisation of MNH care as an emergent property of geographic accessibility, no research has examined how these spatial inequalities have evolved over time at similar spatial scales.MethodsHere, we analysed temporal trends of spatial inequalities in utilisation of antenatal care (ANC), skilled birth attendance (SBA), and postnatal care (PNC) among four East African countries. Specifically, we used Bayesian spatial statistics to generate district-level estimates of these services for several time points using Demographic and Health Surveys data in Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, and Uganda. We examined temporal trends of both absolute and relative indices over time, including the absolute difference between estimates, as well as change in performance ratios of the best-to-worst performing districts per country.ResultsAcross all countries, we found the greatest spatial equality in ANC, while SBA and PNC tended to have greater spatial variability. In particular, Rwanda represented the only country to consistently increase coverage and reduce spatial inequalities across all services. Conversely, Tanzania had noticeable reductions in ANC coverage throughout most of the country, with some areas experiencing as much as a 55% reduction. Encouragingly, however, we found that performance gaps between districts have generally decreased or remained stably low across all countries, suggesting countries are making improvements to reduce spatial inequalities in these services.ConclusionsWe found that while the region is generally making progress in reducing spatial gaps across districts, improvement in PNC coverage has stagnated, and should be monitored closely over the coming decades. This study is the first to report temporal trends in district-level estimates in MNH services across the EAC region, and these findings establish an important baseline of evidence for the Sustainable Development Goal era.

Can 'The Is' and 'The Ought' be Married? Creating a Sustainable Legal Framework for Intangible Property in the East African Community

The Common Market Protocol of the East African Community (EAC) serves the purpose of encouraging free movement of goods and services across the borders of the EAC Partner States. However, recent legal battles in Uganda and Rwanda highlight the fact that the territorial nature of Intellectual Property Rights is at variance with the spirit of free trade within the EAC, and the legal protection meant to go with such free trade. Coupled with this is the fact that national borders sometimes cut across ethnic groupings that share cultural traits. There is an increasing need to protect Traditional Knowledge (TK) and Traditional Cultural Expressions (TCEs) from misappropriation and exploitation, which inevitably pit different communities and their host countries against each other within the EAC. This is primarily due to the fact that the Partner States within the EAC have responded differently to the need for policy and legal frameworks regarding the protection of TK and TCEs. This paper looks at the contrast between the general interests of the EAC Partner States as portrayed in key treaties that they have signed, and their legal obligations and interests as derived from their respective policy and legal frameworks pertaining to the protection of Intellectual Property, TK and TCEs. The paper points out the underlying challenges that have enabled the situation as it is to be different from what it ought to be in terms of generating enjoyment of free movement of goods and services, as well as promoting a better IP and quasi-IP (TK and TCEs) environment in the EAC. The paper goes on to argue that specific reforms are needed within the EAC region as a whole, as well as within each Partner State, so as to generate a win-win situation.

The Impact of the East African Community Integration on Small & Medium Enterprises. Case of Kenya

The viability of small and medium enterprises (SME‘s) is vital to economic development and growth in the East African Community Region. An important factor in all this is the growth of these enterprises and how they can effectively respond to the environmental (exogenous) factors brought about by the regions‘ integration into a regional block. This study is motivated by the research objective which is to examine the nature of regional integration and the experiences by SME‘s in the East African Community states and considers research questions in their relation to the types of strategies and the external factors influencing the firm‘s strategies as well as changes in their structure. The objectives SME‘s pursue and the extent to which their objectives are achieved is therefore considered. These exogenous variables include access to finance, the legal/regulatory environment and technology, business infrastructure and Labour Mobility. All these are expected to impact on SME's upon operationalisation of regional integration mechanisms.

Implication of Tanzania’s Multiple Memberships in Trade Performances: Focus of EAC and SADC Market

This study discusses implications of Tanzanias multiple membership in trade performance with its two major trading blocks of Southern African Development Community (SADC) and East African Community (EAC). The findings of both intra-trade and RCA shows Tanzanian manufactured and agricultural products to have greater market opportunity compared to the SADC market. Trade in SADC is dominated by agricultural products without value addition and mostly with South Africa. Trade with the rest of SADC countries have higher intra-industry trade on agricultural stuffs such as cereals crops. This study recommends more efforts on EAC market by having and strengthening institutions framework as there is greater market opportunity for manufactured products. Strengthening special bilateral agreements with South Africa to tap the market of agricultural products in SADC; Need for implementing big projects on agro-processing value chains to be able to tap the existing opportunities in EAC region; and Strengthening the participation of the private sector in the integration process to tap the market opportunities.

THE IMPACT OF THE EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY INTEGRATION ON SMALL & MEDIUMENTERPRISES. CASE OF KENYA

The viability of small and medium enterprises (SME's) is vital to economic development and growth in the East African Community Region. An important factor in all this is the growth of these enterp...

Human Rights within the Context of Deepening Integration of the East African Community (EAC)

Monetary and political union is the eventual aim of the East African Community (EAC)’s deepening integration efforts. The region already became a common market in the year 2010. With this common market, it is hoped that production factors can move freely within the region whose total population is 130 million.The East African Community Treaty of 1999 which was amended in 2007 created various structures to aid the deepening integration efforts. These structures included the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA), East African Court of Justice (EACJ) and the East African Secretariat (EAS). The treaty further made provisions on the East African trading regime; monetary and financial cooperation; infrastructure, science and technology; movement of peoples; food security; environmental management; tourism; wildlife; cultural activities; social welfare; promotion of women and political cooperation.The treaty however was silent on the issue of human rights and corruption. This study recommends that the EAC region adopts the human rights and anti corruption agendas in their deepening integration efforts culminating in the suggestion for the the formation of the East African Human Rights and Anti Corruption Commission (EAHRACC).

Inflation convergence and currency unions: the case of the East African community

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate inflation convergence within the East African Community (EAC) as it aspires to become a currency union.Design/methodology/approachAn unobserved dynamic factor model was used to decompose the variation in inflation into a component that is common across the countries in the EAC region and a component that is country specific. Convergence was measured by the percentage of variation in inflation that is common across countries.FindingsThe estimated results from the dynamic factor model for the pre‐EAC Treaty (1981:3 to 2000:2) period and post‐EAC Treaty (2000:3 to 2009:1) period suggest that the percentage variation in inflation in the EAC that is explained by the common regional component increased significantly during the post‐Treaty period.Research limitations/implicationsOne of the limitations of this paper is that it does not address the mechanism through which the convergence in a currency union is achieved. Future research should try to examine the link between convergence and different macroeconomic policies.Practical implicationsThis paper suggests that the push towards forming a currency union in East Africa has led to a greater degree of inflation synchronization across different countries in the region.Originality/valueThe main contribution of this paper is to use an unobserved component model to estimate the degree of inflation synchronization in East African countries.

Measuring Financial Barriers Among East African Community Countries

This paper seeks to quantify existing financial barriers among East African Community (EAC) member countries based on analysis of each member country’s foreign exchange market. The primary contribution of this paper is the generation of an aggregate measure of financial barriers for the three relatively more advanced members (Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania) using forward foreign exchange and interbank interest rate data. Its empirical results, which are corroborated by other evidence such as the levels of development of the financial markets and restrictions on capital flows, suggest that Kenya is the EAC’s most financially open country, followed by Uganda, and then Tanzania. The fact that the three countries exhibit different degrees of financial openness suggests that financial integration in the EAC region has a way to go.